And I completely get this. I think I have bought every bike I have test ridden. I think I just like to affirm my gut feel and the decision has already been made.
You need to let ducati uk know. The more complaints they have about this practice being unacceptable the sooner they’ll veto dealers from doing it. They’re encouraged and incentivised by ducati uk to give test rides- i know that certainly ten years ago they were given fifty pounds for each test ride. To have insurance to cover such things would be written into their initial agreement with the oem, so charging a premium ontop of their bounty because they know everyone wants a go is a bit of a piss take. If the demand is that great, and they’re doing it to put off all but the most serious then at least offer a return of it at purchase time against the deposit. The supercar crowd are far better at this game. You register your interest, a cursory credit check is made and you’re invited along to the by invite only showroom. Obviously thats worlds apart, but there’s no way i would be happy paying a fee to ride a bike. I’d not have a problem with a swipe of a card to cover me for an excess in case of an off, but not paying money for the privilege of seeing if I was impressed enough to pay some money.
If that’s the case then they get about £110 for each test ride. Not too bad a deal in my opinion - what’s a test ride, a hour, two at the most as a rule?
This might sound childish , or petty .... .... but I'd have wanted to drive that BMW round to the first dealer and say " See that , BMW just sold a bike , and you didn't .... .... so have a word with yourself ! "
my Ducati dealer gave me the then new 1299s and said ' bring it back tomorrow and try it on roads you know'... needless to say when i went back the next day i ordered one.. no charge and i filled the tank before returning it.
indeed, so them charging you whilst knowing that they can log the test ride with ducati and see fifty quid out of it as well is a bit cheeky. Also there is the psychology of it all. the dealer that @Nathanhu mentions above basically has your good will hooked from the moment he says bring it back tomorrow. You'll want to buy that bike or a bike from him, whereas give me fifty quid and bring it back in the hour dealer would probably have you feeling a bit guarded from the off.
to be honest he probably prepped the paperwork for my return.. but as you say its the package, of what and where you buy, and to open the garage door in the morning and see the new bike sat there is a powerful mode of persuasion... and i fell for it lol
I've never had a test ride in my life, always just buying a bike that I like the look of. My local dealer has offered me a few, but I've never had the inclination. It always seems to be with a view to selling me something when I'm not looking to buy.
Any dealer with savvy , experience and some street-smarts should be able to tell at a glance the difference between a serious potential customer and a time-waster / wannabee / tyre-kicker . What they roll up on , and how they drive says a lot .... just for starters . It's a long time since I went to a dealer for a test drive , but I would be offended if I was asked for cash , a liability agreement or a card-swipe .
Liability agreement and card swipe I have no problem with at all. The cash however is a different matter, and if I was paying to take a bike out, I'd want a day out of it not a couple of hours. Ducati since TPG actually have a manual on how to sell / mechanism of selling. Theirs was based on the Harley Davidson model, which was quite robust, and of which I'm sure is based on the chrysler/daimler/ford model. Essentially you qualify your prospect in the first five minutes. If they're not going to buy, discard and move on. The incentive to dealers for offering a ride is really a sweetner to allow said tyre kickers to still take a bike out, hopefully be seduced, and maybe get a sale - and if it doesn't then the dealer really has lost nothing as he's had fifty quid put in his hand for free. @Dildo Baggins has highlighted a very real point... Nowadays is very different to the good old days for dealers of marques in that once upon a time you could assess someones worth by what they came in on or in, and their state of dress. Now it's not so easy. That raggedy looking bloke in the ripped jeans and worn t-shirt could easily be in the market for a Superleggera for instance and afford to pay the whole sum there and then. So you can't afford to dismiss him as a non starter. Supercar dealerships started to see this two decades ago with the rise of the megasalary footballers and early dot com millionaires- this kid barely out of his teens would walk into a dealership asking about a Ferrari or Lamborghini and the salesman would be "yea whatever sonny" only to find the bloke roaring in a week later in a car bought elsewhere, and telling the dealership manager how said salesman had lost them a 300k + extras sale. We had it once at an technology and innovation conference circa 2010/11 - some awkward looking scrawny mid-teens year old kiddy went up to one of the marketing goons and wanted to buy the then flagship product. They got a very polite "yea whatever sonny" , but got a ride in it working on the principle the guy's dad must be loaded so could be a prospect. That same afternoon the kid came back with his mum. She spoke to the marketing bloke in charge, saying that her son was interested in buying said car. It turns out that the boy had written some algorithm or other that trawled the internerd and learnt your likes etc. Google had paid him shall we say, rather handsomely for the IP and the code. Nowadays the damage is even greater with splashing what a shite service a dealer gives on social media. It's how the vlogger parasites basically blag free stuff - give me the best or I'll blog that you're all shite.
No charge, checked licence and took reg number of my bike, 1200s Monster, escorted ride but at an OK pace through a good variety of roads, duration about 40 mins Ducati Worcester.
Much my experience when I bought mine three years ago except it wasn’t overnight. To be honest I wouldn’t have wanted it for so long - the three hours or so I had their demo was more than enough to convince me and get me signing up without the concern of it sat in my possession overnight. As an aside surely if a dealer lets you have a test ride from their point of view that would be a bonus - wouldn’t most people feel a slight obligation to purchase from them? Maybe at least a pang of guilt if they don’t and even more so if they bugger off elsewhere and buy? Wouldn’t most test from the dealer they expect to do a deal with (subject to no £60 fee, obviously! )
The £60 policy seemed quite inflexible, if it’s the same for a bloke who’s had a few bikes off them, each serviced by them through ownership I obviously don’t know. Maybe such a customer gets treated differently? If I do buy a new V4 it’d be my third new Ducati (1198, 1299 and then the v4) and my sixth in total. I’m still slightly confused by the policy, but a quick Google search has shown two or three others within the same kind of distance from home (50 miles or thereabouts). I’m pretty sure that Ducati number six won’t be sourced from them...
Rained on the way there, no rain on the test ride but roads were damp in places. Great bike, if I had room for two I'd be very tempted. Nice and dry on the way home too.
Only in the UK... Here across the pond Dealership are required too carry insurance to cover test rides ... All you need is your Motorcycle indorsment ... So sorry ...
