NHT and 1/2 ton towables

Donstar · July 31, 2018

3 hours ago, wforrest08 said:

9 hours ago, Donstar said:

Why would so many test-drive it and not follow through with a purchase?

Dealers around here swap trucks like kids with baseball cards. Mine was a dealer swap had 300ish miles on it the window sticker said it was delivered to another stealership one state South did the math and the miles add up to somebody drove one truck up and one truck down. Also the dealer in town (nope not the one I bought from) a couple salesmen get to take brand spanking new trucks home and they ain’t driving W/Ts currently one is driving a Centennial and I’ll guarantee he ain’t buying it he drove a fully loaded LTZ Pearl White 13 around for months when the 14s came out. Father in laws best friend owned a Dodge stealership for many years friends and family got the keys and where told drive it for a week if you like it come sign the papers if you don’t bring it back and we’ll find you something eles. Course it was only 5 or 6 years ago they started to take the keys out of the new inventory at night and they never did on the used cars. Keys were always kept above the visor I’d bet there was an occasional after hours test drive...

Thanks for this explanation. I know that sales people encourage and sometimes offer gifts for customers to take new vehicles for a test drive. Perhaps dealerships could appease those of us who don't like hundreds of miles on a potential new purchase by offering a "demonstrator" type discount.

wforrest08 · July 31, 2018

The “big” Chevy stealership around here actually started a deal where they have dedicated demo vehicles you take for a up to 4 day test drive then after so many months/miles they swap them with new ones and sell the “old” ones for a descent discount or at least they were not sure if they still do or not. Unfortunately the Vette isn’t on the list. http://www.karlchevrolet.com/Chevy_Experience IMO this should be a industry standard at least 24/48 hour test drives as opposed to well we let you drive it 1.3 miles around the block as we rode with & bothered you the whole time asking “what do you think?” “do you have a trade?” “on a scale of 1-10 how do you like it?” “let’s go inside and talk numbers”. You can buy a 25 buck pillow of Amazon try it out for 60 days send it back if you don’t like it, yet on a 35k plus vehicle they want you to make a decision with a 8 minute test ride... We rented a 2018 Chevy Equinox last year on vacation first 30 miles we were both like this thing seems ok after a week and 2500 miles we were both like get us out of this G#dd@mn uncomfortable POS already. I’d been mad as heII if we would have bought one of them.

Another thing about a truck with a couple miles is your warranty will reflect that or at least it should Mine is stated as 3year/36,4xx and 5year/100,4xx on the purchase agreement and online at GM. So at least that way somebody eles isn’t burning up your warranty.

Three of the best vehicles we’ve owned/own were “fleet” vehicles my 3/4 ton was a cable company truck, had a Crown Vic that was a Sheriff car (it was to cheap couldn’t pass it up) and the wife’s Nitro was a rental car, yep she bought a used rental car home there is no way in heII I’d ever buy a rental because I beat every one I rent like a mule but she’s put almost a 100k on it and it’s never left her stranded.

Not it sure what you guys have up there as far as used car sites on the web, we have AutoTrader, Cargurus, Craigslist, ect. I can find newer one owner extremely low mile trucks on there all the time. Granted your kinda looking for a needle in a hay stack but it be worth a shot if your willing to travel.

Donstar · August 1, 2018

My local dealer(s) continue to have a decent selection of '18's. I checked the build date of the truck that has held my interest (except for high test drive miles) and it is 08/17. The truck next to it is 05/18. We like to believe that we don't care what other people may say about our choices but this one is a conundrum. It has not been the pick of the litter for several months yet it is the nicest optioned truck on the lot, imo! Oh well, if I procrastinate long enough, it will be sold and I can kick myself around the block!

cire0309 · August 1, 2018

2 hours ago, Donstar said:

My local dealer(s) continue to have a decent selection of '18's. I checked the build date of the truck that has held my interest (except for high test drive miles) and it is 08/17. The truck next to it is 05/18. We like to believe that we don't care what other people may say about our choices but this one is a conundrum. It has not been the pick of the litter for several months yet it is the nicest optioned truck on the lot, imo! Oh well, if I procrastinate long enough, it will be sold and I can kick myself around the block!

You could always use the mileage as an advantage with negotiations. You know when the truck was built, it only stands to reason that it's been in a dealer(s) inventory for quite a while and they may be looking to make a good deal on it. If they're selling it as new, you have the full protections of a new vehicle warranty.

Also, back with my theory on the dealer trades, check the bottom right hand corner of the window sticker. Here in the US (not sure with Canada) it lists the dealership which the vehicle was originally shipped to. That may be able to answer the trade question without the need to jump into the shark tank.