With my dealer, Bob Sharp Motors, in Wilton, CT I was able to test drive the car but they are now very careful who they let do it. This is because just one week before I was there some idiot took one out with his son and a mile down the road, FLIPPED IT OVER, going around a corner nearly killing them both. How stupid is that, especialy with his son in the car? How fast do you have to go to flip over a Z? Good grief!

Now they are very worried about that natural selection thing kicking in.

 

Well I was 27 when I test drove a 350Z. I wanted to order a DB 2004 350Z Touring. So they let me test drive a 2004 Enth model that they had. I thought the saleman was going to go with me, but he ask my wife if she wanted to go with my test drive. Being that I drove a 2001 Mustang GT to the dealer helped rather than I came with my beater 2000 Neon. Yes they did copy my lic as well. Since it was the only 350Z they had there the salelman was telling me please don't put many miles on it or drive very fast.

As for Infiniti in my area they are different, first a saleman had to come for a ride and the don't grant them if you don't look serious.

Heck one time I went to Acura dealer to test drive a RSX and because I wasn't wearing nice clothes no one ask me if I need any help.

 

Wow...my Infiniti dealer always pushes you to test another car. They want you to test EVERY single model they make. LOL

I was just in for an oil change the other day at the Nissan place and killed some time by browsing the lot. Here's the trick if you wanna go look at cars w/o talking to a salesman. Pretend you're talking on your cell phone. LOL They won't interrupt you.

 

Me and my friend went to test drive cars and the first dealership was about to let me test the 35th anniversary but then his manager stopped him which sucked, acura said we had to be 21..., ford didn't want to let out it's godly 6 cylinder mustangs on the streets, but finally we found one that did let me test drive the Z. Just took a photo of the license and we're off, and like someone else said the saleman had no idea how to drive a standard. But the test drive was sure fun, the guy got kinda nervous when i red lined it on the service road.

 

Little known fact: When they "copy" your drivers license [which is standard operating procedure with good reason], they will normally also run a a credit check on you, you can specifically tell them not to use it for that purpose and they are obligated to honor you request [theoretically anyway].

Many soft credit hits like this can lower your credit rating. Just beware.

 

At the dealerships I worked at, we just kept them at our desks. It was in case we were car jacked. After that we used it for paperwork. If the deal fell through we destroyed them. No credit checks until they try to finance.

 

I was just there for a test drive, but the one 35th they had was gone for the weekend. They did take down some of my information, but I don't think they can legally check your credit unless you sign permission.

 

My bank takes a credit check on me every quarter. I've not applied for a loan or asked for an expansion on my credit card limit. Why are they doing that?

I think any company willing to pay for it can do a credit check whether you ask for it or not. These are considere soft hits and do not count against your credit rating as stiffly as hard hits when like when you are actually applying for loan, but they do not help your credit rating either ... of course local laws in your state may vary.

 

There is a new law that allows you a certain amount of credit checks within a 30 day period without dropping your credit score when shopping for a car or new home. So it really shouldn't affect your score.

 

For a little background, I'm 24, but look about 19. This was the first time I had gone to test drive a vehicle myself. The last time I bought a new car, which was my Prelude, I didn't even know how to drive stick so the dealer took me out.

Back to the Z, the 1st day I walked in to look at and talk about Z's, I wanted to take a test drive because I had only been for a ride once. We talked a bit about them, looked at a couple, sat in one and then went back inside. I asked if we could go for a test drive, and without hesitation he said absolutely.

He drove the car to the gas station, put a 1/4 tank of gas in her, and handed me the keys. He took me out on some high-speed (55 mph) backroads with twisties and even prodded me to open her up a few times (I test drove an '04 Touring). We were out for about 10 minutes or so and he asked if I wanted to go out some more, which I declined. We then drove back and proceded to talk numbers.

Overall, it was a decent experience.

 

so when u got your prelude, they taught u to drive stick?
my friend went last week to test drive the roadster, he even brought his own sunglasses lol