That is why I put... see the other thread. There is a whole conversation over there and I didn't want to thread creep.

Hopefully the dealers that continue to have outrageous markups and screw around prospective customers through not letting test drives got the letter.


Brandan-

 

http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/mds/h...r/contactUs.do

Im not sure but my guess would be, once youve found the dealer you were looking for you probably clicked on that dealers site, no longer GM. The reason they can refuse test drives is the demand.

If its really under your skin just tell everyone you know about that dealer. people can decide for themselves. Find a dealer that will deal with you and contact GM and mention your experience. chances are they cant do anything directly but all things being equal when it comes time to tighten the belt down the road, I would probably cut loose the dealer that had a worse customer interface.

 

demo cars are not the same as display cars.

 

do you know how many times i have acted interested in a car just to drive it???? way too many. i had no interest in buying the car, i would just go around to dealerships and try to test drive some of their most expensive cars. and they let me! some didnt. but that was my idea of fun in the summertime when i was younger. my camaro had 16 miles on it when i got it. thats a NEW car.

and back to the test drive thing...... I didnt drive a camaro ss when i placed my order. i hadnt even sat in one. i saw one in person and that was it. i didnt even know what the interior would look like when i placed the order. but guess what, i still love this car. i love it more than some cars i have test drove and bought.

 

I am not a teenager looking into buying a 38k car. I am a young professional looking into buying a sports car. That is the reason I scheduled the test drive via Chevrolet.com. I followed what GM would like you to do, go to the website, build the car using the tools, find a match and schedule a test drive. However, the dealership failed to complete the deal.

I am glad that you found your perfect car, but in my case I need to drive the car and I believe others people do too; and at the end of the day, the dealership failed to provide that option. Is it GM fault? No. Is it the employee that I talked to? For all I know he is just following the dealership policies. Is it the dealership? Yes. They need a better way to distinguish real customers from people who just want a free ride and what better way to do that than using Chevrolet.com. Would that prevent from people getting joy rides? Probably not 100%, but it would at least give us the real customers an ability to test drive the car.

 

so go to another dealership. its that simple. if they wont let you drive it, go somewhere else. even if you live in the sticks, im sure there is another dealership within and hours drive.

 

That is absolute bull****!

Any dealer that doesn't want to let a customer test drive a car doesn't deserve to be in business.

I encountered a**holes like that when I was looking to buy a GTO. I was by no bounds of the imagination the only one, either. Pontiac's general manager heard tons of complaints about dealers actions regarding the GTO, and realizewd how many sales they were losing. Their reaction? Put rebates on it and include it in GM's sales event that August & September. That move alone sent GTO sales from less than a thousand a month to over 2,000.


In my personal opinion, any dealer like that should have their franchise snatched by GM. Then if they want to fight it, let it go to abitration and they can explain their action and how it "helps" GM's recovery.

I have no sympathy for dealerships like that.


I'm sure Camaro would sell even more without screwed up dealers.

RAR could potentially be in a Camaro this very moment if the dealer had provided him with a test drive.

Now, imagine places like Serremonte California where the Chevrolet dealer is virturally right across the street from a Ford dealer and a Toyota dealer, and we're talking about a customer who's ready to buy a new car with cash in hand or a preapproved loan who originally wanted a Mustang or was impressed by a G37 coupe, but was drawn to the Camaro's looks (a scenario that actually DOES drive Camaro's sales outside enthusiasts). He isn't going to go to a Camaro site for advice, or go to the other side of town or another county to find a dealer that he can test drive a car before he throws down his $35,000.

He's going across the street, and give them a chance.

 

There is no way I'd take an hour drive just to test drive a vehicle if there is a Ford dealer eager to toss me the keys to a Mustang to take around the block, an Infiniti dealer who has no problem taking me for a spin, a Chrysler dealer eager to show me a Challenger, and a Hyundai dealer that's proud to show off to me a Genesis coupe.

I shouldn't have to beg people for the privilege of letting them take my money, especially when we're talking $30,000+ of it. There's too many good cars out there.

If I absolutely HAVE to have a particular car, then sure. Maybe. But right now, there are no bad sporty coupes on the market, and each one has more advantages than disadvantages.

When I get ready to get a new car, I do have a good Chevrolet dealer not far away. If I didn't, then it would be up to the Ford dealer to lose my sale.

FWIW:
The Serremonte Pontiac dealership was shut down. It scalped both the GTO and the G8, even after the G8 was over 6 months old. IMO, serves them right.

 

I live in Dallas, so there are other Chevrolet dealers near by. Thanks to the couples of contacts provided thus far in this thread.

That is a perfect example of how fierce competition is on the current sports coupe market. Mustang, G37, 335i, Challenger, Corvette, 135i, Genesis Coupe, RX8, etc. Dealerships cannot afford to be turning down business.

The sad thing is that we lost the Camaro in 2002 and now it is back. It is exciting! However the bad dealerships will prevent people of owning one.

But at least he did not say "... you cannot drive it, it is our policy, you wont find another vehicle like it in the state, but you can order one, but it is 10k markup, it is also our policy, we are the lowest markup in the state ...", lol. It's better to laugh at the idiocy of the whole situation. I filed an official complain, hope they change their ways.

 

There's no way on God's green earth that I'm going to buy a car without driving it first (ie...same model, similar options, etc). There are those that don't care, so long is at says "Camaro" or "Mustang" or "Challenger" or "[insert car here]", and that's fine. It's just not something I would do, and I'm pretty sure there are quite a few others that hold similar opinions.

Good luck RAR, with whatever car you end up with.

 

for me, personally, i could have never walked to any of those dealerships looking for their car because i couldnt drive a camaro. i knew i wanted one when i saw the concept. not even knowing it was going to be made. no way could i just walk over to a ford dealer and buy a mustang. i dont care how great the car may be. im brand loyal and always will be.i guess some of us just know what we want and dont need to be persuaded by a test drive to buy. thats not a bad thing though. there were thousands of people just like me who bought these cars not even driving them.