[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by fecurtis

Could be, or it could be that specific sales person was an idiot.

Leaning towards the latter.

if you don't mind me asking....what sort of age bracket are you in? 20-30? 30-40? 40+?

my brother in law...who is 24...had problems getting a test drive in a BRZ. then they got angry after he drove it and wasn't interested in it anymore.....said something dumb like "but you said you were really interested!"....LOL.

[XM_Rocks]

I would have asked for the salesperson to confirm that was their policy and if so obtain both of their names.

Then I would send an email to the GM or Dealer Owner voicing your negative experience and telling them you will never step foot in their dealership.

Repeat on Yelp.

Then find another dealer.

I had some idiotic thing happen to me when I was helping my mom buy a car in 2006.

Sales guy told me they couldn't talk numbers over the phone or via email. That she needed to come in etc etc.

I had him confirm this with his manager and I got all of their info.

Sine they had the car I called another dealer I had done business with in the past and we did the whole thing over email... they even dealer traded for the car.

I ended up sending an email to the GM with a picture of my moms new ride sporting a LP tag of another dealer and explained how they lost a sale.

GM replied apologizing and telling me he would have a talk with his management team. He ended up sending us $250 credit to use at their dealer for service and accessories since I told him she would be skipping their dealer for warranty and service work. Also said to call him directly and he would set up our first appointment.

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

if you don't mind me asking....what sort of age bracket are you in? 20-30? 30-40? 40+?

my brother in law...who is 24...had problems getting a test drive in a BRZ. then they got angry after he drove it and wasn't interested in it anymore.....said something dumb like "but you said you were really interested!"....LOL.

I'm 29, the guy who attempted to test drive the car was 28. Pulled up in my F30, which the salesman didn't see at the time. He saw it when we left and stared at it pretty hard. My friend was dressed in jeans and a nice polo shirt. I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I had literally just got out from scuba diving so I was literally wearing board shorts, a t-shirt and sandals haha. Still didn't need to be a dick. Hell even just tell us that the dealership is weary about letting people test drive vehicles like that due to people driving them just to drive like idiots. Instead he went on and on about how the WRX was some special car that's super fast even though it wasn't an STi and my F30 would make short work of one.

In the end I'm glad he didn't get a WRX or a BRZ since the A3 was the better car for what he was looking for anyway. All the more reason why I personally will just stick to luxury automakers. Been treated with nothing but respect at those places. I also do something that my roommate did not do though, schedule appointments ahead of time since I don't like going anywhere and standing there waiting for someone to help me. Probably helps prove I'm actually serious about buying.

That guy's overall condescending attitude was just irritating. I just wanted to be like "it's just a Subaru man..." but I wasn't the one shopping for a car.

[XM_Rocks]

Originally Posted by fecurtis

I'm 29, the guy who attempted to test drive the car was 28. Pulled up in my F30, which the salesman didn't see at the time. He saw it when we left and stared at it pretty hard. My friend was dressed in jeans and a nice polo shirt. I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I had literally just got out from scuba diving so I was literally wearing board shorts, a t-shirt and sandals haha. Still didn't need to be a dick. Hell even just tell us that the dealership is weary about letting people test drive vehicles like that due to people driving them just to drive like idiots. Instead he went on and on about how the WRX was some special car that's super fast even though it wasn't an STi and my F30 would make short work of one.

You shouldn't have to "dress up" to have the privilege of doing business with them (ie handing them a large sum of cash).

This isn't the 1950's.

I wonder if it was just a lazy judgmental sales guy or their dealer policy?

You could always send an email to the internet rep at their dealer and circumvent him.

Or if there is another dealer in your area that will be willing to take your wrinkled slacker cash.

I have a mental list of businesses I wont do business with due to principle.

Once you lose my business you lose it for good.

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by XM_Rocks

You shouldn't have to "dress up" to have the privilege of doing business with them (ie handing them a large sum of cash).

This isn't the 1950's.

I wonder if it was just a lazy judgmental sales guy or their dealer policy?

You could always send an email to the internet rep at their dealer and circumvent him.

Or if there is another dealer in your area that will be willing to take your wrinkled slacker cash.

I have a mental list of businesses I wont do business with due to principle.

Once you lose my business you lose it for good.

Same here, luckily I've never wanted a Subaru so I don't think it'll be particularly difficult for me to never set foot in a Subaru again.

Don't get me wrong if it were ME looking at test driving a WRX, I'd of politely but sternly asked to speak to a sales manager and explained how ridiculous they were being surrounding a $30k car when I drove in a car that costs twice as much but it wasn't me doing the purchasing. Their actions turned off my friend enough that he was willing to look at an A3. Ironically he was nervous that Audi would be arrogant and rude towards him (no idea why he thought that, it's not like he's poor or anything). The local Audi dealership were by far, the most pleasurable to work with. Even taking him out for a test drive when they were supposed to be closed (you could tell the sales guy didn't really want to go but he went anyway, I didn't even want my friend to test drive it then, telling him to just set up an appointment but by that point he was dying to drive the damn thing lol...good thing the sales guy went and happily explained the features since it led to a sale a week later).

But I agree that I shouldn't have to dress up to buy a car, I wear what I usually wear whenever I've been car shopping.

[Vigilante375]

Originally Posted by fecurtis

If someone told me that in a Ford dealership, I'd probably start laughing in their face.

I did chuckle while the wife was starting to get mad. I don't see what the big deal was. We were at a Chevy dealership looking at a Camaro SS a few minutes before we got there. I told the Chevy saleperson that I wanted to see a Camaro SS and we were looking around for a new car and he gave us the keys and said here you go, without any issues.

Even when we went to the BMW dealership they gave us the keys and a license to let us go for a test drive without any hassle. If someone wants to make a sale, then you need to let the potential customer do what they want....to a limit for sure but not limiting them from a test drive or even looking inside the damn vehicle.

[mike the snake]

My dealership wouldn't let me test drive my BRZ, for the same reasons given in the OP.