Test-Driving the Buick 24-Hour Test Drive

CARS.COM — Buick’s 24-hour test drive offer sounds like a unique, pressure-free way for shoppers to try out a new car on their own terms. But is this ’round-the-clock loaner program all the fun and freedom it purports to be? To find out, we put Buick’s 24-hour test drive to the test at a dealership near Cars.com’s downtown Chicago headquarters.

Related: We Bought a 2016 Volvo XC90

If you’re looking to bop on over to your local participating Buick dealer, grab a new car off the lot and be like, “Peace out! Hasta mañana!” it’s not nearly so simple. If your experience is like ours, it’s going to take time — like, several hours — and lots of financial scrutiny. We essentially had to trudge through the entire process of buying a car at the dealership without actually buying one before we were able to drive a Buick off the lot and be on our way.

’24 Hours of Happiness’

Buick launched the program, officially called the “24 Hours of Happiness Test Drive,” last year, a revival of sorts of a previous and similar GM program from a decade earlier. This latest incarnation of the program is being promoted using a wellness and stress-relief theme complete with specialized New Agey online content featuring motivational messages, yoga, meditation, massage and aromatherapy. TV ads for the program show laid-back Buick test drivers giving their loaner a test wash, taking it “test shopping” and even attending a makeshift drive-in movie in their driveway.

To be clear, there’s nothing sinister about the offer: If you meet the qualifications of being a licensed driver at least 21 years old, show proof of insurance and agree to common-sense vehicle-use restrictions, you’ll be able to drive home in a brand-new Buick that you didn’t have to pay for. The whole stress-free-life association might be  laying it on a little thick, though. The dealer we got our tester from was polite, presentable and professional — and not overly pushy in terms of the “hard sell” — but jumping through all the hoops ultimately sapped a combined three to four hours from the Friday/Saturday period we took our test drive.

The Process

After calling for a test-drive reservation the day before, I showed up for my scheduled 2 p.m. appointment and was met at reception by a salesman. We sat down at his desk, and he recorded my personal info and made a copy of my driver’s license. He informed me that I’d be filling out all of the necessary paperwork and undergoing all of the financial-background inquiries, credit checks, etc., to actually purchase a vehicle; that way, if I came back and decided that I liked the car, he could “just hit send” and I would own it. (At that point I must admit that I started to worry whether I unwittingly might have purchased a vehicle.)

The salesman excused himself to confer with his sales manager and to have a look at the lot for availability of the vehicle I’d requested: a black 2016 Enclave SUV. He said he did have one in stock but that he’d be gone a while because he had to shuffle about a dozen other cars on the lot with the help of three porters to get to it, so I waited. Ultimately I wound up with what I’d asked for, save for the black paint (this one was maroon).

The salesman then asked me to take a quick test drive with him around the neighborhood, a process which took about 45 minutes including waiting time. When we returned, I waited at his desk for another 10 or 15 minutes until he returned to give a price — $48,000 — and to ask if I still wanted to do the 24-hour test drive or just close the deal right then and there. I told him I still wanted the test drive, and he said he’d “get the paperwork started,” so I waited. I then filled out more forms and let him run my credit card, though he never did check my proof of insurance.

Taking Possession

At last, we went outside and did a quick walk-around to check for pre-existing damage; there was none so I signed off. Finally, I was able to take possession of the vehicle, and I pulled off the lot at 4:14 p.m., more than two hours after I’d arrived. Although the test-drive agreement requires borrowers to keep the car within the same state as the dealership, the salesman had asked me to keep it in city limits, which was OK with me.

By the time I returned the vehicle at 4:45 p.m. the next day after topping off the tank as required, I had only added a handful of miles to the 9 miles on the odometer of the brand-new Enclave. The drop-off process included another appointment, scheduled for 5 p.m., with the salesman and his sales manager. I told them the SUV life wasn’t for me, and that navigating through tight downtown Chicago store parking lots while running errands had convinced me to change my search direction to a sedan. He showed me a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu. I assured him I’d look into it, and he went to get his manager for the “final inspection” of the Enclave.

And I waited.

After the Fact

All told, the process took more than three hours, in which time Buick certainly delivered on its promise but in a span my fellow editors agreed was roughly equivalent of how long one might spend at a dealership to actually purchase a car. The 24-hour test drive — and to some measure, perhaps, my patience — had been tested.

If you think of taking a test drive as a quick, relatively painless way to narrow the field of cars under consideration, frankly, this is probably not for you. Rather, this is more for shoppers who have already settled on a certain Buick and just want that extra peace of mind that they won’t be stricken with buyer’s remorse the moment they break the invisible plane of depreciation between the dealer lot and the street.