Life of a Serial Vehicle Tester

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Sunday 25 January, 2015 by Uncle Spike

Hands up who’s ever test driven a car or test ridden a motorbike? I guess most of us have at some point or another, either in prospect of purchasing a new car (be that new new, or new to us), or perhaps for a business lease.

Ok, now hands up who’s told little white fibsters in order to ‘have a go’ just for the sheer hell of it when you have some time to kill?

Dunno about you, but I have to say yes to the first bit, and guilty to the second. You hear about some folk viewing real estate as a sort of hobby, well I am a self-confessed serial vehicle tester 🙂

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All achieved with a disarming smile, a passion for the product and some honesty laced with a healthy dash of BS, the simple notion of “If you don’t ask, you don’t get!” really does work (some, if not all of the time anyway).

Over the years I have tried out vehicles as diverse as fully-dressed Harley’s to Mini Coopers, from a Mercedes sports coupe to a Transit van, from the latest Motto Guzzi to a reconditioned Daimler, and numerous others to boot.

At the end of the day, most sales folk are driven by the stars on the monthly sales chart in the managers office – and the remunerative effect of securing deals – so if you seem genuinely keen, possess a valid licence and can pull off an air of having the readies, the test driving world is your oyster!

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Living in rural Turkey, the opportunity for such adventures are few and far between nowadays, but I have managed to test three Chevrolet’s, two Citroen’s, and last year added a rather nice Opel and a Mercedes to my list, so not too bad.

We are off to Ankara soon, so you never know… maybe I can add to the Opel/Mercedes – but from different dealerships of course. With my wife and outlaws being notorious connoisseurs or addicts of days spent roaming large shopping malls, I now just drop them off and return five hours later, and either read a book or head off to seek adventures elsewhere  🙂 

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