“Test drives on public roads are not allowed”

Elkins45 said:
There’s a fairly large Chevy dealer nearby who has a manual 2010 Mazda6 with 132k miles listed for $4k as an “as acquired” vehicle.

https://www.tomgillchevrolet.com/in...er_listings&stocknum=36907A&atc_ownerid=72378

One very interesting thing about this listing is in the fine print (emphasis added):


I had a sleazy buy here, pay here lot in Cincinnati not let me drive a Mazda5 a couple of years ago, but this seems unusual for a legit dealer. I wonder if they actually enforce this or if it’s just boiler plate?
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I've never seen that stated at any dealership that I worked for. Something is up.
 
SOUNDMAN5000 said:
Its a 16 year old trade with over 100K miles and priced at $3,999. A car like that I would think is not worth the time of day for a new car dealer to do much more than park it on the back lot and offer it to his used car buddies that will show up and haul it off his lot for whatever he has in it trade value.

You can look at the price alone and know it was all but pushed into that dealer when traded.
You know the brakes are grinding and perhaps not safe on the road but simply NOT worth the dealers time of day as $3K cars is NOT how this dealer makes his money.

I would think a new car dealer selling a $3K car to someone is a bad idea as you know that person will return a week later complaining his car won't run. I seee nothing wrong with what this dealer is doing and he is being upfront.
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New car dealers usually dump those to auctions for all the reasons you mention. Will go at Auction for $1-2K I imagine. Then used car dealer will fix a few things, allow a test drive, and sell for $3,999 or so.

I looked at two, one was $7,999 and the other $5,999 I think. So not super cheap.

The question is why are new car dealers trying to sell these cars themselves for all the reasons you mention. Are they that hard up for cash?
 
It's not much different than buying at an auction. As long as one doesn't get it in their head that they're buying from a dealer who will stand behind the car, there isn't necessarily anything nefarious going on.
 
Likely their policy doesn't cover enough for manual being damaged by test drive for a car this old / low price. Unless you really want it and can test it out by listening, already know what to look for, you probably should not bother. It is just a commodity car not an exotic collectible so just treat it as an auction buy.
 
Pro tip: Do not post a link of a vehicle you’re interested in on any website. Dealers keep track how many clicks what vehicles get views on and if a certain behcilw shows lit of interest they might not be as willing to deal on it.
 
I have not figured out the local dealers game. For example I can't drive this "as traded" Volvo thats $5500.

1776372834739.webp


The same dealer is listing this Charger without the "as traded" badging for less money. So it really seems like there hiding things on certain vehicles - unknown? Why can I drive the Dodge and not the Volvo?

1776372898061.webp
 
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