Allan Cooper Holden

We have no association with Allan Cooper Holden selling Holden in Narrabri and in no way represent them.

Address: Barwan Street Narrabri NSW 2390

Phone: 0267923488

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Test driving a

The test drive is a major step to ensure you are going to be happy with the car of your dreams and gets far less attention that it should. Unfortunately, most test drives are little more than a preamble to going inside the dealership and signing a contact.
There are two major headaches when you go to test drive a car. They are as follows:

• Headache 1: Test driving a car means giving your name and number to a sales person. Their job is now to 'ring you out' of the market. It is not unusual to have 4 or 6 sales people from different dealerships all chasing the same buyer. This happens when you look at several makes, or you have been to several dealers trying to get pricing.
  • Solution: Let Carbroker.com.au arrange the test drive for you. Because you become our client, dealers will not hound you. Instead, we (and only we) provide the help you need to test drive and select the right car for you. Just fill in the form above and we will get started!

     

• Headache 2: You cannot get the dealer's best price unless you are buying the car. Once you have Dealer A's best price, you cannot go and see what Dealer B will offer as his best price. So - you cannot get the dealers to go head-to-head to get to the lowest price.
  • Solution: We have developed a system where we set the dealers against each other, going head-to-head against each other to win your business. We help private buyers, small business, and some of Australia's largest companies buy cars every day! We help buy thousands of cars every year. Our dealer network is constantly growing, and numbers more than 1100 dealerships.

Pop the boot

Don’t forget to have a look in the boot! Ideally, if you have a golf bag or a stroller than needs to fit in there, and you are not 100% sure it will fit; you should take it with you and make sure. Imagine the embarrassment if your stuff won't fit!!

How safe is the car?

Safety has become increasingly important to car buyers over the last 10 to 15 years. Airbags are important in the event of a crash, but make sure you consider preventive safety features as well. FCAI lists all cars sold with ESC available. ESC is possibly the most important advance in safety since the introduction of seatbelts.

How does it handle?

See how the car handles when you push it a little around corners. Oversteer or understeer is usually the result (unless it comes with Electronic Stability Control). It’s better to know how it handles before you buy – especially if you are used to a car that reacts in a certain way and you feel comfortable handling it.
Does the front end dip excessively under a hard stop? Try a couple of times.
If the vehicle has ABS you will feel some pulsing. Brake hard while turning, and the system will kick in. If the pulsing is pronounced the ABS system may not be quite as good as it should be.

Noise and sound

Road and wind noise can be annoying - especially if you do a lot of driving. Turn the radio off when you get into the car. Around suburban streets, most cars will sound quiet but what is the engine and wind noise like on the highway or freeway? The best way for most people to check this is by way of comparing. Have a conversation at freeway speed and compare to your existing car, or a competitor to the car you are testing.

Remember to switch the radio on again at some point to check the quality of the sound. Many people like to bring their favourite CD and compare how it sounds in different cars.

The hard sell

You can skip this section if you are arranging the test drive via our service as you will bypass these issues.

Dealer sales people are human (contrary to popular opinion). It is therefore best to treat them as humans when you are test driving, and make it abundantly clear whether you are buying the car today. All sales people know how to throw a low-ball at you, and many will. For more info regarding the sales strategies and tactics used in many dealerships, see our page on Dealer Tricks and Tactics.

If you let the salesperson know that you are not buying the car - only test driving, there is at least the possibility that you can have a peaceful and uninterrupted test drive. The professional sales person will instead focus on the fact that he already has your name and phone number, and will 'ring you out' (which means to constantly ring you until you are off the market. Many people end up buying just to get the dealers to stop ringing). But he needs to be 110% confident that you are not buying today. Otherwise, he will roll out the usual strategies and tactics.

If you ask for a price, he will not give you his best price, since you are not buying. He will either give an estimate, making it clear this is a high price, and tell you he can beat it, or underquote (up to several thousand dollars) and say something like 'we should be able to do that price. (Read more about low balling here).