John OBrien Toyota

We have no association with John OBrien Toyota selling Toyota in Gatton and in no way represent them.

Address: 91 Railway Street Gatton QLD 4343

Phone: 0754620599

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Test driving

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.

Boot space considerations

Walk around the back of the car (unless the boot is up the front, of course!) and have a look inside. Is there enought space for the stuff you will need to carry there? Anything from prams to golf bags, or naughty kids (just kidding - that would be illegal!!)

Is safety important?

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.

Handling

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 / Sound

Wind and road noise can impact on your ability to hear others in the car during conversations. Switch off the radio when you get into the vehicle. 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 different cars. Have a conversation at freeway speed and compare it to your existing car, or a competing make or model to the car you are testing.

Remember to turn the radio on again at some point before end of the drive to check the quality of the sound. A lot of people like to bring their favourite CD and hear how it sounds in different cars.

Pushy salesmen

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).