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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic episode

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Speaker 1: from our podcast archives. In this one, we explore the

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Speaker 1: perhaps surprisingly rare scenario of who foots the bill when

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Speaker 1: you get into a car rep on a test drive.

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Speaker 1: Hey rain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum Here, Have you ever test

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Speaker 1: driven a new car with the salesperson sitting next to

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Speaker 1: in the passenger seat urging you to open it up

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Speaker 1: a little more find out what this thing can really do.

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Speaker 1: That kind of encouragement might help sell cars, but it's

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Speaker 1: a calculated risk on the part of the salesperson. Sure,

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Speaker 1: if you're testing a car from a dealership and an

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Speaker 1: accident occurs, there's a chance that your personal car insurance

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Speaker 1: may be considered responsible. But that's not as common as

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Speaker 1: you might think. Each state has different laws that determine responsibility.

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Speaker 1: We spoke with Jeff Willoughby, director of Large Accounts at

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Speaker 1: Centry Insurance, a US mutual insurance company. He said the

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Speaker 1: customers insurance can come into play depending on state statutes

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Speaker 1: and whether or not their coverage is considered primary or

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Speaker 1: the dealership's coverage is considered primary, and that's different across

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Speaker 1: the country. Furthermore, Willoughby explains crashes during test drives don't

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Speaker 1: happen all that often, though no one really keeps track

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Speaker 1: of the exact numbers as a proportion of test drives taken,

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Speaker 1: but when they do, he said, it's normally covered by

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Speaker 1: whatever company handles the inventory for that dealership. Car dealerships

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Speaker 1: are considered niche markets by the insurance company and require

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Speaker 1: specialized insurance, which can come from a few different places.

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Speaker 1: A property and casualty insurance company is able to handle

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Speaker 1: the needs of a business such as a car dealership,

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Speaker 1: but Willoughby points out that car dealerships can also buy

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Speaker 1: insurance through the manufacture of the car that they sell,

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Speaker 1: or through the lender they use to finance their inventory.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to these specialized types of insurance, a car dealership

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to individually ensure every car on the lot. Rather,

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Speaker 1: the cars fall under a blanket policy, which makes things

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Speaker 1: easier since a dealership's inventory changes daily. So how much

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Speaker 1: does a dealership pay for coverage on all of its cars.

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Speaker 1: It varies a lot, depending on the size of the

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Speaker 1: dealership and whether it's a small business or part of

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Speaker 1: a larger dealer network. Willoughby estimates a single point dealership

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Speaker 1: in an average sized town might spend between forty thousand

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Speaker 1: and sixty thousand dollars a year for coverage. A multilocation

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Speaker 1: dealership will spend anywhere from a hundred thousand up to

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Speaker 1: millions of dollars. This coverage protects all of a dealer's

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Speaker 1: inventory and isn't just for test drives, so chances are

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Speaker 1: if you wreck a car on a test drive, the

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Speaker 1: car dealership and its insurance company probably has it covered.

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Speaker 1: But since it's still a risk to just let anyone

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Speaker 1: come in off the street and drive a new car,

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Speaker 1: car dealerships have several best practices to help minimize the

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Speaker 1: potential for problems. You might be annoyed by a salesperson's

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Speaker 1: nosey chit chat, but the salesperson is actually assessing the

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Speaker 1: riscue pose as well as how likely you are to

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Speaker 1: buy a car that day. A dealership's insurance company generally

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Speaker 1: expects the dealership to follow specific procedures during the test

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Speaker 1: drive as well. Well. Be said, the salesperson goes with

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Speaker 1: them on the test drive to control the exposure, and

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Speaker 1: also best practice is there's a predetermined route that the

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Speaker 1: test drive takes, because you want to have a test

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Speaker 1: drive route that consists primarily, if not solely, of right

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Speaker 1: hand turns to avoid the extra exposure that exists when

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Speaker 1: you're making left hand turns. Some dealerships allow customers to

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Speaker 1: take cars home overnight, and, as you might guess, their

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Speaker 1: insurers are not exactly fond of this practice. Willoughby notes

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Speaker 1: that if a car is damaged while it's in a

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Speaker 1: customer's care overnight, the scenario becomes a lot more complicated.

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Speaker 1: A car dealership also has the right to refuse test drives.

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Speaker 1: Some common scenarios where the dealership might decline to let

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Speaker 1: a customer test a car include the person not having

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Speaker 1: a driver's license, the person appearing to be under the

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Speaker 1: influence of drugs or alcohol, the car they want to

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Speaker 1: drive being rare or unusual, or the car they want

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Speaker 1: to drive being very high performance. So if you have

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Speaker 1: your eye on that limited edition Speedster, just be aware

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Speaker 1: that the sales team is going to be wary of

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Speaker 1: anyone who just wants to go for a joy ride.

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Speaker 1: Willoughby said that's at the dealership's discretion. Every dealer kind

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Speaker 1: of makes their own call on that most dealers aren't

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Speaker 1: going to let those specialty cars out of their site. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: what would happen if you were out on a test

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Speaker 1: drive and you've got a speeding ticket. Most of us

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Speaker 1: would have the usual choices, pay the ticket or fight

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Speaker 1: it in court, unless you're the CEO of sports car

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Speaker 1: manufacturer Lotus. In January, fifty four year old Sean Mark Gals,

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Speaker 1: who already had a storied history of moving violations, successfully

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Speaker 1: argued his way out of a one hundred and two

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Speaker 1: mile per hour speeding ticket in a seventy mile per

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Speaker 1: hour zone near Norwich, England. Gayle's reportedly told the court

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Speaker 1: that he was testing one of the company's newest cars

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Speaker 1: and was given a pass. Today's episode is based on

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Speaker 1: the article what happens if you wreck a car on

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Speaker 1: a test drive on how stuff works dot Com written

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Speaker 1: by three Wit brain Stuff is production of by Heart

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Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and

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Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart

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