Test Ride Deposit

fridgehq

Hi Guys,
decided I am going to buy a new bike this year as the old proflex is starting to groan a bit now I have decided to go for a new Giant 29 anthem so I rang my LBs to book a test ride and was told I would need to leave a 1500 pound deposit which I thought was a bit High do you guys think this is fair or over the top ??

angry_bird

I'd say it's quite very high but really it depends, I mean last bike I did a demo on cost me £30...

Suppose there's the risk that if it's not a demo bike, but part of their actual stock and you go wreck it and damage it's retail value...

Read on this forum a few days ago been quite a few thefts recently where someone has been taking out bikes for demos, leaving a stolen/fake card and ID and then buggering off. Might be a concern for the shop.

Anonymous

Way too high in my book. What do you get back out of that if you don't buy it? !!!

Sure there's the concern over fake cards, ID etc. Just need to beef up their checks rather than just take the card and hand over the bike. Though heard of one where the guy left car keys too and still nicked the bike.

Usual is around £50 though, non-refundable unless you buy the bike, and backed with a swiped card that can be charged full price if need be but otherwise wouldn't be charged other than the £50. Though a larger store/chain would just have insurance paid for out of the deposit, so if something happens, they make a claim.

Not Evans by any chance is it? . They're charging full price just to get items in stock to have a look at.

fridgehq

No this is Everden cycles what you have said is what I was thinking of £50 seem fair to me

benpinnick

our local LBS will let you try any bike from their fleet (it ranges from about 1k to 6k and is a big demo fleet) for £30. But thats for the whole month, so you can test 1-31 bikes if you want. Money's refunded if you buy one. They need a DL or passport as security but thats it. Happy days.

andy_welch

When I had a demo on a Trance from my LBS it was £50 for the (4 day) demo (which I got back when I bought the bike), but they also took a £1000 deposit, which I got back on return of the bike. Seemed fair enough to me. In fact I'd have been happy enough to leave the full value of the bike as deposit, since they had no way of knowing that I wouldn't just run off with it (or wreck it). Why would a shop hand over £2K of bike to some bloke off the street without some sort of security? Yes they could take out insurance against the possible loss, but one way or another I'd have to pay those premiums, so I'd rather they did it this way.

Cheers

Andy

Anonymous

Though not everyone has enough limit or balance on cards etc and may be looking to buy through finance.

Anyway, other options include demo days though you get a short time for the test ride, and some shops local to trails may do shop rides and let you take one of their bikes with them on the ride.

stubs

Did some testing last year and the average cost was £50 per test but every bike I took out I had to swipe my card for full value. Try a demo day where you pay once swipe your card once and then get to try a range of bikes.

jairaj

I test rode a Transition bike that was part of their demo fleet but it was arranged by a not so local bike shop. that was completely free. Just had to show them proof of identity and proof of where i live.

Another shop had to do the same checks but paid £30 for the demo and a refundable £500 deposit. Got my money back if I bought a bike from them. Also the good thing is no matter how many demos I take I get all the money back if buy from them.

Both shops let me have the bikes for a few days at a time which was good as I could take time to set the bike up and get used to it and try it over a range of trails rather be rushed and have to give it back the same day.

supersonic

If the deposit is full refunded you have been charged nothing. The reason why places are doing this is because people are stealing the bikes.

fridgehq

Thanks for the comments guys I am well pleased just spoke to the Giant dealer and they say I can take a bike out for the week end for £35 and just leave my passport ect thats more like it in my book

The Rookie

Several of my LBS have lost £3K plus bikes recently when the test rider never came back, apparently it's becoming more prevalent, hence why they want to protect themselves better than they used to, even for £1500 if you never came back they'd loose and you'd win.....it also indicates you can afford the bike perhaps?

supersonic

As above - if you can't afford the deposit, then you can't afford the bike anyway!