What does it take to get a test drive. Grrr

[pars911]

Hey guys im new to the forum and looking at buying a clio 200 or 200 cup. I have got a SEAT ibiza fr 20vt but fancy something which handles that bit better. The only problem is im losing the will to live after Renault have fobbing me off about giving me a test drive.

To cut a long story short i have two local dealers and i went down to the closest which is S J Cook and sons of kingswood Bristol and spoke to a member of staff and said i have the funds in place i am open to used or new cars but i want to drive a 200 FF and a 200 cup and feel the difference and we can go from there, he took me to a 200 ff he had for sale and went through the motions giving me the details and then i said would it be ok to go out for a drive. He replied, "well im not being funny but you seem quite un decided in what you want and i dont want to go and fill it up and sort out a test drive if your not going to buy that exact car".
I was stood there mouth open thinking did he just say that mg:
So i left S J Cook and sons in shock thinking how am i going to go about geting a drive in one if the dealer wont let me drive one.

A week later i went down to my other dealer who told me they dont deal with sports so reffered me back to S J Cooks, so i was still left with no drive in one.

I then yesterday phoned renault UK and complained about the fact of not having a drive to which they understood where i was comming from and said another dealer would ring me within the next 24hrs to arrange a test drive. I also asked renault uk to send me a brochore (sorry on the spelling :S) to which the lady said they dont have any :thumb1:

I today recieved a phone call from a dealer in Bath who said yeh i hear your after a drive in a 200 and a 200 cup etc etc and he then said well that cant happen as we dont have either:001_huh:

so please anyone how do i go about getting a drive? these cars look the buisness but im not going to buy one unless i can drive one or be taken out in one to feel the diffenece between a cup and non cup.

p.s. sorry about how long winded i made this thread lol

 

[Roger200]

Seems strange that a dealer would say they dont wana give you a test drive :/

Out of interest, how old are you? Because when i was looking around for mine i was 21 and found it very hard to get a test drive in anything cos they probably thought i was a time waster

All i can suggest is maybe trying a bit further afield, are there any other dealers within a reasonable distance you can try?

 

[Harpham]

I was also 21 when I test drove on in my area (I look about 10 aswell ). Had no problems getting a test drive. Took one out whilst my 172 was having one of those free health checks.
The one thing that got me was that I knew about the car more than what the dealer did lol. I then told them i was undecided on a 200 or v6, so went away lol. (He wanted to charge me about £18k for a basic 200 anyway (no cup pack, recaros etc). Yeah ok then... Ill just go to Crawley Down Group and pay £13k for a brand new Cup instead

 

[Mclaren72]

Sounds like the dealers around you are just unhelpful. I'm 19 and managed to get a test drive for a 200 FF straight away.

I booked mine online, go on renaults website and click book test drive, filter it down to a 200 FF or cup and then check what dealers it shows you that have them available for a test drive, book it in and they will give you a call back within 24 hours. Then just turn up.

You have to be 25 to drive them for insurance reasons but I guess it depends on the salesperson and dealer you are at because the guy let me drive on my test drive which I was quite happy with lol.

Hopefully you get a test drive soon.

If all else fails, find a private sale near you that you are interested in and go take a look at it, that way you should definitely be able to drive one

 

[pars911]

Im 20 with quite a nice car that i drove down there in, he looked at it for px and the guy was quite impressed with it so its not like i turned up as a dreamer, i also explained my financial position saying im looking to buy cash as ive finished my apprenticeship, im on good money and have saved long and hard, and i had my old man there as moral support aswell lol. So i was just confused when he said well if your not gunna buy it i dont want you to drive it.

He never said anything about not being able to drive it due to my age but if that was the case i woulda said for my dad to drive as hes a car nut and i trust his opinion.

well sooner or later i might have to look privatly but i dont wanna be a tyre kicker or a test pilot if you get what i meen

 

[Adrian]

Just go for the cup chassis - I only had a test drive in the normal one but ended up buying a brand new cup chassis R27 from the other end of the country that I didnt even see before it turned up at my house on the back of the transporter ! I think a cup chassis will be easier to sell on as well. If you like some toys go for a FF version and spec the cup chassis, if your not bothered then just get the basic cup - either way CUP FTW !!

 

[Graeme GTR]

there loss mate, you'll probably struggle to find a dealership with a FF and a Cup on site, two cars are nearly identical to have as demonstrators. Anybody on here local that would be willing to give you a drive?

 

[Richy_Boy]

Sounds like my experience with the Reading Renault on the Basingstoke Road. I turned up and asked for a test drive in a 200 with a CUP pack and the sales guy told me to come back 'anytime' next weekend.

I turned up, with my son (as I wanted to make sure his seat fitted and he had leg room etc) only to find the 200 FF with cup pack still sat i nthe middle of the sales floor! The guy actually asked if I wanted him to actually get the car out the middle for the test drive... err. yes, that's why I came back.

So after doing that, he had to drive me to the petrol station.. nice, then he let me have a drive which was on busy A and dual-carriage way roads.

We then talked spec, I told him what I wanted, then mention I had spoken to a couple of other dealers and 'this' was the price I was looking at paying. He then said "You could have told me that price before I got the car out, as I wouldn't have bothered". I was pretty amazed and clearly I was wasting his time by trying to buy a car.

Anyway, I bought the car from Lookers Renault in Chester, who were superb and had the car delivered down to me on a flatbed with 7 miles on the clock. Perfect.

How on earth these dealers think they can sell cars without allowing test drives is beyond me, expecially when it's something quite 'specialist' like a Clio 200..

Good luck!

Rich

ps. I went for a FF with CUP pack and the handling is perfect. The ride quality on a long motorway run after work can be borderline annoying though, so I'd recommend you drive both. If it's a weekend car, CUP all day long.

 

[pars911]

adrian, if im honest im half expecting to like the cup chassis more but the numbers etc dont meen anything to me and i am a bit old fashioned and would like to feel the difference. The chances of that obviously are slim as i knew in the first place but feel let down just in the fact that they cant even get me a drive in one or the other lol.

Graemegtr, i might have to result to putting up a plea on here to see if someone could take me for a drive lol, i obviously would be able to drive due to insurance etc lol

thanks for the replys by the way guys, this looks like a mint forum by the way and hope i do end up with a 200 so i can get on here more often

 

[Foxspeed]

complain on the rs forum......something should happen on there!!!

plenty of the ruk guys run that forum and will have a word behind the scenes :thumbsup:

 

[pars911]

Sounds like my experience with the Reading Renault on the Basingstoke Road. I turned up and asked for a test drive in a 200 with a CUP pack and the sales guy told me to come back 'anytime' next weekend.

I turned up, with my son (as I wanted to make sure his seat fitted and he had leg room etc) only to find the 200 FF with cup pack still sat i nthe middle of the sales floor! The guy actually asked if I wanted him to actually get the car out the middle for the test drive... err. yes, that's why I came back.

So after doing that, he had to drive me to the petrol station.. nice, then he let me have a drive which was on busy A and dual-carriage way roads.

We then talked spec, I told him what I wanted, then mention I had spoken to a couple of other dealers and 'this' was the price I was looking at paying. He then said "You could have told me that price before I got the car out, as I wouldn't have bothered". I was pretty amazed and clearly I was wasting his time by trying to buy a car.

Anyway, I bought the car from Lookers Renault in Chester, who were superb and had the car delivered down to me on a flatbed with 7 miles on the clock. Perfect.

How on earth these dealers think they can sell cars without allowing test drives is beyond me, expecially when it's something quite 'specialist' like a Clio 200..

Good luck!

Rich

ps. I went for a FF with CUP pack and the handling is perfect. The ride quality on a long motorway run after work can be borderline annoying though, so I'd recommend you drive both. If it's a weekend car, CUP all day long.

At least im not the only one thank god, yeh there is no customer service what so ever i meen it sounded like a chore for them to sell me a car. Yeh to be honest i wont be doing many miles as i have a van for work so its a evening and weekend car so the cup does sound appealing but i would have to have air con, dunno about all the gizmos as i do have a fair few on my SEAT. Thanks again for the advice :thumbsup:

 

[porsche_gregory]

If I were you mate I would get back down there and just say your interested in buying the car but how do they expect you to buy it if you cant test drive 1 ?!?! Would they buy a car if they couldnt even test drive one first, I think not !!

Good luck with your hunt mate !! :thumbsup:

 

[PB.200]

Need to find the right dealer. I have driven a 250 at Wakefield twice and the salesmen knew I would not be buying. I even had 24hours in a CT200h just to get a free meal at a steak house.

 

[pars911]

If I were you mate I would get back down there and just say your interested in buying the car but how do they expect you to buy it if you cant test drive 1 ?!?! Would they buy a car if they couldnt even test drive one first, I think not !!

Good luck with your hunt mate !! :thumbsup:

Well i put that question to the guy at the dealer and numerous people at renault uk and they all said well they wouldnt buy a car without driving it, to be honest the guy at the dealer just couldnt care less. The thing is i said look i want to drive something weather its used or new didnt bother me becuase im looking at either option the only thing i said i wasnt doing was finance. Im waiting for a call back from renault uk as we speak, so i will keep the thread updated lol cheers :thumbsup:

 

[MadaCup]

Dealers are useless. I contacted 9 different local dealers with the exact spec I wanted and invited them to provide me with a price. 1 of them got back to me. The price was the only part of the selling process they had to do which I thought was quite simple.

I complained to Renault UK and low and behold 4/5 got back to me but by that time I had already secured my car through Lookers in Chelmsford (who I went to first and were not in the 9 above).

Not a very pleasant experience.

 

[Richy_Boy]

At least im not the only one thank god, yeh there is no customer service what so ever i meen it sounded like a chore for them to sell me a car. Yeh to be honest i wont be doing many miles as i have a van for work so its a evening and weekend car so the cup does sound appealing but i would have to have air con, dunno about all the gizmos as i do have a fair few on my SEAT. Thanks again for the advice :thumbsup:

Sorry, just to be clear.. I meant FF with CUP pack. I'm too old and grumpy to enjoy a full CUP experience

For a weekend car, I'd say a FF with CUP pack would be ideal. If it's a daily driver it's certainly worth considering the non-CUP version for a bit more comfort and 95% of the handling experience.

Rich

 

[Graeme GTR]

always better to speak face to face, you'll get fobbed off on the phone 90% of the time. knobs.

 

[BenW]

I never had any problem getting a test drive when I was 20, both at a main dealer and independant

 

[EighteeN O FivE]

I got my 197 2nd hand from that SJ Cooks dealership & I didn't think they were too bad? They even let me take it for a blast around the ring road!

Although not sure what chance I'd have of taking out their 250 for a blast!

 

[Graeme GTR]

when i bought my 197, the guy was fine on the test drive, even when i started being stupid. Guy said something along the lines of "theres a road up ahead where you can open it up" - licence losing speeds were achieved.