A bicycle is a good way to look around new car dealers and used car lots.
It’s winter here so not so much fun.
I know someone that did that and had trouble getting a good deal. One salesperson admitted she looked desperate riding a bike to car lots.
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I drove to a dealer in my battered 28 year old Oldsmobile. I was in my work clothes and I looked at an Uplander Minivan for more than 25 minutes while the “sales people” stood around and gabbed with each other. Finally, a young salesperson who wasn’t part of that group came over to help me. I got a price quote, took his card and said I would be back with my wife the next day. The next day, I returned with my wife. My wife was in her professional clothes and I was dressed in my sport coat. We were driving our six year old Ford Windstar. We barely got out of the Windstar and three salesman swarmed all over us. I asked for the salesman I had spoken with the day before. I was told he was off for the day. “I’ll come back tomorrow”, I replied. With great reluctance, one of the salesmen said he would call him. The person I had spoken with the day before was on the premises. We went for a test drive, decided to buy the Uplander and we gave him the check for the agreed on price.
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I live in a neighborhood that borders the auto mall here on two sides, commuting past the dealers on the bike. When I finally decided to buy a car I rode the bike over and met with a salesman who would have given me a ride home if I needed.
The dealers here are mostly along a loop with sidewalks and street parking, a customer on foot could have come from another dealer.
You ride a bicycle to the new car area near me and you are going to risk your life.
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There’s another benefit to using a bicycle for navigating dealers.
When you arrive by car, some of the large dealers scan your license place when you pull into the lot. Then by the time you begin talking with a salesperson, they’re already armed with a great deal of your personal and financial information, (whatever they can buy).
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Doubtful if a car dealer would welcome bicycles coursing though the aisles of the lot considering the monthly cost of lot damage, a dealer’s lot is not a bicycle park.
The larger dealers have golf carts to take customers to distant areas of the property.
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I don’t see a sales person giving you the time of day if you were buying a corvette and rolled on up with a bike.
I do this when dealers are closed on Sundays. Its just a faster way for me to move around car lots and target my next purchase.Beside that,cycling is a good way to keep in shape.
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That’s where you live, not so much with many others among us. In 2 communities I ride in it is very doable and safe, too.
Besides, I keep an aluminum Dahon folding-bike in my trunk, so I wouldn’t have to ride it there, anyhow.
The biggest problem I see is making the sales people and dealer principals nervous about somebody getting too close to some vehicles and scratching the vehicles’ finish. Try this at a Lamborghini or Ferrari lot.
If one rode near the cars, got off the bike and walked over to one, that would probably work.
CSA 
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The closest Toyota dealer has a bicycle rack. It’s on a shared-use trail. I bike there to pick up parts.
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Grocery stores and libraries also have bicycle racks to stow your bike, they would rather you not ride your bike during your visit.
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At least you can scare off the sharks that way and use it to find a salesperson who happens to treat people like human beings and isn’t so superficial.
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Maybe to ride to the dealership, but I doubt if any dealerships would be all that keen on having someone on a bicycle riding around on their lots. Too much potential for an accident either to a new car or another person. Most dealerships aren’t too big that you can’t walk them, and the larger ones have golf carts that the salesman can use to take you around the lot.
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My experience with dealerships is that sales people are the biggest negative. They know nothing about the cars that I don’t already know or can learn from the owner’s manual. I’ve done some reading of reports and reviews and already narrowed the field, so the dealership is mostly a chance to try the car on and see if it fits, if it has the room I want where I want it, and to see if my wife feels ok with it, too. And to drive it. Otherwise, the salesperson is just a waste of time, sometimes so much so that I’ll just leave and go somewhere else. The last new car we bought we finally got from a dealer 40 miles away, after doing all the negotiating by texting back and forth.
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I like the idea…but I don’t see very practical. Most dealerships (if not all) I know of are on vey busy streets that are NOT bike friendly.
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