I've been testing and buying new cars for almost 20 years now.

Many times I get tossed the keys and off I go but just as often I get a sales person to watch over me.

I was wondering if there is a good way to state my preference that I want to drive solo. Should I tell them up front on the phone before I ge in? Would it be a good idea to ask ahead of time and if they say they won't let me drive solo then tell them I'm not going to stop by there are dealers all over the place...

I don't abuse the cars, but I just can't get comfortable with people sitting there watching every move I make.

Thanks

Make good friends with a high end USED luxury car dealer (salesmen). Some of those guys know the car will sell itself if the owner gets to flog the hell outta it....
That is my experience.

or why not just ask them to not go with you and explain to them that you dont like the pressure of having someone trying to sell the car when you are driving

or something like that but said in a nicer way
i dont see what you can lose by asking
if no then, its their policy and you cant do anything about it anyways

just say u would rather take the test drive alone. they wouldnt say no. if they do say no, just leave.

i can for sure tell you it's almost impossible to do in cali...

i was able to do it once, but that's coz' i had a very special contact

Maybe it depends where you are in Cali. I know my Ive been on many test drives with myself and a friend or family member without a sales person. I remember not too long ago, my friend bought a brand new 3 series and they even let him drive like 10-12 miles round trip to stop by his parents house to see if they liked the car.

interesting, where in cali are you?

go there with a nice car, park in the very front of the building, look trustworthy, offer to leave the keys to your car there. works for me everytime.... except the trustworthy part

Im in San Jose.

Funny thing is, my friend went into a Honda dealer and wanted to test drive an S2000 back in like '03. We pull up in his brand new 3 series coupe and they guy had to nerve to tell my friend they needed to check his credit before he could test drive the S2000... lol Yet, just about any other car dealer we've been to we've never had such occurances. When he bought his '05 3 Series Convertible, from a different BMW dealer, there was no sales person present either.

san jose?! man you have to tell me which dealership you go to (pm is fine). every time i go there they need to go with me on a test drive. not that i am going to do anything crazy with the car myself, but i usually like to be in a quiet environment when i do the test drive so i know more about the car -- not the salesman

Its funny, I have got to drive a $55K Boxster S solo, but last night with a $14K used Camry this guy has the nerve to drive along. I was like 'are you kidding me?'

I went to to check out the GTi and I was out driving solo about 5 minutes after I stepped in the dealership.

You can always find a place that rents the car you want to drive. That way, you can drive it all day if you want...

My Audi dealer, while absolutely unimpressive in most regards, was nice enough to toss me the keys to the A4 I was considering buying and tell me to take it home for a day or two.

To be honest, that's what sold me. I was leaning towards 'no' until then but after getting comfortable with the car a day or two I was sold.

I'm only 24 years old too, and to top it all off they didn't even see my Lexus pull up to the dealership because I just happened to be out to lunch with a friend so I was riding shotgun with him in his Acura TL - but for all they knew I just rode with my buddy... I was 24 years old, they didn't have my credit history - but they knew I was insured and they still trusted me with the car. That was kind of a nice contrast to the Ford dealer that wouldn't even let me drive a Mustang GT... they said they'd let my salesman drive it around the parking lot with me riding shotgun. And they SAW that I was driving a nice lexus.

what u could also do is eat some beans in advance and then pass some gas at the dealership in front of the car sales person

I just ask them, I've only been told no once and I just went to a different dealership. I guess that's the good thing about being in a dense area, lots of competition. Actually, in my recent round of test drives I actually went to one with a friend (something most people say never to do at a test drive, since it's an instant warning flag to the dealer), and the salesman still let us take the car out without him - you just have to illustrate that you're serious, and hopefully impress upon then that you aren't a douche.