DO NOT Do This When You Test Drive a Car | Former Dealer Explains

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CarEdge Podcast: Daily News You Can Use

43-year auto sales vet Ray Shefska spills the beans on the DOs and DON'Ts of test-driving a vehicle at a dealership, including what he taught his own salespeople to do at every step in the process.

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Just bought a Rav 4. During the test drive the sales guy wanted to talk about trade in and down payment. I told him I approach buying cars in phases, I’m only focused on the drive right now. After the drive, he brought it up again, I said now I’m focused on the OTD price, nothing else. After we ironed that out, it was now time to discuss trade in. Working the deal in phases was a big help and set the rules for the sales guy. It was a smooth process.

[davidalvarado]

My wife & I bought a car using your techniques on not giving away any info until he gave us the OTD number...it worked. We got the price down by $10k.

[meinasalon]

A test drive is not enough. If the car you are looking to buy is available at a car rental company, rent it for a weekend. That gives you real world test drive.

[Frank-James]

I love to tap the plastic areas and say, "Wow! Cheap materials. That's a shame."

[Giardintek]

Some tips from As a former car dealer/sales;. If the sales person comes along for the test drive, have them seat on the back seat and stay quiet. Also turn the radio off completely after you made sure it has one and working. If buying an older used car, make sure you go and check it out during the day time, Not in the rain or dark. Most used cars are partially or completely re-painted or some sort of body work was done on it, and you will not be able to see the paint-job properly in the rain or in dark. Also check the engine and make sure the engine block is dry. If you see some oil on the head, that's normal. Most used cars have a minimal valve cover gasket leak. But if you see the entire engine covered in oil, that car has major issues. Drive on a straight road, bring the car up to cruising speed and let go of the steering for a second to see if the car pulls in any direction. If it does, it might have issues with alignment, tires or the front end is simply damaged. Check in between the seats and body for hair, mostly pet hair. Dealers clean their vehicles, but cannot completely remove all hair and that pet hair usually gets in between the seats and body panels. Check the roof liner for yellow stains, if you see any, it was a smoker's car. Also test the AC to make sure it blows cold and both fans are on, under the hood, where the rads are. At times dealers know you are coming and will warm up the car for you. If you see the car;s engine is not cold, walk away and come back again when it's cold. You will only see oil burning out of a cold engine. They don't want you to see the blue smoke coming out of the exhaust, so they warm it up for you. Have someone start up the engine, while you are at the rear and if you see blue smoke, walk away, because you are dealing with an oil burner.

[droogbear]

This why i hate salespeople. I dont want to play cat and mouse, i just want an honest interaction.

[BS-lbqy]

Bought a Camry from a Toyota dealership. The guy was awesome. He rode around with us, just talking about normal everyday life, not about the car or the dealership. He was just there to answer any questions I had, other than that he wasn’t trying to SELL me the car. When we got back, we talked numbers, and I could tell he just wanted me to get the best deal. He didn’t really care how much money the dealership made on the deal, and that’s exactly how the price worked out. The guy was awesome, and I’d go back to him in a heart beat. The Finance guy was the complete opposite, he was pushing everything, and even when I said multiple times “look man, I’m not buying any add ons. I just want to purchase the vehicle for the agreed upon price and get out of here”.

[chaosncheckt]

My 20ish age daughter decided it was time to buy a new car. She had graduated college, no student loans, and had a nice job. Doing her research she decided on a Subaru Outback. After watching many of your videos, she had a game plan. It started with waiting closer to December when she thought dealerships would be trying to make room for newer models. Doing an online web search, she found her car (new) listed at a local dealership. We drove down, met a nice salesman, she handed him the website description of the car etc. The first thing he said was the website wasn't as up-to-date to what was actually on the lot. Then they spent 20-mins looking for the car with no luck. My daughter came back a bit upset (I was standing a good distance away) and we decided to leave. The salesman walked up and said "we found it but we have a problem". We all walked over and yep, there was the car but the sticker said it was a 2020 but the advertisement said 2019. There was also a significant price difference, so we said no deal and again started to walk away. He asked us to wait while he spoke to the GM and a few minutes later came out and said they would honor the price on the website and not the sticker. We sat down and he immediately started talking finance, add ons, trade ins etc. My sweet daughter looked at him and said "we haven't agree to a OTD price yet". The look on his face was priceless but he did smile and asked "what price are you looking for". She quoted a price (some less than the website cost) and he asked about trade-in. She said she wanted the OTD price first. He tried to add all sorts of extras and she kept saying no, what is the OTD price? Finally he said it, then launched into all the other stuff at which point she shut him down. Leaned forward and said "that is our OTD price." I'm going to trade-in my car and I know what it's worth, I'm not going to finance with you and I want no extended warranties etc. Guy respected her but then the finance guy tried his line and she shut him down as well. So, he smugly asked "well, we have a OTD, we agree to a price for your old car, exactly how are you going to pay the balance? Is Dad going to cosign? My daughter just handed him the authorization number from her bank who had preapproved her at a ridiculous low interest rate. As we sat in her new car the salesman walked up and smiling said "young lady you did your homework, good for you" and walked about.

[ScanFan_Ed]

About ten years ago my wife and I went to a Dodge dealership and began negotiating on a vehicle. Sales manager would not budge on the price we wanted. I finally told them we were leaving and we did. As we were walking across the lot to our car, I whispered to my wife that they will be coming out after us. Sure enough, the salesman and manager came running out to our car and suddenly the price came down substantially. Felt great!

[delennwheeler]

Best experience I ever had for test drives was my local subaru dealership. I test drove a crosstrek and forester multiple times. I was leaning towards the forester and I had no idea if it would fit in my garage and how it would drive on the interstate. They kindly brought one out to my house to see how one would fit in the garage and test drive on the interstate close to my house. I had the local toyota dealership bring out a Corolla Cross and boy am I glad they did. Those longer test drives showed me that the Forester was what worked the best for me. Also, the subaru sales rep let me drive by myself or with my boyfriend. No pressure tactics. It took me nine close to 10 months to make my full decision on what I wanted but they never pressured me. I for sure would go back to them and I custom ordered my forester and got exactly what I wanted, no extras or mark ups.

[melisamiller]

I was pretty mad last weekend when I test drove a new CR-V (that I already knew I wanted) and the saleswoman started rattling off all the dealer add-ons, speaking really fast, while I was driving the car. No one's ever tried to talk business with me while test-driving before and It felt like a strategy to get me to agree to the add-ons without giving it any real thought. After we got back to the office, the whole process had this same rushed and even bullying feeling. She wasn't even trying to be friendly. She knew that if I sat and thought things over, I'd make smarter choices, so she fought tooth and nail. Things got heated a couple times but I managed to eventually get the car under msrp with NO dealer add-ons AND a fair deal for my trade-in. I've never had such a terrible experience with such a good outcome before. 😆This was the only local dealer that had the color/trim combo in stock that I wanted, but in retrospect I wish I had left and found a salesperson who was a better human being to give commission to. Good grief.

[williebluesgarage]

One thing about my wife and me is we are old enough to not care. No matter what we tell sales people, if we don’t like it we just walk out. We don’t play games with anyone or pretend to be friends. It’s a business transaction that’s it.

[roadrageburleson]

I recently found your channel while searching for a used truck. I used some of your tips and tricks and in the end i spent 30 minutes on the test drive and talking numbers and only 50 minutes making the purchase the next day. I could not have done this without you guys. Thanks for what yall are doing.

[BenLapke]

This is all good information. I’ve bought a lot of cars and I’ve passed on a lot of cars. I don’t really care what the salesman says or thinks about my comments; if they can’t meet my out the door price, I won’t buy it. I bought a 2017 Vette new, and I told the salesman I loved the car, which I did. That was to let him know I wasn’t a tire kicker. But I didn’t buy until I got the price I wanted. I got $15, 000 off the MSRP. I always keep in mind that I don’t have to buy that car to eat dinner, they have to sell it if they want to eat.

[etjulien]

Ray: "The selling actually started at "Hello"" 😂

[erinlawley]

I am so grateful for these tips! My car is a 2010 and I’m looking to purchase a new car in 8-10 months. I drive my cars until they die because the thought of going to the dealership gives me so much anxiety. Your videos are encouragement therapy.

[suemar]

I want to thank you so much for all the info you provide. Buying a car is so stressful. Out of the 5 (plus) cars I've bought over my lifetime, there was only one time I felt comfortable with the process and left the dealership feeling I didn't get "taken". It was a young fella that, quite frankly, didn't care what we did or where we went on the test drive. He never spoke, just let us go through however many cars we wanted to try out (and it was a LOT!!). One car we didn't even get out of the lot---the seats were so hard and uncomfortable that I knew my back could never handle it on long trips. I hate (HATE!!) pushy salespeople and avoid them like the plague. The tips you provide are so helpful. Thank you soooo much!

[beatricedillon]

Thanks, guys, I bought car and I got a great deal. I told the dealer I was a Car Edge customer everything worked out from beginning to end. I was in and out in 90 minutes 😊😊😊.

[matthewm]

When we bought our 21’ Nissan Titan, the salesmen gave me the keys and literally told me to bring it back the same time tomorrow. It was the greatest sales experience ever.

[frederexier]

I love you guys ❤! I drive a 20-year-old, 200K-mile car and have no plans to buy any car. But I watch you guys regularly because you're so entertaining 😂. This said, I do bookmark your videos for when I'll decide to buy a car, cause they're also so informative 😉. Keep up the good work - and the fun!!!