Unethical? Gift card for car test drive.

[cosmowife]

We received a card in the mail that says we will receive a $50 Visa gift card if we test drive a new Buick.  We are not in the market for a new car - we just bought our 2008 van, and we have two other cars (both Infinitis - so nice cars).  DH wants to do the test drive to get the card.  Since we have absolutely no intention of buying a car anytime soon, I feel funny about taking the sales person's time and getting the card.  I have no desire to buy a Buick, ever.  DH says that this is exactly why they are running the promotion - so that maybe you will change your mind someday, or recommend the car to a friend, etc. So while it might not be unethical to take them up on their offer, I still feel kind of funny about it.  Would you do it?  Assume you have some time to blow and $50 is worth spending an hour or so at a car dealership.  

[mccallister84]

I don't think it's unethical. It's designed to get people in the door. I'm sure they know that the vast majority of people who take advantage of it won't buy the car but if they can get one or two sales out of it it's probably worth it to them.

[ECB]

I agree- I don't think it's unethical. But I wouldn't do it. $50 is not worth the time dealing w/ a car salesperson.

[mollybrown]

I would do it. I agree with your husband. Right now, there is a 0% chance that I would visit a Buick dealership if I were in the market for a new car. If they can get me in there to see how awesome their cars are, maybe they would go on the list when I DO need a car. And there are plenty of Psychology studies that show that you feel obligation/affinity for things/people that give you something. Your conscience might require you to put Buick on the list next time you do car shop.

[BeagleMama]

Jun 19, 2013 8:06:40 GMT -5 ECB said:

I agree- I don't think it's unethical. But I wouldn't do it. $50 is not worth the time dealing w/ a car salesperson.

My thoughts too. My DH sells cars (he's nice not creepy! ) and I know that if you went in for that promo you'd be tagged in their CRM system and consistently called/mailed/pitched forever.

Skip it.

[Deleted]

Well, my ILs did that for a $100 and came home with a new Lexus. So it does work some of the time!

[sporky]

Team DH. We've done this several times. And it doesn't take that much time. Seriously, most of the sales guys are used to those types of promotions. We've even had several offer to just sign the paper saying we took the car out without us actually taking it out- we do usually turn that down though and test drive because you never know what car might surprise you.

[rikki]

I avoid car dealerships like the plague. I'm still getting calls from a dealer I visited 18 months ago despite telling them I purchased a different car and am not looking looking to buy another one. My time is much more valuable than the $50 gift card, especially since I've never been in and out of a dealer in less than a few hours. If you could just visit and didn't have to drive the car it might be more worth it.

[coleyv]

I don't think it's unethical but I wouldn't do it. I hate car dealerships and I don't think $50 would be worth it.

[mushmouse]

$50 is not close to being enough to for me to spend time with a salesperson, but I don't see how it could possibly be considered unethical.

[Deleted]

I don't think it's unethical. I probably wouldn't do it because I'm lazy, but I'd tell DH to knock himself out if he finds it worthy of his time. Just don't expect me to go.

[Deleted]

It's like going to a timeshare presentation to get a free set of steak knives. Not unethical, but I'd expect to be given a hard sell and for the annoyance to far exceed the value of the prize.

[nonsenseabound]

I've done it. I'm upfront with the sales person and tell them I'm there for the free $50 and not buying a car. Sometimes they just give you the money if they are busy. SOmetimes they still make you test drive

[soozy87]

Yeah, I would do it, but would expect them to be pushy and annoying. So just decide if that is worth $50 to you.

[heygrey]

team dh.

also - team send dh and stay home myself :-)

[jerseyjaybird]

Jun 19, 2013 8:51:41 GMT -5 v said:

It's like going to a timeshare presentation to get a free set of steak knives. Not unethical, but I'd expect to be given a hard sell and for the annoyance to far exceed the value of the prize.

ITA

[ladygrey]

It's not unethical, and the same as sitting through a timeshare presentation for a gift.

[aspentosh]

Not something I would do for $50, but if your H wants to go (and NOT put down information for calls/emails/mailings) then send him along.

[10nille]

Not unethical, says test drive not buy a car. He may get lucky and the salesperson will just sign off and not waste his/her or your time.

[rachelgreen]

All I have to add to this is I love my supercharged Buick and my Buick SUV.

But to actually address the OP, I don't find it unethical. If I had a reason to go to a dealer (for maybe an oil change) I would probably schedule one and kill two birds with one stone but I wouldn't go out of my way to get the gift card.

[dexteroni]

Not unethical, but I also wouldn't do it for $50. I wouldn't care if DH wanted to do it, but I wouldn't be up for going with him. I don't even like dealing with car salespeople when I am buying a car, let alone when I'm not.

[mollybrown]

Jun 19, 2013 8:02:07 GMT -5 cosmowife said:

  Assume you have some time to blow and $50 is worth spending an hour or so at a car dealership.  

It seems that most people answering this thread missed this line in the OP 

[krystee]

I don't think it's unethical, but I'd still personally feel bad wasting the salesperson's time since he (or she) didn't do the promotion, the dealership did. I wouldn't feel bad about taking the $50 from the dealership, but I would feel bad about taking the salesperson away from the floor and causing him to potentially miss out on a sale when I knew for sure I wouldn't be buying a car.

[MixedBerryJam]

I don't think it's unethical, and I would do it if the dealership were not out of my way; but also, if they required contact information I'd give a fake phone number and email address. Even if I wanted to buy a buick I would not give my real contact information.

[imojoebunny]

When I was 21, I test drove a Mercedes for 4 tickets to the ballet. We bought one 8 years later, so I guess it worked. As for wasting the sales persons time, I can't get all in a tissy about that. They have wasted tons of my time by playing their "we can't go any lower" games, when I know that they can, and eventually will. I spent hours with one sales person trying to buy a car a couple of years ago, only to have to buy some place else because they would not meet the online price for the same car at another local dealer. It was too much to leave on the table.