Originally Posted by 690 HP V

You are not allowed to step foot into your new home until you sign...

Stupid business whether you agree or not.

Originally Posted by sly1

I would be surprised that if anyone who bought Corvettes from a particular dealership and established a relationship, wouldn't be allowed to take a C7 for a test drive. On the other hand if someone is unknown to a Chevy salesperson, how does he differentiate a serious buyer from someone who has no intention of buying? Let's not forget that Corvettes share the showroom with $25k - $30k cars, and many Chevy buyers struggle to qualify for these relatively inexpensive cars, much less a $60K+ C7. The dealership traffic is far different in a Chevy showroom than let's say that of a Porsche dealership, where their "inexpensive" cars sticker in the $60Ks and most sticker for well over a $100K.

Maybe some Chevy salesmen can offer their perspective, but I would expect that if Chevy dealers allowed anyone to test drive C7s, they would be beat to hell in a couple of weeks.

Originally Posted by harmonyp

Sure, they have no problem selling, the one or two they get in. But what about all the sales they've lost. The danged car sells itself. Pretty is as pretty does, but once you get behind the wheel of a C7 - for me, and everyone I've talked to - it's insta-love, I HAVE to have this car.

And if Boardwalk would have been open about letting me drive a non-z51 right there and didn't make me feel like I was in WAY over my league and like I was a bottom feeder, I may well have made a different decision and ordered one from them on the spot. Instead I'm pissed. I drive 100K miles a year, I'm going to go thru my C6 vette fast enough. And they won't be getting my business. And I won't encourage anyone else to give them business either. That's what one gets when one treats customers this way. And they also told me they were the third largest vette dealer in the nation. I was tempted to ask where they thought Furman and MacMulkin and Conti and Kerbeck and the dealers that actually got 3 digit allocations instead of low 2 digit allocations in that paradigm. But I didn't attack the poor salesman who was actually a nice guy in a crappy dealership.

And I talked for a long time with Rich at Abel (and the owner and sales folks were extremely kind) about his leaving a high level dealership to move into tiny Rio Vista for the opportunity to work for a dealership that treats its customers right. That's where I'll be going for service. Hmmm thinking about it, guess they'd be the place for me to order from when I'm ready too...

Originally Posted by musclecar6

Right now, as we all know, the dealers are in the driver's seat with C7's. You wanna have a certain body part kissed, along with test drives all you want, great price reductions, etc, just tell them you want to buy a new 2013 left over vette. That's where you the buyer are in the driver's seat. The dealers couldn't care less if someone's nose is out of joint cause the red carpet was not rolled out for them, as they inquire about a C7. There are plenty who will be buying new C7's. As to buyer's loyalty, that's a hoot. Most of the guys on here, and elsewhere, are loyal to their wallet. Oh yeah, they'll whine about not being treated like kings, but even if the dealer goes out of their way to do everything they ask, the buyer will have no hesitation to buy from someone else, if they can save even a small amount. Some dealers may not be the greatest, but many buyer's are no saints either.

Originally Posted by 2K3Z06

I had a similar experience. Guy said no test drives, long story short. Went to another dealer down the highway. He said let me get the keys........... Bought it that day!!!!

Screw them. Go somewhere else.

And BTW, the Porsche dealer was way cooler, said I wont let you drive a new one but, let me drive a last year model for about an hour. Those guys are way cool.

My next car will probably be a Porsche. The car was great and the dealer was a class act.

Originally Posted by Pete43

I had been looking at my C7 for about a week and went in one morning with the intent to buy. I worked out the deal with the salesman trading in my 2013 green Fiesta. I left to get a check from my bank, showed it to the salesman and asked could I drive it first. He said no. I told him I hope it at least has a warranty. It had 25 miles on it so someone test drove it.
But they were nice enough not to wash the car or put one of their advertisement stickers on it!
Another dealer about 2 miles from my home has 2 C7's (Gray and Blue)and he drives the blue one every day. Least he waves.

Originally Posted by SoCalC7

I had a similar experience near Irvine Spectrum. Useless. I subsequently bought out of state :-)

Originally Posted by Mike Mercury

right now, I can't imagine there being any "stock order" C7's sitting around. I'm sure there are a few; but not that many.

I would be pizzed if a C7 (that I put a deposit on & ordered) was allowed to be loaned-out as a demonstrator once it was dropped off from the factory hauler.

And, I too would be one that would balk at buying a stock-order C7 off the lot that had more than factory mileage on it.

You want to test drive a new Corvette before purchasing/ordering? More power to ya; but understand it's going to be difficult to find a dealer that will allow this to happen.

The dealers that balk at a demo drive; I wouldn't take my money elsewhere; instead... there is where I would order my new Corvette. I would trust them more - to not allow my car to be loaned out once it arrives.

Originally Posted by Atticus Alan

I walked in-and-out of the same dealership! Will also buy out of state... The excuse that 'vette drivers are obsessed with miles is BS. The cars arrive from the factory with a variable number of miles on them depending on how much QC they go through. Some of the C6's were arriving -- brand new -- with 30 miles on them from testing on the Kentucky Highway. Most others had single digits, but the exact number varied slightly. So, there's no such thing as a totally virgin car. Somebody sat in it, turned it on, and drove it off the factory floor onto the dyn, then into the water dumping chamber, to the test drive, etc., etc.

Originally Posted by ByByBMW

Uh, not a good example. I don't know how you buy a house but of the 10 or so houses I have bought over the years, I "step footed" into each and every one of them before I signed. In some cases three or four different times before I signed.

Originally Posted by 11B250

He was being sarcastic and comparing it to buying a house without stepping in....

Originally Posted by harmonyp

Sorry - the argument of the **** vette buyer that doesn't want a "driven" car doesn't fly right for me. An **** vette buyer will drive them, figure out what they want, then order exactly what they want - options, colors, and get it brand spankin new.

If these primadonna dealerships would let "serious" buyers drive them and sit in them, they'd get a LOT more orders instead of us buying out of state.

My attitude is now - f them. I had a superb experience 3000 miles away with MacMulkin, and if I buy again, I'm repeating it.

Originally Posted by tim@boardwalk

Not sure if this was at our dealership or not, but we don't test drive any of the new C7s and we keep one car on display for people to look at. No offense to any corvette owner or buyer out there, but some are extremely picky. I had a customer not buy a car one time because it had 27 miles on it. So we don't put miles on any of the corvettes. Also typically when we do test drive a corvette, the person likes to beat the crap out of it. This why we have a demo. Since the demand it so high on these cars right now, we are waiting until April to get our demo. Once we have the demo, anyone can test drive it.