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I'll test drive stuff that interests me over the years, or friends cars, or whatever, just because I'm interested in cars, not because I necessarily want to buy that car or that kind of car. I've owned and driven so many different cars that I have a real good idea of what I fit in and find comfortable.
My daily driver BMW740iL was bought on ebay from a wholesaler up in Stamford, CT. I live just outside of Baltimore, MD. I had them take a few pictures of areas I knew were important to assessing condition. I paid the deposit when I clicked the "buy it now" button, drove up to the dealership that weekend and drove the car home. The "test drive" was the trip home. It had no service records, but the stuff I had them take pictures of gave me the information I needed. It had 143k miles on it at the time. Now, 4+ years later and another 40k miles on it, and I'm completely happy with the purchase.
Bought my Range Rover off craigslist from Long Island, NY from a private owner with all service records. Flew up, drove home. No test drive. Also been very happy with it over the last couple years.
And both are vehicles that have reputations for being costly to own. You just have to know what you're looking at before you even look at it.
You are right people who know what they want don't need a test drive.
I once sold a service truck on E-Bay to a guy from Chicago (I lived in NJ.)
He came and looked at the truck, said it was just as I described. I asked him if he wanted to test drive it and he said" I'll test drive it on the drive home to Chicago"
He asked if I took cash and I told him I would make an exception and handed over the title.
Ebay has several buyer protection protocols in place, its not like going to Hwy 69 Motors and Pawn Shop and buying a used car ten minutes before they close and having a "30 seconds or 30 feet" warranty.
Craigslist has no such guarantees, but if I'm buying a car out of state, I'm not going to drive out or fly out, test drive it and say, not so much." I'm going to get enough information by pictures and email that I can make my decision before even heading out.
of cours MOST things I purchase are already priced to reflect anything wrong with them or are projects, so a test drive is rarely necessary. I mean, there's no point in test driving a $375 '01 Cavalier that supposed to be a beater driver.
Saw the ad in cragslist, talked to the owner, went out there, paid my money, took it home, cleaned it up, and drove it 6 hours away to my friend's house in CT:
After a fuel filter, tune up and detailing:
In response to another poster, you do not have to be insane to not test drive a used car. You simply have to know about the kind of car your looking at.
It baffles me that people would not test drive a car before purchasing. I know a great deal about the car before I purchase it, however I still dont know how I will fit behind the wheel, how I will feel about the interior, pick up, etc. I LOVE the way an Audi S5 looks, but test driving it, I felt the interior was not up to par and seemed a bit plastic. Same with a CLS, I LOVED the appearance, but once getting inside I was too petite for it for some reason. I suppose if someone is not particular and just looks at cars as a vehicle to get from point A to point B, but I can not imagine not test driving.
You make a good point but how do you take a test drive on your largest purchase that arguable you will keep longer and will have a bigger influence on your life and pocketbook?
So you take a 20 min. test drive and then you are sold on the new car.
But you walk through a new home, take a look, check out the schools and then buy a house for 10-20 times the cost of a car and yet you have no idea if you new neighbor is a serial killer.
Auto test drives might make you feel good for 20 minutes but you have no idea what you really bought until you drive it for a month.
Last time I checked, cars kill people too. A test drive will show you the blind spots in the car and its a good driver sit fit. I drove a Challenger for a few days and there are massive blind spots. Something you don't consider until you drive it.
Last time I checked, cars kill people too. A test drive will show you the blind spots in the car and its a good driver sit fit. I drove a Challenger for a few days and there are massive blind spots. Something you don't consider until you drive it.
I had some blind spots on my Pickup and a couple of stick on convex mirrors took care of that.
Luckily here in LA, you can basically rent any make or model for a day or two to see how it drives. I always tell my friends & family to rent vehicles to see if there are any annoying quirks. I was going to lease a non-quattro A4 (with the CVT) but after testing it for a day, I just couldn't get used to the throttle lag & jerkiness from stops.
When I bought my (new) 99 Integra GS-R I didn't take a test drive. I'm sure I had sat in one prior to purchase, but hadn't driven one. I purchased it online and had to drive from Ohio to Michigan to get the color I wanted. It worked out fine and I had no regrets, though I doubt I'd do it again.
I think it is more important to test drive your future spouse than to test a car. Easier to trade in a lemon car then a lemon spouse.
In either case, you never find out about all it's issues until it's "yours". Then again, if you get a nice enough model, someone is always willing to take it off your hands based off of looks alone!
Luckily here in LA, you can basically rent any make or model for a day or two to see how it drives. I always tell my friends & family to rent vehicles to see if there are any annoying quirks. I was going to lease a non-quattro A4 (with the CVT) but after testing it for a day, I just couldn't get used to the throttle lag & jerkiness from stops.
Yeah, we're lucky we can rent just anything we want here, too...before leaping to a large investment. But I really haven't had any issues with the dealerships just letting me drive the car (or even offering to let me take it home).
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