This is a novel idea to me. Do dealers actually loan out test vehicles on a daily basis?

 

If you're serious enough about buying a car, dealerships will let you keep a car overnight. Gives you a chance to take it home, see it in your garage, commute with it, ect. - it's easier to sell a car to someone when it's already "theirs."

I got to keep a Galant for a whole weekend before buying it. I got to keep a MazdaSpeed 6 for 24 hours too. Once they know you're a serious serious buyer, they'll do anything they can to get you behind the wheel.


EDIT: I almost forgot to mention my G5. They let me test-own it for 2 days. One and a half days later the entire city of Houston is evacuated due to hurricane Rita. The dealership was closed for 2 weeks. That poor car got abused like none other - Must have gotten it airborne twice or more

 

So did you end up buying all those cars you test-owned? I'd imagine the dealer would be none too pleased if you brought back the car and said "Thanks, but I'm going to keep looking."

Also, are they letting you borrow the car they're trying to sell you, or is it another of the same model?

 

I looked through all 3 of their lots. I found one in a color I wanted with the options I wanted. We talked numbers. I got a written price & secured APR (signed). I thanked them for their time, but told them I still wanted to look around. Toyota, Nissan, & Honda said "fine" and let me go. Mitsubishi, GM, & Mazda said "tell you what - why don't you take the car you want NOW, with no obligations or signing any contract, and see if after driving it you still feel like shopping around?"

I drove them all, took them back, and said I was going to keep looking. Did they like it? No. Did I care? No. They offered, they knew the risk, they can deal with it. In fact, I ended up buying a Galant from a different dealership because the guy at the Mitsubishi dealership was a real jerk when I didn't buy the car.


Note to all car salesmen: Asking a customer "Are you ******* retarded" is not going to help you make a sale.

Note to all Mitsubishi salesmen: Don't be so proud of your "best backed" bullshit. If I don't think you're giving me a good deal, reminding me about the warranty 2000 times over isn't going to make me suddenly think it's a good deal.

Note to Paul, the general manager at Streater-Smith Mitsubishi, Conroe, Houston, Texas, I-45N: I've noticed that your store has the least amount of business out of all the dealerships in that area. How hard can it be to sell the best-backed cars in America? What, are you ******* retarded or something?

 

And if they ever own an 8 and decide to come to this forum for help, actually use the search and find this thread, then they'll know.

+1 for me!