Be considerate on test drives

[MikeRTX]

I was invited by the Ft. Worth store to take a test drive in a 2024 (Highland) Model 3,so I made an appointment for 2:00 yesterday. I made the 30-minute drive to the showroom and got there on time.

I was told by the cheery lady there that the car was out being driven by someone else. Oh? Did you double-book it? (They have only one at this time.) Oh, no, she assured me. The people are just running over a little and should be back soon. 45 minutes later I gave up and left without driving it.

I got a text this morning asking if I had any questions "about my test drive". When I explained what happened, I was told the other people had kept the car for 2 hours (!) without permission.

Point is, if you accept a 30-minute test drive you should be considerate enough to return the car on time and not impose on other people.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I was invited by the Ft. Worth store to take a test drive in a 2024 (Highland) Model 3,so I made an appointment for 2:00 yesterday. I made the 30-minute drive to the showroom and got there on time.

I was told by the cheery lady there that the car was out being driven by someone else. Oh? Did you double-book it? (They have only one at this time.) Oh, no, she assured me. The people are just running over a little and should be back soon. 45 minutes later I gave up and left without driving it.

I got a text this morning asking if I had any questions "about my test drive". When I explained what happened, I was told the other people had kept the car for 2 hours (!) without permission.

Point is, if you accept a 30-minute test drive you should be considerate enough to return the car on time and not impose on other people.

That's sad.

Maybe somebody got themselves a good short-term rental.

 

[Scelto]

It's frustrating to be stuck there just waiting but I can see the other side of that as well.

I actually think Tesla should allow 60 minutes between test drives. It's not like they're booked solid.

45 minutes for the drive and 5-10 to give the interior touch surfaces a quick sanitation wipe makes sense to me.

Luckily my Tesla SC is only about 20 minutes away so I had two test drives before deciding to spend 65k on my car, still much less time overall than for any other new car I've bought.

With the particular quirks of electric / Tesla, 30 minutes is entirely inadequate, though 2 hours on a 30 minute agreement is... bad...

 

[gsmith123]

Agreed, 30 min is pretty short.

That said, I doubt the people hogging test drives are not hanging out on this forum...

 

[Foxsbiscuits]

Or at the 30 minute mark FSD engages and brings it back

 

[UncleCreepy]

Or at the 30 minute mark FSD engages and brings it back

Maybe that's what happened. And then it failed so bad that it took another 90 minutes to drive back

 

[RedModel3]

It can't be considered a test drive if a Tesla employee doesn't go along. So what's the real story here?

 

[12B4A]

Aren't test drives "illegal" in Texas because of the no direct sales law? "Oh, you're offering test drives? That makes you a dealership. Where's you dealership license?"

 

[gsmith123]

It can't be considered a test drive if a Tesla employee doesn't go along. So what's the real story here?

Um, ok, what is it then? I’ve done an unaccompanied test drive. I was “driving” and “testing” the car

 

[Tomms11]

I’ve done a handful of demo drives with Tesla, and I was always by myself - no employee or advisor came along.

 

[ashegam]

That said, I doubt the people hogging test drives are not hanging out on this forum...

exactly, nor are they going to have the mental cognition to begin with if they are keeping a car for 2 hrs to begin with. This was really a post for OP to vent off in, that's all and ok. We all need a shoulder to lean on every now and then.

 

[sdbonez]

Seems like they should be recalled to the dealership after 30 minutes. "Forced Autopilot has been engaged to return this vehicle to the showroom. Please do not attempt to deviate the vehicle from the prescribed path. Thank you."

 

[derekmw]

It can't be considered a test drive if a Tesla employee doesn't go along. So what's the real story here?

The last few times I went to test drive, they don't seem to care about sending anyone with you anymore. They just handed me the key card and said, have fun. lol

 

[Adam3]

Probably a youtuber

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Probably a youtuber

Or somebody who wanted to give it a good test drive. I've done test drives over an hour to get a good idea of driving comfort.

Many possible reasons, some nefarious, some not, but most of them impolite.
If Tesla wants to place a hard limit on it, they'd need to get people to sign an agreement that limits them.

(We've been handed a fob and given some general guidance plenty of times for a number of different vehicles. I've only had one tedious experience where we were only test driving and the salesperson was trying to get all kinds of information, like potential trades.)

 

[Birdsfan]

I received an invite to take the M3 for a test drive so I signed up. There is anew SC that opened just a few miles away from me. I'm curious as to the refinements and if I will notice much of a difference. Understandably this will not be a new M3P but I should at least get the gist of the sound/interior improvement.

 

[RayK]

Sort of depends on the dealer and/or salespeople. In my experience, since 1979 or so, this is what has happened to me when car shopping for a new vehicle:

• 1979 Test drive of Mazda RX-7. Oak Tree Mazda (San Jose) salesman went with me on the test drive. Combined city and highway drive. Out for probably 30-35 minutes. Don't recall any conversations from the drive but I ended up buying from them.
• 1984 Test drive of Mazda 626 Touring (5-door hatchback). Capitol Mazda (San Jose) saleswoman tossed me the keys to the car and sent me on my way. Out for about 30 minutes. Might have been due to the fact that I pulled up in the 1980 RX-7. I don't recall if I even left a copy of my driver's license and/or insurance policy. Pleasant experience although I ended up back at Oak Tree to buy the car.
• 1999 Test drive of BMW 323i from Mountain View BMW. Salesman came with me and talked about features of the car but wasn't too pushy. He did ask what was the timeframe I was looking to purchase. I don't believe that I told him that I was planning to buy a car using CarOrder.com and this was the only way I could get a test drive.
• 2017 Test drive of Tesla Model S during an event held by Tesla in Los Gatos. Told them I wanted about 30 minutes with a car and they were flexible with whatever time I needed. They offered an S or an X; chose the S as I thought it would be more in line with the upcoming Model 3. Sales (?) guy came along but as he didn't know the area around Los Gatos/San Jose, allowed me to go wherever I wanted. Drove city streets for about 15-20 minutes and then headed out on the highway for another 15 minutes. Very impressed by the acceleration going slightly uphill on a Highway 85 on-ramp. Pretty sure it was a P100D but I don't believe it was in Ludicrous Mode. That sold me on the realities on what an EV could be. This was the only time that I could remember where I had to have a reservation to test drive a car.
• 2018 Test drive of Tesla Model 3 from an owner via Turo.com. This was the only way to get hands-on with the car; local showrooms were not offering test drives (at least not the ones I tried contacting). Owner gave me a quick overview of the car and then handed me the keycard and mobile connector for a weekend rental. I'd already had my reservation in during the launch event.

Also have had several times test driving a used car but I don't equate that as being the same type of experience. Most of the used car dealers allowed me to take the vehicle out for however long I needed it and the vast majority didn't have a salesperson come along for the ride.

 

[mborkow]

It can't be considered a test drive if a Tesla employee doesn't go along. So what's the real story here?

I scheduled demo drives of the Model 3 and Y before I bought one. I never had an employee with me in the car (there wasn’t even one on site in Emeryville where I took 4 separate demo drives). Each demo drive was one hour. Thirty minutes to drive the car and thirty to check it out in the parking lot.

 

[sdbonez]

My wife freaked when she was in the driver seat for her first demo drive and the rep started to walk away "wait, you're not coming with us?" He responded, "Elon prefers you get to experience the performance of the vehicle without creepy oversight."

My 22year old son proceeds to get out of the back seat and open the driver side door as he says 'Mom, I got you - why don't you sit in the back... "

 

[pipestem]

Tesla could do things like pop messages, reduce max speed steadily to near zero, etc.... yeah there are safety issues but they could also be like Hertz and call the cops on someone stealing the car. I feel like this is 'improvable' if not solvable.