How can they sell them without demo's

hdj80 · 13-01-2009, 03:40 PM

Well I went into 2 Ford dealers this morning seek a test drive on either an XR6T or XR8 ute. Neither had one.
So then I let the fingers do the walking. Strike 3.

Sometime in Feb for a 6T or late Jan for an XR8.

I know the floor plan and economy are probably affecting stock levels, but as one sales robot said "Not sure how we can sell them without one to show you". Says it all really.

Brickbats to Metro Ford Brisbane ....$46k for an 07 build 1k km demo BF Tornado with nothing more than dark argent wheels....tell em they'r dreamin.

I think I'll go test an SS ute as well while I'm waiting

barra240t · 13-01-2009, 05:04 PM

yes floor plan and ecomony are effecting stock levels. you will notice it at all dealerships, even holden ones.

b2tf · 13-01-2009, 06:24 PM

As you know I had a hell of a time finding one to buy - I had to jump on it when they located it for me. And Ive still never driven one.

xr6turbo2005 · 13-01-2009, 08:43 PM

ive bought 3 new fords over the years. never test drove any before hand. just knew i wanted one

edit - i did test drive a GT before i bought one, but that was only because the sales guy offered. I was only looking at the various colour combo they had in stock at the time.

hdj80 · 13-01-2009, 11:00 PM

Pretty ordinary way to sell a car though.

I'm true blue but man it's hard to keep the faith sometimes....even driving a mate's VE at present....a basic car as it is, a 6.0l under the bonnet would make it more thrilling.

dom_105 · 14-01-2009, 01:19 AM

Times are tight, that's for sure.

AUXRVIII · 14-01-2009, 06:44 AM

I'm sure if they were missing out on a few sales by not having a demo then they would have them.

Lukeyson · 14-01-2009, 06:52 AM

i see your point, but when i ordered my GT i didnt test drive one, as they rarely stocked them at my local dealership, i just knew what i wanted.

merlin · 14-01-2009, 08:46 AM

Its not just Ford - looking for a SUV for the mrs and Toyota had no RAV4's we could drive (6cyl or 4cyl) and Mazda did not have one single CX7. Ford dealer wouldnt even serve us (we wanted to drive a Territory). Its seems a lot of the dealerships we went to had minimum stock and not enough salesmen (laying them off I guess) to attend to the people in there.

dub racing · 14-01-2009, 09:03 AM

I dont think its the times early last year i tryed to get a test drive of Bf XR8 manual went to dealer he said he would organize it but never heard anything back .So after waiting a few weeks i thought i try some other dealers by phone this time ,all i can say is there hopeless i dont know how they sell cars .Everyone of them said we have an auto you can drive but no manuals pfft and werent very intrested in helping .Never again will i waste my time at looking at a new car from ford dealer .I bought a renault clio for mum a few years ago and the sales person went out of his way to make sure we were happy .

cheers mark

strike · 14-01-2009, 05:51 PM

A few years ago my wife had her heart set on one of them little Holden Cruze things. As she was doing mainly city driving she wanted to test drive a auto. (as we had been told they weren't as sluggish as they used to be) We went to a dealership which had no demos, had a couple of 2nd hand ones which they refused to let us drive. We ended up going to another dealership which was much more helpful and brought a auto.

ZA-289 · 14-01-2009, 06:13 PM

Its pretty stupid isn't it, Oh no we can't sell cars. Then when you go to buy one you can't!!

Auslandau · 14-01-2009, 06:44 PM

Test drove 2 Territory's, both Ghia 4WD and standard, FG XR6, G6ET, FG XR8 and a Mondeo ..... all in the space of a week? Coffey Ford and Freeway Ford. Ended up with the G6E and the Terri. All late last year. Could have bought the G6ET or the XR6 as a demo .

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vanman_75 · 14-01-2009, 09:49 PM

all my dealings have been salesmen related ,see young buck he will let you drive the bosses car to get a sale ,old guys seen too many tyre kickers ,given up on getting brownie points .but that can reverse old guy knows his stuff and will do a deal ,young guy has no clue about anything and would try to sell you the paper boys pushy .but i digress i hate it when i get told oh no manuals ,we have that colour but ,i tell them i want it now no ifs or buts, or no deal no waiting .patrol 3 day wait ,swift 2 so i did ok .push enough and you should get what you want , don't let em tell porkies cause their too lazy

tex · 15-01-2009, 08:15 AM

It's not that unusual this scenario.

1.Either wait to 'test' drive them both when they are available to validate your decision, or

2. Order one of them.

3. Order both and spread the risk.

You know what they look like. You could read maybe 236 reviews of either variant from Motor, Wheels, etcetcetc. To be honest I don't see what the problem is.

Worst scenario - you buy a 6 or an 8 and decide it doesn't handle as sharply as you'd like ----> put some decent suspension in it. Or it doesn't go quite fast enough ---> take it for some BPR therapy.

You've actually got a pretty good dilemma - I mean you're in the market and considering a performance Ford.

Rodp · 15-01-2009, 09:02 AM

Never bought a new car without taking one for a test drive first.

Last car I bought, they handed me the dealer principal's car. I was looking for a DSG box and they only had a manual on the lot. Car with the right specs was on a ship, signed on the dotted line on the proviso that when they did have a DSG available, my sale was pending a test drive in one. No test drive, no sale.

A DSG model became available, called within an hour of it being on the dealer's lot and I was happy with the car - then had to wait 3 months for mine. :(

Even if I went from a BA to a BF, I'm not going to lay down that amount of cash on an unknown.

hdj80 · 15-01-2009, 09:47 AM

tex

If I lay down $40k I reckon the seller has some responsibility to at least let me try before I buy. It ain't a seller's market, so if they want my bucks they need to do the things I want, not what they want.
It's okay for you guys that have owned the previous models. I haven't driven anything other than a stock BFII sedan and SY Territories.
What I want to do is make sure that I will be happy with the 6T, I'm a V8 guy and since this car will be doing 25k km p.a I want to save a few pennies on fuel by running the more economical at cruise model.

It seems very few dealers have any demo's and that means colours are very limited unless you like ego or silhouette. Which are both low on my list.

Metro Ford have a showroom XR6 in Vixen with 19's - does that look great.

XR6TCraig · 15-01-2009, 10:22 AM

Make sure they know that you are ready to buy but you wont be buying without a test drive.

If they dont come to the party, go to the next dealership. It may take some time and effort but you will get your test drive eventually. If you are in Brissy, its really not that far to the Goldie or Sunny coast. Broaden your horizons when letting your fingers do the walking.

By the way, isn't 40K a lot to spend to save a few pennies on fuel? :evil_laug