Seven Reasons to Have a 3rd-Party Arrange Your Test Drive

You really don’t need to visit the car dealership except to test drive a car. Particularly NOW given current health concerns.

Here are the seven reasons to have us or another 3rd-party car buying service arrange your test drive:

1. You are there to experience the vehicle. That’s it.
2. The sales associate is there to answer your questions BUT, 80% of them are NOT focused on your needs. True, 20% of salespeople have your needs entirely as their own, and will not distract you from your agenda (which is to experience the vehicle) but the other 80% is going to ask you questions that suit their personal agenda, not yours.
3. What is that personal agenda you ask? They want to know if you’re buying today; if you’re paying cash or financing; if you would consider leasing; if you have a trade; if you want to be their best friend… etc.
4. While all these items in #3 are perfectly reasonable questions, they COMPLETELY distract you from your personal agenda which is solely to see if the vehicle is perfect for your needs.
5. Everything else, and I do mean EVERYTHING such as your personal questions, can be handled after you leave the dealer. Once you let the silt settle, you can communicate by email or text with your representative. This puts the guidance in your hands. (I chose the word “guidance” because it’s better than the word, “control”) but quite frankly, the “control” needs to be all yours… if you relinquish it for even a moment, you’re likely to find yourself down a rabbit hole that doesn’t serve you.
6. Test driving vehicles is for sorting out your family’s vehicle needs. That’s it. It’s not for giving credit information, evaluating possible trades, making friends with your sales associate (beyond your normal level of friendliness, while guarding your personal agenda). Stay focused!
7. Your power is outside the dealership not inside. Right now with concerns for virus spread and public health, staying out of a car dealership has two bonus points.

Conclusion

Now then, why do I mention all of this you ask? Because we had a client test-driving in Annapolis, MD this week and she needs to experience vehicles, not field questions about all those things listed above. She reminded me (as do so many others) that the value of our services in managing the test drives alone is a pot of gold.

You are up against the experts on their territory when you’re on their property. It’s hard to think coherently when surrounded by the collective energy of “how can we make the most profit off of this individual sitting in our building?”