Hatfields News

How to make most of your test drive

So, you’ve started to consider whether you may want a new car, or you might want to just have a browse and look at your options. Whatever your thought processes, a test drive of the vehicle you want can be the deciding factor when selecting your next car. Trying before you buy gives you an idea of what the car feels like to drive and gives you more of an insight than just viewing the car.

Call Ahead of Your Test Drive

One thing you might want to if you have a test drive scheduled is to give the seller a call before you arrive. When you do give them a call you will want to ensure that the engine is cold before you drive the vehicle. This will stop them from hiding any start up issues if there are any such as loud noises, rattling, or smoke. You will also want to see the vehicle owner’s manual or any other relevant documents.

Bring Equipment

There are few items that will be useful to bring to a test drive to test the potential of your car. Take a tyre tread depth gauge, this is a great piece of equipment as it is important to know the depth of your tyres. If they are below the recommended amount then you will be able to bargain for a brand new one as it is dangerous to drive on the road like that.

Furthermore, you can use your smartphone to check the compatibility with the car you are to test drive. Here you can check the Bluetooth and the aux to see if it is working fine.

Check the Hood

This is quite important because before your test drive you will want to check all accessible fluids. Instructions for this will be outlined in the owner’s manual. Furthermore, you will want to inspect under the hood which you don’t need to be a qualified mechanic to do. You can carefully look for obvious signs of trouble such as fluid leakage and faulty parts.

Steering Test

Whilst test driving your potential new car it is important to test the car’s steering. You can do this by having the car parked just turn the steering wheel all the way to the left then to the right. When doing this look for any indication of damage and this can come in the form of popping or clunking sounds. You should also take notice of how heavy the steering wheel feels as it can be a sign of damage.

Brakes Test

Lastly, you will want to test the brakes of the car. When pressing down on the brakes, it should have a quick response and there should not be any sign of scraping or squeaking following it. Take notice if the brakes feel spongy when pressing as this may be an indication of further problems and might need to be looked at by  a mechanic.

Here at Hatfields we have a wide variety of cars available for test drive, so contact us to pre-book your test drive.