[sriku]

Couple of points:
1. Test ride fee is an income for the dealer, how is it recorded in the books? Is an invoice generated? If not, it is entirely illegal.
2. Would I still be charged 500/- if I showed up to the showroom on my Ninja 650? I don't think so.

What the dealer is doing is wrong. But they are not the first, and will not be the last to try these methods. When the pulsar 220 first launched, the dealer insisted on a cheque for the booking amount of 10k before allowing a test ride. The KTM dealer on the other hand, happily handed out the bike for a test ride. And when I persuaded him for a solo TD, without the sales chap sitting pillion, he made a few noises, but agreed.

I don't agree with what they are doing. I don't think very highly about their bikes either. Pity.

[GrammarNazi]

Originally Posted by sriku

Couple of points:
1. Test ride fee is an income for the dealer, how is it recorded in the books? Is an invoice generated? If not, it is entirely illegal.

Giving an invoice isn't a big deal unless its against the companies rules. It'll be recorded normally in books.

There must be Some way they're promoting & selling their bikes. Isn't the company responding to e-mails? If not, call their regional office. If you're still not given a satisfactory response, chuck it. You're better off not buying such bikes! Who knows how they'll resolve issues under warranty.

[Thilak29]

This begs few questions :

• Who owns these test ride vehicles? Dealer/Company?
• If its Dealer, do they buy it or given free of cost?
• What happens to such test drive vehicles once that specific variant goes out of production?

When I went to get TD for my Brio , At one Dealer he sent his Civic to pick me up and on the other case he offered to come all the way 50km to my doorstep!

[tanwaramit]

I for one am not shocked at the deterrence cost of 500 bucks to keep away not so serious walk ins.

Remember BHPians are a very small percentage of people walking in the showrooms. With bikes and especially someone recently seen bike racing, driving etc movie, its going to be footfall for TDs, there would be several people lining up to do a TD for a joyride.
One group of people may come and each one of them may want to drive the bikes as per their pleasure, without any clear intention to buy today, tomorrow for in the future.

Surely, this 500 bucks charge is a deterrence to the non-serious purchasers, however, they are losing some serious buyers too. The showroom people should learn the skills on how to segregate between serious and non-serious ones (not an easy task for sure).

[JayPrashanth]

Replies in bold.

Originally Posted by Thilak29

This begs few questions :

• Who owns these test ride vehicles? Dealer/Company?
  
  Dealer
  
• If its Dealer, do they buy it or given free of cost?
  
  They buy it.
  
• What happens to such test drive vehicles once that specific variant goes out of production?
  
  They're usually sold at a low price to folks who're ready to buy test drive vehicles.

When I went to get TD for my Brio , At one Dealer he sent his Civic to pick me up and on the other case he offered to come all the way 50km to my doorstep!

Cheers,

Jay

[hellmet]

A test drive should be free, for everyone, even those TDing it just for the kick of it. They may only be riding it for fun now - like college students who are crazy about rides but can't afford one yet - but surely many people eventually need and buy a bike and they will surely remember the experience they had on that particular bike and the showroom. A test ride is an investment that may not see immediate returns but will pay for itself later.

Ideally they shouldn't even be asking if or when customers intend to make a purchase. A lady at a TVS showroom would not let me ride an RTR saying they don't have a TD vehicle but kept insisting when I'd make the purchase, took my number and called several times. Every time she called I asked if the TD bike was available and she said, "well, didn't I let you ride it in the parking lot?".

The HERO showroom was very different on the other hand. When I went in, I was just wearing bathroom slippers, but they didn't deny me a TD of their Hunk. Neither did they ask me when I intended to make a purchase. A quote was written with the sales guy number on it and he asked me to call him when/if I wanted to.

I went into the Suzuki showroom in my car dressed well and all, but they wouldn't let me do anything with the vehicle except sit on it. Bye bye suzuki.

Honda, well, doesn't really need explaining now does it. "Lena hai tho le lo"

I very well know which brand to go with when my current 2wheeler decides to give up the ghost.

[VEA]

I was once in a bmw showroom in kochi interested in buying an x1. After a test drive i decided its not i wanted and told the SA. To my surprise, he offered and went through all the cars in the showroom and insisted that i take a test drive of the 7 series just to make me feel that bmw makes better cars and i should consider it whenever i decide to buy one. I didnt take the test drive, but it left an ever lasting impression on me. I heard that the same dealer planned to shut thier honda dealership and inturn open another facility for bmw in the honda premises. The truth is, they are selling more bmws that honda! The same dealer is giving TD of rolls royce to select customers. Why not Hyosung if a rolls royce is given for a TD.

I was once offered a q7 test drive by an audi executive when i met a friend of mine during TD of the vehicle. It was not just an offer, infact he insisted that i should TD it then and there near my office. I rejected the offer too, but it felt nice to be offered. I went to harley dealership in cochin, i assume operated by the same person and next door to the audi dealership, to buy an iron 883. I was not particularly bothered about a test ride, buy my brother accompanying me insisted i should have a test ride as i have never been on a harley. They plainly refused a TD, infact they have put up a sign asking not to sit on the bike! I was put off by the attitude and didnt buy it.

I assume the dealer being the same, the attitude comes from the manufacturer. Its the dealers job to filter out the unwanted people in a nice way so that the genuine customer always gets a TD.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by VEA

I was once in a bmw showroom in kochi interested in buying an x1. After a test drive i decided its not i wanted and told the SA. To my surprise, he offered and went through all the cars in the showroom and insisted that i take a test drive of the 7 series just to make me feel that bmw makes better cars and i should consider it whenever i decide to buy one. I didnt take the test drive, but it left an ever lasting impression on me.
...
I went to harley dealership in cochin, i assume operated by the same person and next door to the audi dealership, to buy an iron 883. I was not particularly bothered about a test ride, buy my brother accompanying me insisted i should have a test ride as i have never been on a harley. They plainly refused a TD, infact they have put up a sign asking not to sit on the bike! I was put off by the attitude and didnt buy it.

I assume the dealer being the same, the attitude comes from the manufacturer. Its the dealers job to filter out the unwanted people in a nice way so that the genuine customer always gets a TD.

The BMW guys are known to be quite aggressive, in a good way, plenty of first time buyers in rural areas who are getting their first premium German go for the 3. The test drives and demos are done mostly at the prospective customers doorstep, sometimes more than a 100km from the dealership.

I am not sure who runs Audi, but isn't the Harley outlet run by the same folks who managed to wreck Skoda in Kerala? The dealership is run from the old Skoda showroom IIRC. Their attitude has nothing to do with Harley, old HM dealers and in most cases outright frauds, their former employees run a garage in Kottayam, half cost and better work.

[jobish]

Yes, they do charge Rs.500 for test drive. Will surely keep the un-wanted test drives away so as some prospective customers like you :-)

[microaubin]

You have to admit college going boys do go for jolly test rides without serious intent to purchase.

They can ask for a fully refundable deposit which would be less offensive to the prospective customer. I'm saying less offensive since a TD is the right of a customer.

Rarely have sales staff mastered the art of sizing up or evaluating a potential customer on arrival.

A few years ago in Delhi Connaught Place, I happened to wander into the Johnsons Watch showroom at around 7.15 pm. The security outside politely told me they are in the process of closing down and asked me to return during working hours. Later next day I went in and found that the their range starts from 1.5 L to 1 Cr.

I told the salesman I had a budget of about only 50K and wont be able to buy to which he replied,"No Problem, I am sure 5 years later you will be our customer". He also took the trouble of showing me all the brands and even handle many expensive ones.

Now that's called "Customer Delighting". Haven't been 5 years since but the experience has left a lasting impression on my mind and also my friend who was accompanying me.

BTW, bought a Canon DSLR half an hour later after this wonderful experience and loving it

[sai_ace]

This showroom is right next to my house. I have seen their 'boys' and sales 'executives' rip these bikes on the Assaye road. And many a times without helmets. Somehow these guys selling these bikes kind of become haughty when ordinary people who walk by their showroom start admiring these bikes. But this same attitude is shown to prospective buyers and that definitely irritates.

Two showroom experiences which I would like to recall.

KTM Indiranagar - i walked in with a friend and wanted to check out the duke 200. We asked for the details and then we were OFFERED a test ride. all they did was take my license, make a copy of it, return it and then checked that we had an helmet and gave the bike. I asked them if one of them would join us. The sales guy just gave me a smile and asked me to take the bike and have fun. Now that perked me up, I had a nice small ride with my friend around Indiranagar. This was a fabulous experience.

Ananda Honda, Silk Board - I called them up if they have test ride of CBR250R. Once they answered in affirmative I went all the way from Ulsoor Lake to Silk board to their showroom. No test ride bike. they never had any from the beginning of this year. i felt stupid. And i walked out after giving them an earful.

[sandeepmohan]

Not surprised at them charging for test rides. I too was annoyed when I heard about their Rs. 350 charge and walked off. I was not a potential customer. This was before the days they were DSK. They reduced the charge as they saw me leaving. I said Thank you and I am not interested in the ride anymore. It is unfortunate that they charge for these test rides but I guess they have no choice. 95% folks who walk in for a ride are just for having fun. In fact; these chaps who are visiting the showroom don't mind coughing up that Rs. 500 cause they get rip down Assaye Road and then do a blast up wheeler road fly over and back.

[sriramv.iyer]

This thread made me think quite a bit.

I think the following collateral is valid:
1. Drivers license (original)
2. Security Deposit (1000 INR or in that range) which will be refunded at the end of TD and not when buying. (Under the discretion of manager who can waive it off)

Originally Posted by saket77

I think in my opinion, it should not be difficult for the showroom people to identify that who can be potential customers, if they really want to keep the lowballers away, given the fact that they deal with so many people on day to day basis. Even if they get a few wrong ones, it should not break the bank for them. For eg, if one walks to a premium brand showroom, it will not be a difficult task for a Merc or BMW dealership to identify that whether the person is or isn't a potential customer. They can easily drive away others with their excuses like no vehicle available, etc.
.

I am the founder and a C Executive of a tech startup that is doing fairly well - But, just that I am bored to dress well. When I really wanted to buy an X1 and walked into the showroom (Navnit near CMH Road), there was absolutely no interest till they saw my business card. I was walking around There was a 180 degree shift in attitude after that. (I didn't buy the X1)

All I am telling that is you can never judge a person by how they look or how they dress. (Silicon valley is the proof for this). The sole responsibility of the dealer is to provide a good experience for every walk-in.

[kaushal21fb]

I fail to understand why test ride/drive for some showrooms/manufacturers is such a big issue. My company spends millions to reach to the prospective customers. For these guys (showrooms) there's someone interested in your brand reaching out to you. But you turned them away just because you felt insecure.

I faced the same issue as mentioned by many when I bought my Duke last year. I went to the Yamaha showroom and the guy behind the counter said "Hahaha R15 ka test ride kaha milta hai sir..". The Honda guys had the similar attitude they made me ride the bike to not more than 300 mts. I could barely put the bike in second gear, and the chap (from the showroom) behind me said test ride over. Their attitude was we're busy selling a million activa's and small bikes don't waste our time. Still I gave a mindful to the manager and he apologized and offered the test ride again, which I denied.

On the contrary the KTM guys gave me the bike and let me ride it (at least for 5 KM) till I was satisfied. Mind you I had no plans to buy the bike before I test rode the KTM, and I was test riding other bikes just to check other options before deciding.

[snowmane]

It seems they are not able to make any money selling those bikes so now they are trying to make money by selling Test Drives.