Earlier today I was involved in a Lemon Law complaint where a customer was requesting a buyback or a replacement vehicle. The vehicle was purchased brand new and currently has 3000 miles on it. The complaint is a noise that is evident at almost any normal driving speed. The source of the noise has been identified and the manufacturer has agreed to replace a major component of the drivetrain under the terms of the new car warranty. However the customer insists on a different vehicle or his money back since the fault was present since the first drive home from the dealership. It seems this customer signed papers and bought a $55K car without ever sitting in the driver’s seat, much less driving the car around the block.
Had the customer driven the vehicle prior to purchase, he would not have accepted this car. Had the customer read the terms of the basic and powertrain warranties, he would have known how potential repairs would be addressed. Now he is stuck with a car that he finds unpleasant to drive, or that will have a major mechanical repair within the first 3000 miles of ownership.
How many people would spend $55,000 on a car without even driving it once? How could this issue have been avoided?
And let’s not start on how often I have been greeted on a Monday morning with “I bought a used car over the weekend and I’d like to get it checked out”?
Yeah, I don’t get it. We sold two previous houses ($500K & $900K) to buyers that never stepped foot in them so, by comparison, purchasing a $55K vehicle without driving it seems low-risk. Personally, I would never buy a car without driving it, let alone a house without going in it.
Well add me to the ones who bought his car without driving it. I ordered my 2022 widebody scat pack challenger in July of 2022. it was not built and delivered to the dealer until mid-January of 2023. (parts shortages and plant shutdowns waiting for parts.) there were no cars like mine available to test drive. they did have the base 6-cylinder challenger to test drive, but it would not really feel the same because of the different suspension, 6 speed manual, bigger engine, bigger brakes, wider tires.
In the past I would never buy a vehicle without test driving it. but a few years back I did test drive a 5.7 RT. Challenger so I figured it probably would be close, except mine has more horsepower. I didn’t like the idea of buying it without test driving it but, with all the parts shortages and what was going on at that time I didn’t really have a choice except to buy it or wait. but who knew how long it would take to get back to some normalcy.
Among other things, people don’t understand warranties. A friend bought a new Mazda 3 several years ago and discovered the transmission was leaking. She actually expected a replacement car when all that was needed was a new seal.
Just another example of spoiled, self centered, easily offended society. Wah. I don’t know what I want so I feel slighted in some way. Gotta makeup some lame excuse.
I’ve never driven a new car before buying it. If you order a car, you can’t drive it until delivered and pretty tough to reject a special order car.
Also they aren’t likely to give you a car in the lot with five miles on it so you can test it. Then it becomes a demonstrator. I have always driven the same model before hand, but that is what the warranty is for
Good point about the special order car, I don’t know if the car in question was ordered or not. But I do know that the 2 times my wife was buying new, she was able to drive the car she was looking at, not just a demo.
Yes that’s part of the problem. Customer is unhappy about having a reman [major powertrain component] installed in a car with 3000 miles, especially since the issue was there when new.
I haven’t read it but I assume Chrysler’s warranty allows for reman parts. In any event, it appears they’re going to make the situation right. But yeah, a certain degree of responsibility is on the buyer.
I’ve only ordered one car and I drove it before accepting delivery and paying the remaining balance. Before that I bought cars off the lot and always test drove the one I wanted to buy before signing palates and paying.
I have only ordered one car and that is recently due to the shortages. I still test drove the car for a few miles before going in to do the paperwork. I actually check the body panels, paint, under the hood etc as I will with a used car.
But have friends that lease brand new cars through a broker and the car just gets dropped off to their driveway. They don’t really care. To them it is like buying a new laptop.
I also had a friend that when the housing market was very hot, put an offer, over asking on a house. Wife asked him later that night if it was a single story or two and he didn’t know!
When I bought my Odyssey, I took one of them for a test drive. Once I decided to buy it, the salesperson said “Great, let me get one of them off the lot for you”. I told him I wanted the actual van we just test drove not some unknown to me vehicle. He sure seemed perplexed that I would want to buy the one I just drove- probably they had used it for a few test drives and he thought I would want one with 2 miles on it versus 20. No way I’m spending $43k for something and never having driven it…
I’d probably risk buying a new Corolla, Mazda 3, Honda Civic, that sort of widely sold econobox in the mid-$20K range, without a test drive, provided the Consumer Reports testing didn’t note any downsides I’d be concerned about. If that was the only way, for example if I feared contracting Covid from the sales experience.
The Forester I test drove was a higher trim in about the last color i’d choose but it was the only Eyesight equipped Forester on the lot, drove mine when it came in with the salesman to fill the tank and noticed the difference between the trims but no problems with the vehicle.
Most of our new car purchases have been “in transit” including mom’s Prius which we signed the papers 4 days before the car arrived in port. We put at least 200mi on it in the 1st 24hrs so any strange noises or issues would have been obvious.
I always get a test drive as I buy old beaters from craigslist and stuff
Sure there are downsides, but I haven’t had a car payment since the '90s. And my insurance stays low. And my “personal property tax” payments too.
To get this right it’s a much more arduous shopping experience (and you forego whatever new “bling” is offered on newer cars - yawn). But I’ve only once had it go sideways, and even then not by much, and have spend far less on cars than most others over the years.
But to come back to the point - YES! Test drive the car before you buy it!
I would guess the assumption would be a new car off the lot should be fine. Dealer has the opportunity to fix it before customer goes whacko. Sure last 2 cars long test drives, but it is like
buying a burger at a drive through, right?
Even with a new car there are problems that might occur during delivery or at the dealership. I check for paint and interior damage as well as drivability.
The quarter panel on my special ordered par avenue had an obvious paint repair. Unknown whether done at the factory or not but the dealer took care of it before we took delivery. That’s what dealers do as part of the initial prep. Warranties cover any repairs.
I’m happy you folks are able to take a brand new car and test drive it a couple hundred miles before committing to buy it, but gee do you do the same with lawn mowers, refrigerators, and everything else new out of the box?
I never said I test drove for a couple hundred miles. I drove it maybe 10 miles. I had already test driven another car for at least a half hour before ordering one. The second test drive was always to make sure nothing was wrong with the car I bought.
I usually adjust my approach based on risk and financial wherewithal. When a car is priced similarly to a lawn mower, I’ll certainly consider buying one without starting and driving it!
There is another possibility. I could be rich enough to equate a car purchase with a drive thru hamburger but I’m probably not eating fast food hamburgers then either (j/k Barky)
My other issue with cars is that you just can’t return them and get a different one. You bought it, you own it- warts and all. Any issues, they are going to try to fix the one you bought unless you get to the point of it being deemed a lemon. That works out most of the time although it could be very inconvenient and not completely satisfying in the end. I’ve had warranty repairs and the service tech rushed the job (because they are making squat on warranty work) and left out a bunch of hardware that later caused me issues. I’d prefer to avoid any of that if possible and actually examining the car, driving it etc helps to ensure there are no obvious defects right from the get go.
Edit: forgot to include- how many times do we see people coming here complaining about uncomfortable seats or other aspects of the vehicle. The general consensus here is to do a test drive and a lengthy one at that. How do you tell if the seats work for you without doing that? Back to the lawn mower- I only spend 2 hours a week in that seat and they had a demo unit on the floor I could sit in for as long as I wanted
My test drives are maybe 10 miles but I test a lot of stuff in that distance, especially on a used purchase.
