'They folded quickly': Car dealership tells doctor she can't test drive a vehicle without her husband

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 24, 2023 11:00 AM EST

This doctor was trying to buy a car, but she ran into an infuriating issue at the dealership. 

Buying a new car is a huge decision. You have to think about everything you'll be doing with your new vehicle, from taking the kids to soccer practice to loading up the truck with groceries and everything in between. Will you be filling your car with friends to go off-roading, or do you mainly just drive to the mall or the library? There are a lot of questions to ask yourself… but "Am I allowed to test drive the car I'm going to buy?" is a question you shouldn't have to wonder about. And as a doctor, this woman had the disposable income to buy an Infiniti Q45 for herself, so she headed to the dealership to look at cars. 

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  • Even if you know exactly what car you want, you might encounter a misogynistic mindset once you're at the dealership. Why anyone would assume a woman needs her husband's permission to buy a car in current day is beyond me. No one told the dude working at this car dealership that this isn't the 1950s anymore! Just let the doctor buy her new car already! Does this sales dude just hate money? 

    Scroll down to check out the story, as well as commenters who had the same unfortunate shared experience with shady sales men. Then, check out these animal shelters that had the time of their lives naming their newest cats and dogs, giving them names like “Thicken Nugget” and “Sergeant Spaghetti." 

  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9841011456
    via Erik Mclean on Unsplash
  • 02
    Car dealer shenanigans... S OC My wife is a Doc. She tired of the frequent service visits her Merc required and visited an Infiniti store. She was told that she could not drive a Q45 unless I was present.
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 03
    She called me at work; not far from the dealer. Salesman confirmed what she said ... we must both be present for the test drive. Idiots.
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 04
    The landscaping crew was doing their thing outside my office, so I decided to employ them in my subterfuge. I changed into my workout clothes, rolled around in the grass and paid Hector $100 to drive his rusted-out, extended cab pick-up and long trailer loaded with mowers ... me and his crew, to the dealership.
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 05
    The dealer was located downtown, on a postage stamp lot... and there was no place to park the truck & trailer without completely bolixing their only street entrance and parking lot entry.
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 06
    They: Move your truck! Me: You told me I had to be here for the test drive. They: Who are you?
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 07
    Me: Her husband. You called me away from mowing the ... They: Your POS truck is blocking everything! (Correct!)
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 08
    Me: Are you going to let the nice lady doctor do a test drive? They folded quickly. She bought the Q45 from a different Infiniti dealer.
    via u/onanonanon19
  • 09
    snappyland I believe your story. I have heard similar stories before. What I truly don't understand is this. Even if a salesman believes women are stupid, wouldn't his desire to make sales lead him to pretend he respects women, in order to sell to women?
    via u/snappyland
  • 10
    meresithea This is awesome! When we bought my husband's car, I did all the research and figured out all the money stuff (with his blessing because he honestly doesn't care and I like cars), but I wanted him to do the test drive to make sure he would like the car and be comfortable.
    via u/meresithea
  • 11
    When we went to the first dealer the salesman told me the car we wanted straight up didn't exist! We both prefer stick shifts (and the reviews said the automatic transmission was crappy in this year's model anyway), and the dude tells me this car isn't made in a stick shift! I show him the reviews I had called up on my phone, he sticks to his guns. We
    via u/meresithea
  • 12
    walked and bought the car across town. I emailed his boss and left Yelp reviews.
    via u/meresithea
  • 13
    Yogafunkgirl That's awesome! I went car shopping with my dad. All the salesmen kept trying to sell him ev-ery-time. His standard answer? "What? She's the one with all the money. I'm just here for the coffee and donuts.”
    via u/Yogafunkgirl
  • 14
    throwaway47138. I had a (female, short) teacher in high school who also trained horses. She drove the second largest GMC truck they made at the time, so she could tow horse trailers. She said
    via u/throwaway47138
  • 15
    she only drove the second largest model because the dealer flat out refused to sell her the largest one on the grounds that she was a small woman...
    via u/throwaway47138

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salesman malicious compliance car malicious-compliance-reddit cars sales malicious compliance reddit car salesman doctor driving driver test doctors
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