wow, I had no idea that this kind of practice was so common. I will retract my statement about not recommending Sierra Honda.

johnR you seem like a stand up guy. The next time I have a chance I'll give you a call and make an appointment with you for a test drive. Thanks.

 

I think a lot of it depends on your age. This is what happened to me:

Before I wanted the S, I test drove a BMW 330ci at the only BMW dealership around here (Frequently referred to as Dreyer and A--hole). You have to call for an appointment, which is stupid. So I did and waited for literally 90 minutes while the guy was ringing up another couple, which is somewhat understandable. After that 90 minutes, the guy was a complete a--hole and took us out saying just go around the block because he doesn't have time right now and he said if we come back on a Monday at 4, he'll let us test drive a M5.

Well, I was throwing buying questions back and forth and he obvoiusly didn't want to sell it to me. We came back that Monday and he didn't even say a word. He was paged 4 times and just went into his office. I was so pissed off. I wrote a letter to BMW North America along with the dealership.

Lucky for me, it gave me time to rethink getting one of those, and I ended up in a better car, for 8k less :-)

 

yeah its definitely an age thing, i am 24 and when i walked in they acted like whats this little punk want and why is he in our dealership, he has no right to even look at that car. when i asked for a test drive they absolutely refused and said that they do not allow anyone to ever test drive the s2k's. they then said they would have to run a credit check if i was really serious about the car. i then said hows this for serious, showed him a check for 30,000 and walked out. you shoulda seen them chase me out the door trying to apoligize.

 

Why does running a credit report worsen your credit? I've never heard of that before.

 

Can't say I blame them for wanting to make sure you had the means to purchase the car before a test drive.

My salesman wouldn't even let me sit in the car! The car was already sold... Anyway 2 years later I get a salesman to take me back to talk to a customer that is taking delivery of their car. Finally I get to sit in one... A bit tight but doable. So I put money down. Done deal.

Would have been nice to do it 2 years ago. One thing for sure if I got to test drive it 2 years ago I would have bought it on the spot!

 

It seems very likely that jonstains is a very youth-looking person, and the salesperson is taking that very prejudicial approach of treating anybody who looks young as not entitled to handle an expensive automobile. I am 63 years old, and more or less look it, and found that my salesperson treated me like a good potential customer from the very beginning, and was very cooperative about sending me out on a test drive.
Regarding the credit check, I think that is rotten and obviously a significant invasion of privacy. However, having bought many new cars in my lifetime, and having taken many test drives, I have observed that virtually all dealerships ask to see my driver's license. The majority will also Xerox that license. It should be pretty obvious that the Xerox copy is not used for their permanent archives, but is probably used to initiate a credit check with Equifax or Experian to see if the potential customer is likely to qualify for a car loan. It costs the dealer somewhere in the vicinity of $10, which is a very small expense. Some day I need to find out what happens if I refuse to let the dealer Xerox my license. Hmmm.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by turbo_pwr
[B]Why does running a credit report worsen your credit?

 

turbo_pwr, in my instance it wasn't just credit reports they were running but actual loan applications. Each time one comes back with a loan offer, it is looked at by subsequent lending institutions as if you actually agreed to the previous loan offer. Unbeknownst to me, one dealer was so desperate to sell that she actually made like six loan applications on my behalf. Each time that comes back as if you have an astronomical amount of debt since the assumption is you are accepting each one that comes back with an offer. As a result, each time the offered amount of the loans is dropping based on the formula they use for debt/income ratio. I got my loan from a Credit Union and it was only after a couple of weeks did the offers/rejections roll in to my home that I had no idea about. Most of the rejections stated my debt was too large. The irony is, prior to accepting the loan from my CU I had absolutely zero debt. So, just asking *can I afford this* can be a self-fulfulling *no* if you don't accept the first several offers. Anyway, that's the way it was explained to me by one of my financially-savvy friends.

 

Actually, I believe credit inquiries do lower your "score". Not by much, but sometimes enough to cross a threshold and get less favorable credit terms. And if you try to get a mortgage within a few months of a car dealer inquiry, you might have to write a letter saying "i was just looking...".

As for *why* they wanted to run the credit, they where clearly trying to qualify you as a likely customer. Try calling the sales manager in advance to arrange a test drive next time.

 

I have received this same attitude from salesmen a few times when I went in to a dealership. Each time I just left and didn't buy a car from them. I only buy my cars where the salesmen will at least fake like they were happy to see me. In the end I get the last laugh by knowing that their attitude literally cost them $$$$$.

[QUOTE][B]I have observed that virtually all dealerships ask to see my driver's license.