You know what they say about guys with expensive toys...

Well, you could have asked them what you would have to do to demonstrate you were serious. Or just conclude your better off not dealing with them.

I think that the dealership has a right to refuse anyone a test drive it wants. But..that said, they should really do so sparingly and learn tact.

When you walk into a snake pit expect that you'll have to deal with snakes. Cowboy up bucko. A little toughening of the skin might do you some good.

Im sorry but i cant feel bad for you. Flaunting your excellent credit score and BMW driving son. You come off like a smug rich guy who didnt get what he wanted. Boo Hoo go to another dealer.

My wife and I had a similar experience at a local BMW dealership here in Minneapolis. We were "allowed" a test drive (note: the sales rep literally tossed the keys to us). Once we returned, he gave us the perfunctory 20-second sales pitch, but since it was a Saturday, the he was "just too busy" to give us any assistance with running any numbers.

We said thank you for the test drive, went into our car, and drove to the Audi dealership one mile away. It was equally busy. However, the sales person there not only rode with us on the test drive and gave us the full-length tour of the car, but she was all too happy to "run as many numbers as we liked".

We bought the car that same day. No one at the Audi dealership seemed to mind it was a busy Saturday.

Anyone that makes the effort to drive all the way down to the BMW dealership should be thought of as a potential customer. I'm guessing it might have had something to do with the way they were dressed: business attire=serious customer, shorts and t-shirt=wasting our time.

You go back and said "I'll buy it, do the paperwork now". When the salesman is finished the paperwork, then tell him that he was right after all, you're not a serious customer, and walk out.

@parad0x360: Agreed.

Was the point of this post to brag about being able to afford or a BMW or to discuss sales practices at car dealerships?

The car salesman is part of a great paradox: They have the worst reputations, but when they don't live up to those reputations by following you around and kissing your a$$ people get bent out of shape.

This is hardly surprising. A cousin of mine was going to buy a BMW and spent a lot of time in the dealership and when it came time to seal the deal, these people were just dicks. They had added in all these dealer extras and refused to budge, offering excuse after excuse. They also tried the shame game in that they didn't think he was serious after wasting all their valuable time.

A BMW is *truly* a German automobile experience.

@MoCo: Just be careful not to sign anything, or you might end up with a car you didn't mean to buy, like the people with the Priuses (Priusi?).

@ObtuseGoose: Is it shorts weather anywhere in the US lately?

I believe the dealers' attitude trickles down from the that of the Manufacturer.
BMW culture is that of arrogance (one can argue that given the money they make and the volume of cars they sell that it is justified). I have worked with (NOT for) BMW Importers on two continents and their rapport with Customers is the same.
Maybe it is part of the brand mystique that this is required. Strangely enough I have noticed that this technique works.
Most often than not customers come back and beg to be let in the BMW owner's elite club owner once rebuked and just throw more and more money at the salesman to have the "privilege" of driving off the lot and proving by doing so their "worth."
The appeal of the BMW badge is stronger than pride.

@parad0x360: I don't know cars, so assuming this is a more-expensive-than-average car, here is where you are wrong in your statement:
-The son driving the BMW? Shows that they are (were) loyal customers wanting to buy another one.
-Excellent credit score means they wouldn't have had any problem buying the car. They are not as risky a customer as someone like myself, 21 and a new job.
-Having a good credit score doesn't mean you're rich. It means you are financially responsible.
-You can't feel bad, but yet you apologize for not feeling bad? Stop sitting on the fence.

They went in with the means and ability of buying a car. The dealership made a stupid mistake and lost a sale. Now this guy just wants to let people know to avoid the place because they obviously aren't serious about selling cars. Nowhere did he come off as whiny to me. Perhaps, sir, it is you that is the whiny one.

@parad0x360: Wait a minute, I could understand a smug rich guy walking into a Kia dealership and getting attitude, but smug rich guys is what keeps BMW in business. They should be VERY used to that type.

@tedyc03: Yes, the dealership does have the right to refuse a test drive. They also have the right to lose a sale, too. Good for them!

@parad0x360: I don't always side with the customer - but in this case you're stretching - he's making the point about his kid driving a BMW and him having a good credit score to show that he looked like and was a serious customer and the dealer had no reason to assume he wasn't. It wasn't like he was some scruffy college kid driving onto the lot in a used Pinto. (Not that the dealership should assume that college kid is not a serious customer).

I can only assume that one of the managers was getting pissed off at a lot of people taking test drives and not buying and so was giving his sales staff a hard time about it...

Seriously, who does buy a BMW "The Ultimate Leasing Machine"? My european car mechanic said to me "I have never meet a BMW owner who could actually afford one".

moco: that's *exactly* what i would have done.
everone else: he's not a smug/rich/whatever person. it's a 1-series. it's the hyundai of the bmw world.

@pepe the king prawn: Dude, don't diss my Hyundai by comparing it to a 1-series.

Wow...the "blame the victim" mentality is thick on the ground today. Truly, the point is that the dealership has a mystifyingly stupid attitude toward customers. There is no excuse for rudeness of this type.

@DeltaPurser: I fail to see how that comment is at all relevant to this article.

@parad0x360: And you come off like an envious poor person who believes that people with money somehow didn't earn it. Or is it that only poor people can complain about garbage service which this obviously was? masonreloaded hit it right on the head: Smug rich guys are their main demographic. Though I must admit that this guy didn't sound smug at all to me.

I wish that rampant internet condition that causes people to speak out of the wrong orifice had a cure...

@ObtuseGoose: OP says "I was with my wife and 23 year old son, who drove his own BMW onto the lot. Needless to say, we looked like customers that could afford a 1-series..."

They should've automatically though of you as a "serious customer". Because, once the warrenty is over, you need serious money for upkeep and need to keep a BMW mechanic(bowelmovementworker) on retainer.

I've always hated the line: "What will it take for you to buy the car today". Sorry but if I'm spending that kind of money, I want to shop around. Telling them his credit score is not smug. The worst experience I had was shopping for a Jeep with my son. Whenever one of the kids became old enough to drive, we let them "have a say" in what we got. My wife hated going to look at cars because of pushy salespeople. I liked the vehicle they had because it was the only one in the area that had the features I wanted. I got ganged up in the cubicle with the salesman, sales manager and GM. I told them flat out I wasn't buying that day because I wanted to discuss it with my wife. The sales manager then said: "What's the matter? Don't you have the balls to make a decision on your own?"

I worked at a Lincoln-Mercury Dealership for years...
Our sales people would even let people who looked on the verge of being homeless . As long as they had a license.

One of my father's customers was a middle-aged black man that wore raggedy clothing. He walked to the dealership, asked my father to see a Town Car. My dad answered his questions, went with him on a Demo.
The man bought the Town Car right afterwards - with all the works.

@parad0x360: Ironically, it's the smug rich guys whom are BMW's sale base.

This treatment is not exclusive to bmw. I had a friend that came into some money and wanted to buy a Ford Windstar. Went to a popular local dealer, who took one look at her and her husband, and refused to let them test drive anything without filling out a credit application. When they explained that they would be paying cash for the car, the sales person all but called them liars and refused to let them drive.

So they went down the street, and paid cash for a car at a different dealer.

These dealers only have power over you if you give it to them.

@topgun: Well considering I saw a guy squeeze a Nissan 350Z out the dealership for $19,000... Sometimes, you have to haggle.

Well it appears the gang of consumerist clowns are in a bad mood today. I suppose it's an improvement over their lame jokes, though it didn't stop delta purser.

Anyway, the OP's first guess about it being a place that only wants leases, makes a lot of sense.@

>zentec: Just because some BMW dealerships are jerks, doesn't mean Germans or Germany needs to be maligned.

Did you try furrowing your brow? That always make me look a little more serious.

This attitude is not limited to BMW. Had a similar experience at two Toyota dealerships. I was driving a Honda two days later.

a few years ago i had a friend who had saved up 35K in cash for a new BMW. he brought 10K in bills with him to the dealer....

and for kicks he arrived in torn jeans and a t-shirt.

they preceded to pretty much treat him like a peasant. at the end of the ordeal he asked to speak to a manager. they made him wait 10 minutes. the manager came out with a roll of his eyes. he pulled the manager aside showed him the cash and said and said "i think your establishment needs to work on it's profiling. i was willing to cash and carry a car... and your obnoxious staff blew it."

the manager THEN profusely apologized, but the butt kissing came too late. my friend said he was going to notify the BBB about his treatment and even said that he had two friends looking for cars... i'll never forget the look on the managers face as we walked out.

@toddy33: Uhm, I've seen one reply out of 40 'blame the victim'. Perhaps 'thick on the ground' means 'measured and under control'?

He DOES come across as smug, but then again, it's mostly to prove the point that he was a potential buyer. You got one commenter that missed that and acted like an ass, yet you've got to pontificate about how awfully the community is treating the OP?

Sorry, that's tired.

For the record, I agree with the part of your post that doesn't attempt to judge the actions of many based on the actions of one, the dealership is completely out to lunch on this one.

BMW != BMW Dealer

also the same thing happened when my friend wanted to test drive an s2000 when they first came out. dealer told him serious buyers only, so he went to another dealer, drove one, and bought it. and a dealership isn't a government entity, they can refuse service to just about anyone for just about any reason.

I've had similar experiences. Around where my parents live, theres a big luxury dealership that sells Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Rolls and Bentley. They're all actually separate dealerships, but they're on the same campus, so you can walk from one building to the other to compare prices, options etc.

I remember years ago going there to get my first car (my dad had just started to do very well with his business, and this was going to be our first luxury purchase), and I will never, ever forget the difference in attitude between the Mercedes dealer and the BMW dealer.

My dad is a regular blue-collar looking guy, and probably not (at first glance) the kind of person you'd see perusing luxury cars with the intent to buy on the spot. We even drove there in his Ford Taurus. However, we were welcomed and made to feel valued and at home in the Mercedes dealership. The salespeople patiently answered every question we had, showed us any model we wanted and were just very friendly and accommodating, devoting whatever time was necessary to help us, and doing so cheefully.

When we walked over to the BMW dealer in an adjacent building, the exact opposite was true. We got dirty looks from the start and we had to hound the sales staff to get any attention. Even then, our questions were answered impatiently. When I wanted to sit down with the salesman to discuss some specifics, he did so grudgingly, as though I was wasting his time that could better be spent with someone more qualified to receive his services. It was really unprofessional and upsetting.

So needless to say, we walked back to the Mercedes people, left a deposit and signed a lease for a new convertible the very next day. And since then, my parents have bought/leased 6 more cars from that Mercedes dealer, and will probably continue to do so, all stemming from that first positive experience. BMW lost out on a potentially loyal customer, and a half million dollars in business over the last decade based on unnecessarily snooty and insensitive customer service.

When I was younger, my father took me out to lunch every Saturday. In the few years between me getting my drivers license and leaving home, when we would go out on Saturday, we would also test drive cars. Audi, BMW, a Mini Cooper, just about everything. My dad has a great job, always dresses nice, and is very knowledgeable about cars. However, he is also very thrifty and would never buy anything nicer than the Honda Civic they drive now. But they could tell he had the money and would let us take anything. We always tried two seaters so the dealer couldn't come. But if they'd followed us to our car, they would have seen that we pulled up in a 1994 Oldsmobile (it was 2002-2003ish) that Dad always parked a block or so away so they couldn't see. We weren't serious buyers. That dealer would have been totally freaked by us.

@blondegrlz: The official plural of Prius is... Prius (according to Toyota in the early days) or Priuses (in the later days). If you are a devoted Prius owner; you use Prii. If you are a latin major, prioria (prius being the neuter form of prior). Personally, I use Prius just because I like it better.

Also, my wife and I went to a Lexus dealer about a year ago. Not very well dressed, we just wanted to check out their SUVs. We had no intention of buying anything and we told the salesperson right away. I didn't want to waste his time and the dealership's money. (I don't like dealers, but it's not a reason to be rude from the start). He still insisted on a test drive and on showing us the car. When we got back to the dealership, he took our info and we left, no pressure. They didn't get a sale out of me, but I told a few friends how I got taken care of and I bet being nice to me got them a few indirect sales. That's the way to treat customers.

BMW dealers can do whatever they like and still sell more cars than they make. Same goes for Toyota and Honda. I recently settled for my third choice after being given the "well, it's over there if you want to buy it" treatment from Toyota and Honda dealers.

I try to stick with cheap cars purchased in private transactions. I take it for granted I'll have problems, but I like my mechanic more than any dealer I've known.

That sales attitude is not new. There is a story that my husband tells (that happened to my father in law in the late 1940s). Dad was working as a mechanic at a dealership, farmer walks in. No salesmen approach. Dad waits a few minutes and ends up going to check and see what the gentleman wanted.

Turns out he's there to buy a car. After the mechanic (Dad) gives his two cents he pulls in a salesman. Guy agrees to buy the car and whips out the cash to pay for it on the spot.

Dad got the commission because the farmer was never helped by the actual salesman but by the mechanic in the back who wanted to do the right thing.

Lesson learned - never judge a book buy its cover.

I know of a few stores that need to learn that lesson!

With any luck we'll see a letter from BMWNA explaining how this take this issue very seriously.

@blondegrlz: I heard gas hit $3.25 a gallon in my area. I tend not to worry so much about that since I got a Prius.

Just because someone has a BMW doesn't mean they have money. My first car was a BMW. Two weeks after I got my license (almost 10 years ago)I bought an 82 BMW for under 1000. It was a POS, I just bought it to say I had a BMW because it was better than saying Buick which was about the only other car I could afford.e

A lot of luxury car dealers are like this. I once knew someone who wanted to buy a new Lamborghini and the dealership said even if he had a briefcase of cash that he couldnt buy one because he never owned one previously and they only sell NEW ones to people who already owned one. A lot of other luxury car makers only want people who "look good" in their cars and since apparently there are millions of people who can or want to buy them they can be picky as to who they will allow to buy one. I guess even the "cheap" luxury cars are now sticking up their noses at customers they dont deem worthy of owning one of their cars.

@masonreloaded: "I can only assume that one of the managers was getting pissed off at a lot of people taking test drives and not buying and so was giving his sales staff a hard time about it... "

Looks like the sales manager was leaning on this salesman to carry out that agenda. Since the 1 series is a new model, there is bound to be flocks of people coming in wanting just to test drive.

By serious, they mean they wanted the buyer to either put a deposit down or give them some sort of insurance that they were going to purchase a car, otherwise they didnt want to waste their time with them.

As a goodwill gesture, most salesman will go out of their way to be nice to customers and show them the product anyway, but there are those that know time is money, and wont bother with a customer who just wants a dog and pony show.

I'm not sure if anyone here has been in car sales, but while that salesman could have been taking 30mins to an hr showing these people the car, pricing it out, etc...he could have sold a buyer a car.

Sure he comes accross as a dick in the end, but sales is a though gig, you have to weigh your options.

If it were me, I woulda treated the customer nicer, but if i knew they werent serious, i wouldnt go all out trying to sell to them.

If they really liked the car, they would have bought it, but they didn't. Theres something to say to that.

I had the exact same thing happen at two places when buying my newest car. I had just cashed out a bunch of stock options from an internet company that was actually doing well at the time, and could have bought any of the cars I wanted to test drive for cash.

Mitsubishi let me drive an Evo MR, Subaru let me drive an Impreza STI, Honda let me drive an S2000, and Mazda let me drive an MX-5. The first of the two dealerships who would not let me test drive didn't totally surprise me, Lotus did not want to let me test drive an Elise unless I was sure I would buy it. The idea that I wouldn't know if I wanted to buy it unless I got a chance to test drive it didn't seem to get through to them. I still don't even know if I'd fit (6'2"). Either way, they told me to "come back when I was serious about the car." They're still overcharging for a better chassis wrapped around a Celica engine anyway.

The other one was the one that surprised me, Pontiac refused to let me test drive a Solstice unless I committed to buy one. Meh, the MX-5 has more trunk space anyway, it's impossible to take a Solstice on a road trip with the top down.

@Gorky:
I'm hoping you completely made up everything in your post, because that stuff is nuts!

But I've never owned a luxury car, so what do I know.

I bought my 330i because the same dealership's Pontiac salesweasels couldn't pull their heads out of their asses to sell me a GTO.

That said, I went to three BMW dealerships in the past two weeks to look at a new 335i so I could give my mom my 330. I have never met a group who collectively have their heads so far up their own ass they could see daylight. The 1 series is almost as expensive as the 3 series.

Oddly, BMW owns Mini. The Mini salesweasels were charming and quite nice even of the same ownership group.

In the end, I'm keeping the 330i and bought mom a Mini. Saved myself 20k in the process, so now I feel smug.

@Git Em SteveDave: completely irrelevant but in central Texas, yeah, it sure is shorts weather. Yuck!

I have noticed that BMW dealers in less urban areas tend to act like that.

I was considering Z4M, Cayman S, and Elise S for my fun car to reward ourselves for the crazy hours we work, so I wanted my wife test drive them too.

I went with her to BMW in Des Moines IA, while visiting in-laws. In case you don't know, all of the cars we were considering are two-seaters. My wife hates dealing with sales people, hence she does not want to have some pimply schmuk next to her talking her ear off. Well, they would not allow us to go out there alone and also managed to question how we could afford a Z4M. Needless to say, I got the name of the GM, the sales person and made sure national, regional, and the owners of the dealership felt my displeasure.
Oh yeah and I ended up buying the Cayman S and had great pleasure driving over to the BMW dealer and pointing out to him the commission he lost. Porsche dealer had no problem having us test drive every freakin' demo they had, so I would figure out exactly what options I want. He never even took a copy of my DL. Just made me show him my insurance card and than started handing me the keys. I was wearing racing shoes, jeans, and old t-shirt, have not shaved since Friday - not exactly an image of a Pcar owner. Dealer did not care, he was too busy searching for exactly the option set I told him we want.

So if you are a sales person and you judge a book by its cover, you are simply a looser. Take some classes in customer profiling!

And to some of you haters, if you make the money, you deserve to be smug and enjoy it.