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Restricting Av Test Drives?

midlifecrisis

Charter Member
SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2002
Messages
3,580
Location
New Jersey - Exit 5
My co-worker stopped at a Chevy dealer over the weekend looking for trucks. Ever since he rode in my Av, he's wanted one for himself. The salesman let him test drive a Silverado, but not an Avalanche. When asked why he couldn't drive the Av, the salesman said "I'm not authorized to let you test drive an Avalanche".

My co-worker got real ticked and just left. It seemed they wanted to sell the Silverado since it was a 2002 leftover. But I figure a sale is a sale, and the Av is more expensive, so why this act by the salesman? It is not as if the guy was a young punk kid that couldn't be trusted (he's almost 40).

Has anybody else had a situation similar to this? I know I didn't - my salesman would have let me test drive as many Avs as I wanted.
 
midlifecrisis said:
My co-worker stopped at a Chevy dealer over the weekend looking for trucks. ?Ever since he rode in my Av, he's wanted one for himself. ?The salesman let him test drive a Silverado, but not an Avalanche. ?When asked why he couldn't drive the Av, the salesman said "I'm not authorized to let you test drive an Avalanche".

My co-worker got real ticked and just left. ?It seemed they wanted to sell the Silverado since it was a 2002 leftover. ?But I figure a sale is a sale, and the Av is more expensive, so why this act by the salesman? ?It is not as if the guy was a young punk kid that couldn't be trusted (he's almost 40).

Has anybody else had a situation similar to this? ?I know I didn't - my salesman would have let me test drive as many Avs as I wanted.


Ok what bonehead chevy deler in NJ did your friend go to??
 
Geez, I guess it was illegal for us to test drive 3 Avalanches before we decided to purchase our own :rolleyes:. That's very strange.
 
midlifecrisis said:
My co-worker stopped at a Chevy dealer over the weekend looking for trucks. ?Ever since he rode in my Av, he's wanted one for himself. ?The salesman let him test drive a Silverado, but not an Avalanche. ?When asked why he couldn't drive the Av, the salesman said "I'm not authorized to let you test drive an Avalanche".

My co-worker got real ticked and just left. ?It seemed they wanted to sell the Silverado since it was a 2002 leftover. ?But I figure a sale is a sale, and the Av is more expensive, so why this act by the salesman? ?It is not as if the guy was a young punk kid that couldn't be trusted (he's almost 40).

Has anybody else had a situation similar to this? ?I know I didn't - my salesman would have let me test drive as many Avs as I wanted.

If the dealer was local . . . I'll bet it was Classic Chev in Moorestown. Before buying mine I went to almost every dealer in the area looking for a BlackZ71 fully loaded and that dealership was the only one that I didn't feel right at. Hell, one of the dealers let me take the AV home to see if it would fit in my garage :B:

Just my 2cents.

IM
 
Funny. We were actually in the market for an 3500 HD crew cab when we spotted the AV. It was a demo (the GM's personal ride for a month). SALESMAN SENT US HOME WITH IT FOR THE WEEKEND. No paperwork, no nothing. So, what do you think happened come Monday? The deal was done. Kudos to the Burlingame, CA dealer.

I wonder what the GM is driving now. A vette (y)
 
Ironic_Masster said:
If the dealer was local . . . I'll bet it was Classic Chev in Moorestown. Before buying mine I went to almost every dealer in the area looking for a BlackZ71 fully loaded and that dealership was the only one that I didn't feel right at. Hell, one of the dealers let me take the AV home to see if it would fit in my garage ?:B:

Just my 2cents.

IM

How ironic! I did all negotiations over the phone, then the sales person drove my blue AV 45 miles to my house so I can park it in my garage personally. The deal was if it fit in the garage, we drive back together. If it didn't, we shake hands then he drives it back to the dealership (thereby adding 90 miles to a brand new vehicle that had 6 miles when he left) no questions asked.

Well it fit and the rest is history. If they want to make a sale, most dealers will let you do anything short of wrecking the thing.

My suggestion? keep on lookin--you'd be surprised at the accomodation you can get out there!
 
Depends on the dealer, the salesman, and how he sizes you up as a prospect. I've had the full range of extremes - from not being allowed to drive a Geo Metro (many years ago, looking to upgrade my college beater), many test drives with the salesman in cars that would seat my family plus him, to test driving several Av's with my wife with no formalities at all, and even to a test drive in a 'Vette with a copy of my DL.

The moral of the story . . . get treated like sh!t - go elsewhere!
 
midlifecrisis said:
...When asked why he couldn't drive the Av, the salesman said "I'm not authorized to let you test drive an Avalanche".

Should have stood tall and told, not asked, told the salesman to go get someone who was authorized.
 
I think he told me it was the Chevy dealer in Turnersville, NJ, off Route 42, but I don't know the name. I bet the guy just wanted to get rid of the Silverado leftover so he was playing a game of bluff. When my friend said he was leaving, the salesman went running after him, but my friend just drove away because he was so irate. Hopefully the salesman was fired over that bonehead move!
 
BTW - I bought my Av from Reedmans, a huge multi-manufacturer dealer in Langhorne PA, a few miles north of Phila. They are so big they have their own test track where you can run the vehicles around a loop up to 45 mph or so. The salesman provide someone who shuttles you out to the track so you can drive your vehicle around by yourself. My salesman would have let me drive every vehicle on the lot if I wanted. Why would he care? They just want a sale!
 
:0:Maybe we should start a thread that will give future AV buyers the knowledge of where the dealers are that will treat you like a human, and the one that will give you the run around. And if you were real happy with your salesman, give him a plug for a reference, so he might be able to get the next sale. POWER TO THE AVALANCH BUYERS.

Big Dog
:B: :cool:
 
I've had a few of those stories myself....

there's a Dealer 30 mi. east of Cleveland, was looking for a truck in '92... I walked around their lot for 45 min.
Salesmen were too busy eatin' doughnuts...walked out..

In '95, went back lookin for an Astro for my wife..
they had one on the lot like we were lookin for...
walked up to a salesman, told him we were interested in a van, and he said " did you get the number off the tag on the mirror?" because he was too busy being lazy to walk out on the lot to get the information off the van he AS TRYING TO SELL!!!,

finally,he managed to give us a price , handed me a business card and walked away????

I turned to my wife, and said lets get out of here.
Dropped his card on the floor...and bought an Astro van at another Dealer!!!

when we bought the Av, I didn't even think about going back for strike 3 with that Dealership!!!!

sorry for the winded Venting.... :eek:

I fell better now ;D
 
Ironic_Masster said:
If the dealer was local . . . I'll bet it was Classic Chev in Moorestown. Before buying mine I went to almost every dealer in the area looking for a BlackZ71 fully loaded and that dealership was the only one that I didn't feel right at. Hell, one of the dealers let me take the AV home to see if it would fit in my garage ?:B:

Just my 2cents.

IM

One dealers let me do that too. I drove the Avalanche home to see if it would fit in the garage. I drove it back to the dealer. I just drop it off and went back home. Very easy!
 
Can't believe any salesman would do that. What an idiot!!!!!!!! Kind of hard to make a sale by not giving allowing the customer to check out the product. I would let the sales manager know of your experience. As someone in the service industry, I can not imagine that the management team there would encourage that kind of behavior. Probably the salesman gets a bigger commission on vehicles other than the Av. Could have just been lazy, or lacked knowledge regarding the Av.

Anyway, happy AV hunting.

KB
 
My salesperson insisted I take the vehicle home over night....I didn't feel comfortable doing that...but I drove it all over before making the purchase.
 
Hope I didn't ruin it for anyone but,

I got at least 10 different dealers to give me test rides all over my area (Connecticut) and 1 in Cincinnatti while I was on vacation. ;D. Had about 5 additional rides with my wife along. Here is a great way to do it... Go alone take a ride. When dealer is looking for the sale, tell him you need to bring your wife/girlfriend by to drive it also!! Wife wouldn't take any more rides as she thought I was nuts! :2: :2: This was all while I was waiting for my AV to arrive as I had it on order with a Chevy dealer located in upper Connecticut. >:D >:D

Just needed my fix of the BADDEST MEANEST MONSTER ON 4 WHEELS!!

Still driving in cloud nine,

:cool:GMAN :cool:





 
If you are not happy with the sales guy, get another one or go to another dealer. The first sales guy I had sucked, the second was great. The second one was "Rocky" at the Woodstock Illinois Reicherts Chevrolet. He let me take the AV out with no one else in it, just a photocopy of my license.

When my wife got a new car in 93 the sales guy let her get 3 blocks away and then turn around and she was with her dad!. A few days later we had another dealer let us test drive a number of times, even arranged to do a few back to back tests with different engines, had the other vehicle waiting so that when we got back we just got into the second one, again no salesman with us. We ended up buying through him and he did a dealer trade for the one from the first dealer, got the one she liked right from their showroom. Of course we went back to the first dealer in the new car to buy some touch up paint just to tick them off.
 
GMAN62465 said:
I got at least 10 different dealers to give me test rides all over my area (Connecticut) and 1 in Cincinnatti while I was on vacation. ;D. Had about 5 additional rides with my wife along.
:cool:GMAN :cool:

Heck - why did you even bother buying the Av - you should have just asked the salesman if you could commute in the Av for a couple months! ;D
 
That's ridiculous! :mad:

I have never heard of that before. Something must have been up at that dealership.
I took like 5 test drives from 3 different dealers without any hassles at all. And only twice did salesman's actually come with me.
 
spectron said:
How ironic! I did all negotiations over the phone, then the sales person drove my blue AV 45 miles to my house so I can park it in my garage personally. The deal was if it fit in the garage, we drive back together. If it didn't, we shake hands then he drives it back to the dealership (thereby adding 90 miles to a brand new vehicle that had 6 miles when he left) no questions asked.

This guy has real class,but it sounds like he wanted to take the Av for a drive.
 
I have been driving chevys for so long and buying them from the same dealer for too long. When the first Av arrived on his lot I had to take it for a test drive. Got to the dealer and my salesman just looked at me and said: I know you will be ordering one so here are the keys, Take it out for lunch and bring it back when ever. The sales manager who was new was really upset. When I get back to the dealer I let the sales manager hear a few words. Owner of dealership askes me what was wrong and I laugh and tell him. Well ! when I went back to order my AV that sales manager was no longer at the dealership. My salesman who I have been dealing with for 20 years tells me that the owner got several not so nice comments about his new sales manager. He fired him. I guess customers sometimes do win.
 
;DI had no problems test driving AV's where ever i went, im only 22 and never got a run around. Now the service dept, thats a whole new issue i dont want to get into :rolleyes:

Frank

Its snowing like heck up here in CT, I cant wait to drive everyone home after christmas ;D
 
Robert Ray at Frank Pastrick Chevrolet in Benton Harbor MI was real helpful when I was looking at Av's. I knew the one I wanted when I saw it. The only '03 they had on the lot, and it was Arrival Blue. The first thing he asked when He came up to me on the lot was "would you like to take it for a drive?". He did go with me but that was so he could show me all the features while we were driving. He explained the DIC, the new Bose, and all of the other features. He even suggested where to take the Av for the test drive and it was one of the last places I would have taken a new vehicle. :)

If I hadn't stopped by in my company van, I could have taken the vehicle home overnight. I was still offered the Av if I wanted to stop by later. We just went back and worked out the deal and I put down my deposit.

I've walked out of dealerships that have the slightest objection to a test drive. They are there to serve you, not the other way around. Too many salesmen tend to judge a book by it's cover, they see you in work clothes after you've worked outside all day and make wrong judgements. They forget that just because you're not in a starched white shirt doesn't mean you don't make a very good income.

SJP
 
When I was trying to replace my '89 Silverado in May 2000 "Dealer #1" would not budge on their price, but let me take a 2000 home overnight. ?I thought that was nice. ?I liked "Dealer #1" as their service department had done good by me on my old '89.

The next day I went to "Dealer #2" to see what they could do. ?They gave me their best deal up front, basically no haggling. ?Once "Dealer #1" realized I was "shopping," ?suddenly they were able to substantially reduce their price.

Guess where I bought my 2000 Silverado - Dealer #2.

When it as time to buy the Av, I shopped both dealers, with the intention of giving Dealer #2 my business, but "shopping" Dealer #1 to try to get a better trade-in value. ?Again Dealer 1 kept finessing the price while Dealer 2 gave me a straight-up deal up front and allowed me to take the Av home to try out. ?Again Dealer 2 got my business and will in the future.

My point is, if some dealer gives you the run around, keep shopping and let them all know you are shopping around. ?You must be allowed to test drive, test fit, test park, test anything before you buy.

I understand that some dealers might be hesitant to let just any "Joe off the street" take a new vehicle home, but you should at least be allowed to try it out even with the salesman present.
 
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