The strangest questions asked of car dealerships
22nd Oct, 2019
Not everyone would describe themselves as a ‘car person’. That’s fair – ask anyone at any car dealership, tailoring their approach to all experience levels is just part of the job. They need to be able to communicate with professional buyers and mechanics just as well as they communicate with people who want something ‘big’ or ‘red.’ (It’s the exact same reason why we here at Scrap Car Network try to make our processes as simple and easy as possible for you when you say “scrap my car”.)
However, a recent survey has uncovered a raft of questions which are in an entirely different category, and ones don’t always have easy answers. Here are ten of our favourites, grouped in pairs for your delectation.
A question of utility
As you’ll find, these questions ran the full range between innocent (but misguided) all the way up to vague but terrifying. Straddling the line between them was this first question from one man, who apparently asked ‘can you put the seats down so I can see if if I can sleep in the back?’ It raises so many further questions, and none of them bode particularly well where a full-grown adult is concerned.
Even more unsettling, someone else seemed to have something a little more permanent in mind, namely: will a coffin fit in the back of a Ford Mondeo? Erm, to be honest, the Ford Mondeo does have excellent boot space. And it would undeniably bring something a little something special to the funeral. (We’re generously assuming it’s a funeral…)
Here’s a technical query for you
A few questions belied a certain lack of knowledge about the construction of cars, such as the person who asked: ‘can you fit it with a radio and tape deck?’ (Most cars are fitted with DAB radios as standard these days, so that might be a little difficult.) Although it was a little easier for the salespeople to accommodate this request – ‘can I check the chassis number to see if it’s lucky?’
In case you’re wondering, the chassis number is a phrase some people use to refer to a car’s VIN – its Vehicle Identification Number. It basically serves as the car’s ‘fingerprint’, and imparts all sorts of key information, such as the vehicle’s age, manufacturer, place of origin, and serial number. The final result is a figure that’s 17 digits long – we wonder what requirements it would have to meet to count as ‘lucky’!
Man’s best friend (and other animals)
It’s no secret that many people are very attached to their pets, who are often thought of as family members. Still, one person perhaps took that to the extreme when he asked if he could take the car on a test drive home, to see if his dog liked it. Considering dogs tend to have very low bars for tail-wagging approval, we’re willing to bet it probably would have.
On the other hand, someone else took things in completely the opposite direction when they asked ‘would you take animals as payment?’ Now, offering animals as payment is a custom that dates back centuries to medieval Europe, and is still practiced in some parts of Asia and Africa today. Unfortunately though, it won’t get you very far in modern car dealerships, as that person undoubtedly found.
Matters of export
As we touched on above, we understand that not everyone has a detailed technical knowledge of cars. Still though, one person in particular could probably do with brushing up on their automotive knowledge, having asked ‘can you make this left hand drive?’ (No, is the short answer.) Then, there was the man who had a wonderfully generous view of his dealership’s capabilities, which led him to ask them ‘can you deliver this car to Australia?’ History does not record what the dealership’s answer was, but we’re willing to bet it was probably something along the lines of – no.
Heartwarming… or not?
The prevailing opinion of this next question will probably depend largely on your own interpretation, as one man asked: ‘can I take my 80 year old wife for a test drive to scare her?’ Now, was this a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the notion that his wife wouldn’t really like his preferred model of transport, or was he planning on hurtling it down the highway at dizzying and quite possibly illegal speeds? Sadly, we’ll never know.
There was no such ambiguity in the final request though, which was a lot more fuzzy-feeling. One dealership was asked: ‘can you fill [the car] with balloons, and put a bow on it?’ Balloons are quite easy to find, but unfortunately massive car-sized bows are a little less so – which means we’re imagining that the dealer had to decline. Again though, the explicit answer isn’t actually recorded, so we can dream, can’t we? What a world that would be!
You certainly don’t have to worry about asking silly questions at Scrap Car Network – we’re happy to answer any of them, no matter how simple they may seem! You can give yourself a head start on some of the most common queries with our FAQs section. Or, if you’re already all set, you can head straight to our homepage and enter your car reg and postcode to get your instant scrap car quote. It’s really that easy!
