"Good Day, I am interested in test driving..." "Sorry Sir, We dont have a car for TD"

[SPEEDY_RACER]

Hi Even,

i faced the same problem from Mahindra and Mahindra,

requested for Testdrive of new scorpio Hybrid,

the sales person informed me that vehicle will be at my place around 3 pm, till now they are not turned on, i guess they are pushing the car from the show room to my place,

not intrested to buy even if i shortlist the vehicle.

[aneeshanand]

I went to the Hyundai showroom for a TD of Verna CRDI.. at that time there was no Verna at the showroom. But they offered, I will get one soon!! after 5 minutes, one blue verna sx CRDI came in to the back yard. again few minutes, they let me take the spin !! and i asked is this a TD car?. "No sir, this is one of our customer's, he left it here for the first service!!"

[SS-Traveller]

Funnily enough, I never got to TD the car I bought, only because it did not exist in reality when I booked it - the Scorpio mHawk VLX 4WD. I got an extensive TD on a VLX 4x2 though.

[rosh2]

The experience is the same across the board I guess - my brother went to Peninsular Honda last week and the executive didnt have either a ANHC or a civic for a test drive -- can you believe this?

[nairrk]

I never asked for a TD of Fiesta from Ford Dealer, however the guy explained many things on the phone.
When I visisted the showroom with my wife, the guy shown me two variants -Limited edition(black colour) and 1.4 Zxi (TDCi) white colour. I must appreciate the guy as he explained each and every details/features of the car's (even I didnt ask so much in details) inlcuding the car audio working sytem/sound quality etc.

The question, why I didnt opt for a TD because I was fully satisfied about the car from the reviews/post/comments given by other fiesta owner TBHPians. That certificate was enough for me to take final decision.
Thanks

[ashthedivx]

I was on my way to home on a lazy saturday, saw a tata showroom at karol bagh. (Don't remember exact name)

Walked in, very few staff was available, asked for linea, sales man started explaining feature on brochure. I asked about the real car demo, he said not available. I asked for punto's demo, he said not available. I was like... WT%. While walking out of showroom, Saw a safari getting ready for delivery, asked if safari is available ?? Same reply --- Not available sir !!

[s0uljah]

When I went to TD the swift at Mandovi Motors, Lavelle Road they supposedly gave me the GM's car!!

Aquamarine blue with sunroof etc.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by ashthedivx

I was on my way to home on a lazy saturday, saw a tata showroom at karol bagh. (Don't remember exact name)

Walked in, very few staff was available, asked for linea, sales man started explaining feature on brochure. I asked about the real car demo, he said not available. I asked for punto's demo, he said not available. I was like... WT%. While walking out of showroom, Saw a safari getting ready for delivery, asked if safari is available ?? Same reply --- Not available sir !!

You cannot expect them to have cars waiting all the time. He should at least set up an appointment for a test drive. Again the Safari belongs to a customer, why would they let someone loose in it!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by s0uljah

When I went to TD the swift at Mandovi Motors, Lavelle Road they supposedly gave me the GM's car!!

Aquamarine blue with sunroof etc.

Sireesh Auto (Hosur Road) gave me their MD's Scorpio for a test drive as their TD vehicle was out, this despite it looking quite obvious i couldn't afford one then. I didnt even have a car then, and went there along with my wife on a bike.

[ashthedivx]

Originally Posted by ajmat

You cannot expect them to have cars waiting all the time. He should at least set up an appointment for a test drive. Again the Safari belongs to a customer, why would they let someone loose in it!

Ajmat, gernally cars are always available at showrooms at least in Delhi and appointment visit are on holidays only, One can walk-in and ask for a test drive very easily. Also, I didn't asked for test drive on customer's vehicle It was the customer's vehicle by looking at which I desired to have a test drive of safari demo car.

I love cars and do understand very well the importance of a new car for the owner.

[beejay]

Some sale people go by the looks of a person in ascertaining whether they are potential customers.
Reminds me once when a person who I know went for a TD of a Bolero Di turbo at Coimbatore. He is very modest and carries and dresses himself a most down trodden manner. They said the Td vehilce was not available and and also failed to treat him properly. In the sense, they did not explain anything about the same clearly and just said, "same bolero, di engine." He came back to Kerala where it was not launched then. The car was launched in Kerala, they brought the TD bolero home and he booked 3 Di turbos. All in silver.
The local dealer knew his lines and was sure he would purchase and treated him very well. Who was at loss, the Coimbatore dealer.

[king_julian]

Before my daughter was born, I used to often go to some showroom for a test drive on Saturdays if I had some spare time. More often than not, Maruti had a demo car available for a test drive. And they were willing to humour me time after time when new models came out. Probably this contributed to the fact that I bought a Maruti recently

Hyundai was a different story though. Generally they didn't have a demo car, and a couple of times they provided a non-demo car! To give credit where it is due, recently I made an online request for an i20 TD, and the sales executive called me and got the car to my office.

Tata-Fiat and GM are quite good as far as test drives are concerned, and generally I could get a TD of a particular model when I wanted.

The Honda and Toyota sales executives said that they provide TDs only by appointment.

I guess in general it is better to call and fix an appointment for a TD rather than just showing up at the showroom.

[vijaythacker]

i believe, online shown intrest makes difference with my case, with maruti to tata to hyundai to honda, whenever i have registered for a TD of a vehicle online on their website, have got a call from company directly, and within 48 hrs, from local dealer nearby my office or home and they comes to my address along with a TD vehicle.Today got a call from Tata motors pune for my enquiry for manza TD and was told for 48 hrs, a local dealer would get in touch with me, it works if prior appointment is taken.Hyundai were worst till now when approached their showroom for TD's.They seemed like are your serious you gonna buy this car

[tsk13]

Ash, if the concerned dealer has more than one showrooms in the city, then chances are that the TD might be handled by one or selected few showrooms only due to infrastructural issues. Dealers expand in busy areas to make their presence felt and sometimes having TD facility is more of a headache as is the case with Karol Bagh; congested and parking is a luxury over there. Moreover, I believe people are switching over to having TD at their homes/ offices than going to the showroom for one. But yes, one can always land up in the showroom for a glance for which atlease single variant should be available.

[ivar1951]

I've been trying to test drive a Skoda Superb 1.8 TSI for the past four months but no luck. Even the General Manager of Krishna Motors, dealers at Chandigarh, has been unable to keep his promise to get me to test drive one. Skoda Bangalore also assured me that they will get one car to me shortly but nothing has happened for a month or so. Is the car selling so much that they don't care or is it their general attitude? I think the latter.