Rep Power: 527

I went to go test drive an MR2 today that I saw sitting on the lot. It was the only one they had. It was in the lot, and not inside in the showroom.

Ok, so I walk in and since I'm young (22) salesmen basically ignore me. Well finally someone goes "have you been helped yet?" and I said "Do you have any literature on the MR2?" And he goes "yeah" and gives me a booklet. He goes "We even have one out there for you, would you like to test it?" I go "definately." So he calls a sales associate for me. This is where the fun begins.

Salesman: Hi.
Me: Hi.
Salesman: So you're interested in the MR2?
Me: Yes sir.
Salesman: When are you looking to buy?
Me: Well, I'm moving to _____ in about 3 months to start my new job, so soMetiMe around then. (Of course, this is the first thing that pisses him off cuz he knows he can't sell me anything today) I'm looking into various 2 seaters and I want to see everything that's out there before I make my decision.
Salesman: Oh, I see. Well, would you like to test drive the MR2?
Me: Yes.
Salesman: Ok, can I see your license?
Me: (gives it to him. He goes and copies it, brings it back)
Salesman: (starts asking me the normal questions, where do I work, etc., writing down my answers on the paper)
Me: (answering his questions)
Salesman: Let me go get the info from the car (goes outside and looks at it, comes back in)
Me: (waits)
Salesman: Oh, I was just told that we can't drive this car.
Me: (thinking: wtf?)
Salesman: Yeah, because it's the only one on the lot.
Me: (thinking: so? Who cares? Why would that mean I can't test drive it?)
Salesman: Well you can still go sit in it and see how it feels.
Me: Ohhhhhkay. (goes and sits in car with him)
Salesman: (asks me some weird questions about the car, like what kind of power it has)
Me: (thinking: um, you are the one selling it. Why are you asking me?)
(we come back inside)
Salesman: Yeah, so it's on sale until the end of the month.
Me: Yeah, well I'm not buying anything in the next 4 days.
Salesman: Well it's a good deal, it's over $2000 off!

-ok here's where the hardcore bullshit starts-

Me: Under what conditions could I test drive it?
Salesman: Well, if you were going to buy it, you would come in and tell me, and then I'd ask if anyone else has claimed it yet, and if not, then you could drive it.
Me: So basically, I can't drive it until I'm going to buy it?
Salesman: (getting uppity now) Right.
Me: That makes no sense! Why would I want to buy a car before I've test driven it?
Salesman: (getting pissed now) Hey, I don't make the company policy here!! I'm just a Salesman.
Me: I've never heard of a policy like that before.
Salesman: Yeah well we don't get many MR2s. Maybe you could get your parents to come and an cosign.
Me: Well if I was going to pay, I'd pay in full in cash.
Salesman: (now he gets all nice again) Really?
Me: Yeah. That's how I paid for my Civic.
Salesman: Would you be trading your Civic in?
Me: I don't know.
Salesman: Well if you decide you want it, be sure to stop back.
Me: I'm not buying a car I haven't driven. Goodbye.

Is that normal, or was he just being a d!ck cuz I'm young and he didn't think I was serious?

F him. I'm gonna call him and tell him I bought one from a different dealer on Monday.

Edit - Made formatting easier to read.

 
Rep Power: 315

Is it normal? Yes, unfortunately.
In hindsight, you should've just played the game until you got the test drive, then changed your mind and left.
Salesmen are d|cks to everyone when they don't think they're gonna make a sale that day. Best thing to do is buy it somewhere else, and complain to that guys manager. Let him know that he cost the dealership a sale. I guarantee THAT won't go over well. Better yet, don't tell the mgr that you bought somewhere else, and watch him kiss your butt to get you back in there.

There's too many dealers to put up with any crap from them. I didn't buy my car from the first salesman that I talked to. I went back a couple days later and found another guy. The first salesman saw me and asked why I didn't ask for him. I told him straight up that he was too pushy and I wanted to deal with someone else. So he says, "just doin' my job." Yeah, right...whatever. Got a pretty good deal on the car and took it home. It'll be 3 years next month.

 
Rep Power: 343

at the Toyota dealership i work at.... they don't care if it's the only one on the lot, they will let you drive it.

but yeah they were being ***-clowns

 
Rep Power: 0

Lets us know what he says when u call him monday too buddie

 
Rep Power: 0

vw did that to me and my friends....when we wanted to test drive a gti or wrx, they were like....our insurance policy does not let anyone under 21 test drive our cars.....i think it was bull **** cuz when we went to a nissan dealer after that, the salesman there let us test drive the spec v without any questions.....we wanted to try v6 altima manual tranny but they didn't have one.....that guy was koo......vw people r faggs....the nissan salesman even said it was bull **** and that they said that because we were young....

 
Rep Power: 0

oh btw....the dealer was being an *** but i think it's normal since most of the dealers r faggs

 
Rep Power: 412

Your first mistake was being honest. Always act like you are going to buy, even if you flat out know that you won't. Don't ever give them any information until they let you drive. All they need is your license to let you take it off the lot. They don't need to know any of that BS information about your work.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yea, ^^ right on the money

The dealership where I worked at and people came in that we knew were not going to buy the car we were told to not waste our time with them. The salesman was a douchebag either way and if your looking to drive a car you have to go in there and act like you're set on buying a car today.... if the price is right.

 
Rep Power: 340

yeah all the sales men at the honda dealer near me are really niceand im only 16, it probley has something to do with the fact that my parents have bought atleast 10 cars from them but I can always go there and talk about cars with them while im getting an oil change, my sales men actually let me drive a 2003 accord ex coupe v6 omg it was so nice and it felt really good to drive manuel agein.

 
Rep Power: 292

it happened to my mother and I on multiple occasions.
First time we were at a BMW dealership wanting to look at the 330 i performance package, we were opening it up sitting in it and no one came over kind of funny.

 
Rep Power: 0

thats normal, because you were young and let him know off the bat you weren't planning on buying a car today.

i use to work for Toyota, and thats how all the salesmen were....there all asses! Why i quit.

they could give a crap about you if your young, or if you show no interest in buying today! its always today, today, today.

next time, just go in and tell them you have cash ready to buy, and after the test drive, just say you werent satisfied, and you will continue to shop more.

 
Rep Power: 364

Here's our family trick.

There are two dealers that our family has sworn to never buy a single thing from. Not a car. Not an oil filter. Not a washer. So, when we want to test-drive a car, where do we go? One of those two dealers. Get your nicest casual clothes, put on that nice pinky ring, and go out for a day of BS-ing the biggest BS-ers on the planet (next to politicians.)

If you look like a broke kid - which I'm not saying you do, but I assume you weren't dressed up or anything - they're gonna treat you like a broke kid.

So flash your bling, and make the salesman know who's boss. Ask questions that YOU know the answer to, but you're just about sure he won't.

Then test drive the car. Take it out as long as you can. Go to friggen lunch in it if you want. Then, tell them you'll think about it.

If you like the car, go buy it at a dealer you trust. However, with a car like the MR2, it might be a problem to do this because they're so rare.

BTW - you're looking at my dream car of the moment. I want one so bad.

 
Rep Power: 0

just a off-topic question though. How many cars do dealerships usually sell in a day? I mean, they have about 3-5 sales people working there at a given time (i would assume) and considering how many customers actually walk into the dealership looking to buy that exact day, it wouldn't be good to call those people "a waste of their time" cause there's a chance that they would come back later when they're done their research.

 
Rep Power: 296

When my brother was going to buy his 20th AE GTI, the dealer didn't even want to let him test drive it. They said they had to get something started on paper before he could test drive it. We were like, "Okay, good bye..."

We then went to another dealer and started talking to another salesman. He asked us, "Are you willing to buy today?" We were like, "if the price is right... yeah..." Then he said, "Oh... I was just killing time, I actually have another client waiting." WTF is that? No one wanted to take us seriously. We actually went back to that same dealer later with another salesman... he was cool about the whole thing. He even knocked the price down about $1,100 off the MSRP. Considering they had a $2,500 markup on the car to begin with, that wasn' t too bad.

 
Rep Power: 527

Salesmen are a$$holes.

I don't really want an MR2, I just wanted to drive one. I mean, if I really liked it after I drove it then I would consider it, but I just wanted to test out all the cars in that class.

 
Rep Power: 0

go tell the guy that you want to buy it then say after a test drive then just walk away its fun to play with salesmen.

 
Rep Power: 394

Ive done that at one dealership here in town. On 2 different occassions, with 2 different vehicles. One time was when I had to goto Menards get some ****, stoped on the way by, sales person was rude didnt even wanna talk to me. When I goto work I have to wear a shirt and tie, so i go before work one day, and get a totally different approacd and demeaner from the same sales person. Did that for a different car at the same dealership, and that time went and complained to the sales about their practices. The sales person got all paranoid, and asked why i want to speak with him, and i said just cause. The manager said their company doesnt promote that and will speak to his people. Let me tell you that that same place did that to some of my friends also in the same situations.

 
Rep Power: 0

I've never had any problems, but I've heard plenty of horror stories from people I know. Then again, when I bought my M3 I went into the dealership and said "who do I need to talk to in order to buy an M3." That approached seemed to work Unfortuneately they didn't have any new M3's available for test drive. (There's up to a six month waiting list and the one that just came off the truck was already sold to someone). I got to test drive a '01 though, and he really had me push it on the ride too! If I get attitude I wouldn't even bother, unless to show off the car I bought from another dealer, hehehe

 
Rep Power: 344

not all salespeople are *******s. anyone in the tri-state area that needs a Honda just let me know. i don't put people through all of that BS.

 
Rep Power: 344

wow, that did an automatic edit on the word a**holes...thats pretty cool

 
Rep Power: 0

I've noticed that how I dress affects SOME salepeople's responses. It makes sense, too. If you look like you have a decent sum of money, they are more likely to take time with you. If I were selling cars, I'd probably do this, too.

 
Rep Power: 344

mreezysmrs...i don't know how to attach quotes

 
Rep Power: 346

It depends on the dude. Some dudes really need sales and will blow you off at the first hint of not getting one asap.

I went shopping both times with my dad because they would take him seriously but when it was time for the technical questions I was the one asking them.