5 ms·

Actually if the fee is just a filter, they could refund your money if you buy any car in the next say 6 months. That way it's less of an obstacle for potential

Actually if the fee is just a filter, they could refund your money if you buy any car in the next say 6 months. That way it's less of an obstacle for potential buyers but still filters out non-buyers.

run4yourlives 14y ago
That's silly. If I'm trying to decide whether to buy a Maserati or a Tesla, and you tell me I need to pay you $300 for the Tesla just to test drive it, I can tell you that I'm buying the Maserati, since they've already figured out that I'm a potential buyer. Tesla is smart to size up the people that walk into their stores so that they don't offend the ones that actually can buy their cars. If they offend non-customers, so be it.
- tptacek 14y ago
  If you're really deciding between a Maserati and a Tesla, I'd be willing to bet that Tesla isn't actually going to charge you $300 to drive one. If you walked off the street into a Maserati dealership dressed like a hacker, refused to provide any information qualifying yourself as a prospect, and demanded a test drive, you might not be allowed to drive one at all. Of course, if you wanted a Maserati, you could probably have one next week. Tesla is back-ordered to forever. So whatever they're doing seems to be working OK.
  - run4yourlives 14y ago
    Well yes, that's exactly my point. OP was arguing that the $300 fee should be mandatory.
- enraged_camel 14y ago
  If you give similar answers to the Maserati sales rep, they will also charge you a fee for test-driving, or maybe not even let you test-drive. Like I said, any high-end car sales rep is trained to quickly profile potential buyers. They judge everything from your looks to your body language and profession. When you're talking about really expensive cars, it's better to err on the side of caution and lose a few potential sales than let just any loser off the street test-drive one. I had a friend back in college whose dad was the owner of a local Mercedes dealer. After interning there for a summer, he cryptically told me that he "cracked the code." From there on, his favorite hobby became dressing up in nice suits, walking into a high-end car dealership, and convincing (with 95% success) the sales rep to let him drive one of their cars. I accompanied him for one of his trips and got to test-drive for free a Lexus convertible, a Ferrari, and a Nissan 350Z back when it was new.
  - run4yourlives 14y ago
    I agree with you.
    - chucknelson 14y ago
      Yep, I knew people that did this in the Kansas City suburbs. Never did go with, though, so maybe it they never really pulled it off.
tadfisher 14y ago
What if you, by some affliction unimaginable, actually don't like the car? Is it worth $300 to determine that?
- tryitnow 14y ago
  If you're willing to spend more than $100K on a car, then yes it probably is.
  - apendleton 14y ago
    The Roadsters sold for that much, but are no longer on sale. The Model S price is a little over half that. You can get above $100K with the right combination of options, but most sales probably won't be for anywhere near that.
- toomuchtodo 14y ago
  I've paid $3K to rent an Audi R8 for the weekend. I currently have a Model S reservation. I'm cool with paying $300 to see if I want to spend $80K on a car (0.00375% of the value of the vehicle).
  - sokoloff 14y ago
    0.375%
    - toomuchtodo 14y ago
      Was too quick in Calculator; my fault for multi-tasking.

run4yourlives 14y ago

That's silly. If I'm trying to decide whether to buy a Maserati or a Tesla, and you tell me I need to pay you $300 for the Tesla just to test drive it, I can tell you that I'm buying the Maserati, since they've already figured out that I'm a potential buyer. Tesla is smart to size up the people that walk into their stores so that they don't offend the ones that actually can buy their cars. If they offend non-customers, so be it.

tptacek 14y ago
If you're really deciding between a Maserati and a Tesla, I'd be willing to bet that Tesla isn't actually going to charge you $300 to drive one. If you walked off the street into a Maserati dealership dressed like a hacker, refused to provide any information qualifying yourself as a prospect, and demanded a test drive, you might not be allowed to drive one at all. Of course, if you wanted a Maserati, you could probably have one next week. Tesla is back-ordered to forever. So whatever they're doing seems to be working OK.
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  Well yes, that's exactly my point. OP was arguing that the $300 fee should be mandatory.
enraged_camel 14y ago
If you give similar answers to the Maserati sales rep, they will also charge you a fee for test-driving, or maybe not even let you test-drive. Like I said, any high-end car sales rep is trained to quickly profile potential buyers. They judge everything from your looks to your body language and profession. When you're talking about really expensive cars, it's better to err on the side of caution and lose a few potential sales than let just any loser off the street test-drive one. I had a friend back in college whose dad was the owner of a local Mercedes dealer. After interning there for a summer, he cryptically told me that he "cracked the code." From there on, his favorite hobby became dressing up in nice suits, walking into a high-end car dealership, and convincing (with 95% success) the sales rep to let him drive one of their cars. I accompanied him for one of his trips and got to test-drive for free a Lexus convertible, a Ferrari, and a Nissan 350Z back when it was new.
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  I agree with you.
  - chucknelson 14y ago
    Yep, I knew people that did this in the Kansas City suburbs. Never did go with, though, so maybe it they never really pulled it off.

tadfisher 14y ago

What if you, by some affliction unimaginable, actually don't like the car? Is it worth $300 to determine that?

tryitnow 14y ago
If you're willing to spend more than $100K on a car, then yes it probably is.
- apendleton 14y ago
  The Roadsters sold for that much, but are no longer on sale. The Model S price is a little over half that. You can get above $100K with the right combination of options, but most sales probably won't be for anywhere near that.
toomuchtodo 14y ago
I've paid $3K to rent an Audi R8 for the weekend. I currently have a Model S reservation. I'm cool with paying $300 to see if I want to spend $80K on a car (0.00375% of the value of the vehicle).
- sokoloff 14y ago
  0.375%
  - toomuchtodo 14y ago
    Was too quick in Calculator; my fault for multi-tasking.