BrainStuff Classics: What Would Happen If You Wrecked a Car on a Test-Drive?

If you wreck a car during a test-drive, would you have to pay for it? Learn how car dealers handle this surprisingly rare occurance in today's classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/accidents-hazardous-conditions/what-happens-if-wreck-car-on-test-drive.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic episode
from our podcast archives. In this one, we explore the
perhaps surprisingly rare scenario of who foots the bill when
you get into a car rep on a test drive.

(00:22):
Hey rain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum Here, Have you ever test
driven a new car with the salesperson sitting next to
in the passenger seat urging you to open it up
a little more find out what this thing can really do.
That kind of encouragement might help sell cars, but it's
a calculated risk on the part of the salesperson. Sure,
if you're testing a car from a dealership and an
accident occurs, there's a chance that your personal car insurance

(00:44):
may be considered responsible. But that's not as common as
you might think. Each state has different laws that determine responsibility.
We spoke with Jeff Willoughby, director of Large Accounts at
Centry Insurance, a US mutual insurance company. He said the
customers insurance can come into play depending on state statutes
and whether or not their coverage is considered primary or

(01:04):
the dealership's coverage is considered primary, and that's different across
the country. Furthermore, Willoughby explains crashes during test drives don't
happen all that often, though no one really keeps track
of the exact numbers as a proportion of test drives taken,
but when they do, he said, it's normally covered by
whatever company handles the inventory for that dealership. Car dealerships

(01:25):
are considered niche markets by the insurance company and require
specialized insurance, which can come from a few different places.
A property and casualty insurance company is able to handle
the needs of a business such as a car dealership,
but Willoughby points out that car dealerships can also buy
insurance through the manufacture of the car that they sell,
or through the lender they use to finance their inventory.

(01:46):
Thanks to these specialized types of insurance, a car dealership
doesn't have to individually ensure every car on the lot. Rather,
the cars fall under a blanket policy, which makes things
easier since a dealership's inventory changes daily. So how much
does a dealership pay for coverage on all of its cars.
It varies a lot, depending on the size of the
dealership and whether it's a small business or part of

(02:08):
a larger dealer network. Willoughby estimates a single point dealership
in an average sized town might spend between forty thousand
and sixty thousand dollars a year for coverage. A multilocation
dealership will spend anywhere from a hundred thousand up to
millions of dollars. This coverage protects all of a dealer's
inventory and isn't just for test drives, so chances are

(02:29):
if you wreck a car on a test drive, the
car dealership and its insurance company probably has it covered.
But since it's still a risk to just let anyone
come in off the street and drive a new car,
car dealerships have several best practices to help minimize the
potential for problems. You might be annoyed by a salesperson's
nosey chit chat, but the salesperson is actually assessing the

(02:49):
riscue pose as well as how likely you are to
buy a car that day. A dealership's insurance company generally
expects the dealership to follow specific procedures during the test
drive as well. Well. Be said, the salesperson goes with
them on the test drive to control the exposure, and
also best practice is there's a predetermined route that the
test drive takes, because you want to have a test

(03:09):
drive route that consists primarily, if not solely, of right
hand turns to avoid the extra exposure that exists when
you're making left hand turns. Some dealerships allow customers to
take cars home overnight, and, as you might guess, their
insurers are not exactly fond of this practice. Willoughby notes
that if a car is damaged while it's in a
customer's care overnight, the scenario becomes a lot more complicated.

(03:32):
A car dealership also has the right to refuse test drives.
Some common scenarios where the dealership might decline to let
a customer test a car include the person not having
a driver's license, the person appearing to be under the
influence of drugs or alcohol, the car they want to
drive being rare or unusual, or the car they want
to drive being very high performance. So if you have
your eye on that limited edition Speedster, just be aware

(03:55):
that the sales team is going to be wary of
anyone who just wants to go for a joy ride.
Willoughby said that's at the dealership's discretion. Every dealer kind
of makes their own call on that most dealers aren't
going to let those specialty cars out of their site. Meanwhile,
what would happen if you were out on a test
drive and you've got a speeding ticket. Most of us
would have the usual choices, pay the ticket or fight

(04:16):
it in court, unless you're the CEO of sports car
manufacturer Lotus. In January, fifty four year old Sean Mark Gals,
who already had a storied history of moving violations, successfully
argued his way out of a one hundred and two
mile per hour speeding ticket in a seventy mile per
hour zone near Norwich, England. Gayle's reportedly told the court

(04:36):
that he was testing one of the company's newest cars
and was given a pass. Today's episode is based on
the article what happens if you wreck a car on
a test drive on how stuff works dot Com written
by three Wit brain Stuff is production of by Heart
Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and

(04:56):
it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart
rate EO, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H