Question on car test drives

[kermit116]

Is it rude/tacky/in bad taste to test drive a car several months before I intend to buy it of I'm up front with the car dealer about my purchase timeline?

Here's my scenario: I'll be starting a new job in a few months & will have a very long commute. I will probably need to buy a new car, but I need to wait until late fall/earlier winter to budget the downpayment.

I've been doing a lot of research on possible cars I'd like to buy, and at this point I have about six possible cars I may want to buy. Most of them are similar in price & features, so it'll probably come down to which car drives the best & has the best price in the fall/winter.

I know once I start this new job in the fall I will be working longer hours than I do now, so it could take me four or five weekends to actually test drive 6 different cars closer to the time I want to buy. To help in my search, and probably eliminate some of the cars on my list of possibilities, I'd like to do some test drives now. I plan to be honest with the dealerships that I'm only looking to do a test drive now to get an idea about the car, and I'm not looking to actually buy for a few months. But, I feel a little bad, like I'm wasting the sales staff's time by doing a test drive now.

If there are any folks out there who work in car dealerships or have worked in car dealerships, I'd appreciate your opinions.

As a side note, I plan to use the Costco referral program when I do buy a car later in the year. I've heard that some dealers have specific sales people that do the Costco deals, so should I also mention I plan to do the Costco program when I do buy? I'd prefer to come back to the same sales person in the fall as the person who takes me in the test drive so at least he/she will get some sort of commission from the sale when I do eventually buy.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Absolutely not! I've test driven cars with a similar agenda & ended up pushing the purchase back even further. BTW, I worked (briefly) in car sales. A car is a major purchase & it should be taken seriously enough to do your homework and spend some thought on the final decision. Test them ALL

 

[Sadie22]

It is not rude, tacky, or in bad taste to carefully research how to spend your money. Car dealerships get a lot of lookers.

 

[Disneynut71]

I just bought a car last month but was shopping for at least a month and a half ahead of time. I had 6 different cars I was interested and in the past I rushed into buying a car and regretted it later. Not this time! I took my time and when I was finally ready to buy, I had no doubts on what I wanted. I had a few reps rush me or try to push me sooner then I was ready but I was firm and they backed off.

Take your time, They will call you and call you and call you...but they will be glad to show you a car time and time again if you seem interested. One even offered to let me take the car for the weekend.

a month and a half later....still LOVE my car. No regrets

Good Luck!

 

[Darcy03231]

I don't think its rude or tacky at all. One time we got one of those $25 gift card offers if you did a test drive. We weren't in the market for a car at all at the time (we had just bought one the year before at that dealership). We went in and told them up front we weren't buying but were doing the test drive for the gift card. They were fine with it. We ultimately ended up buying another car there (used) when DS started driving.

 

[kelleigh1]

Just be prepared for the sales pitch because even if you tell them that you're not buying for several months, they'll still try to convince you to buy now.

I once had one of those "test drive get a gc" offers and when I told them I wasn't ready to buy, but wanted to test drive, they just gave me the gift card. I did say I'd come back when I was ready to purchase, which I did, and I took the test drive, but I didn't like the salesman or their tactics, so I still didn't buy there.

 

[Bell30012]

I was considering a new Prius, the dealership went to extremes. They gave me one to drive for the weekend. Then they searched the inventory of the nearby dealerships to find the exact car that I wanted. They let me keep the loaner Prius until it arrived a couple days later. All of this before I spent a dime.

I love my new Prius and I love my dealership... Team Mall of Georgia Toyota in Buford, Georgia. They rock!!!

 

[Earstou]

We had a similar experience when we bought our Prius, offered us one to test drive for the weekend, then checked inventory that would be arriving soon to get the one we wanted. It took us several months to decide on the Prius, and we never felt any pressure from our Toyota dealer.
Taking a few months to decide on a car seems to be the norm from what I know!

 

[Princess Nancy]

We just bought an Accord. I looked at Cars, SUVs and Vans for SIX months!!!!

My problem was I did not know what I wanted. Everytime I went looking, I thought, today is the day!! LOL!!!

Take your time no worries!!!!

 

[Swimalie]

I was considering a new Prius, the dealership went to extremes. They gave me one to drive for the weekend. Then they searched the inventory of the nearby dealerships to find the exact car that I wanted. They let me keep the loaner Prius until it arrived a couple days later. All of this before I spent a dime.

I love my new Prius and I love my dealership... Team Mall of Georgia Toyota in Buford, Georgia. They rock!!!

I think that is where my mom got her Prius a few years ago.

As for test driving early, I don't think it's a problem. We started test driving last April knowing we wouldn't buy for a while. Our reasoning was that our 7 year old is still in a car seat and we weren't going to move it to test drive so we went while he was in school. We waited until he was out for the summer to go back and buy. Enjoy!!

 

[kermit116]

Thanks for all the good advice. I assume I will probably get some aggressive sales people calling me a bunch of times after the test drive, but that's fine because it's their job to follow up and try to make the sale.

 

[DeltaDiamond001]

I don't think it's in bad taste in the least. I started doing test drives two or three months before I was ready to purchase my current car. I think being upfront and honest is key (no pun intended). I told the salespeople I met that I was not ready to buy a car just yet, but wanted to get an idea of what I liked, or more importantly, didn't like.

In the end, I made the best possible choice and am now driving a vehicle I absolutely love. Not to mention, I bought it at invoice, so in any regard, I got a very good deal.