uBuick Wants You To Take A Vehicle On A 24-Hour Test Driver

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  (no body atoll)

  Is taking a car for a brief spin around the neighborhood enough time to convince you to buy it? If not, Buick thinks it’s got just the solution for you, announcing a new program that allows drivers to leave their car at the dealership and take a Buick out for an entire day.

  Customers will have the chance to take test-drive vehicles home overnight as part of what the company’s brand chief Duncan Aldred says is a “long-term brand promise” called “24 Hours of Happiness,” reports AutoNews.

  The new program begins Wednesday and is available nationwide. Aldred tells AuotNews the company decided to go big with the promotion based on positive customer feedback from a recent pilot program in the Phoenix area. After three months, the company will evaluate the program and decide if it should be a long-term offer.

  “Customers thought it showed that we have a real confidence in our vehicles,” Aldred said.

  Though again, it’s unlikely that you’d spend the entire 24-hour allotment behind the wheel, it seems that is up to the driver, as Buick’s site says, “Kick the tires. Hit the gas. Run for the hills.” Those hills could be 12 hours away, though the offer’s fine print [PDF] stipulates that the vehicles can’t be used “Outside of the state where the dealership is located.”

  This isn’t the first take-home rodeo for a car company — Buick’s owner GM had a similar promotion across its brands in 2003 and 2004, at one point offering $250 to anyone who took a GM car for a drive but ended up with a vehicle from a competitor.

  Buick revives the overnight test drive [AutoNews]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist