The Beach Test Drive Dealer Program

Nobody falls for a vehicle on a loop around the block.

You place one current-model-year demo unit. Beach 4x4 handles the shoppers, the reservations, the advertising and the beach. Your store gets the brand to itself in your market, a posted price every driver sees before they book, and the drivers who ask for you. No program fee, no advertising bill, no fee when a vehicle sells. Five and a half hours on the Carova 4x4 beach, wild horses down the sand, no salesperson in the back seat.

Talk to Bret See what your shoppers see

Concept render of a family of four on the Carova 4x4 beach looking over five vehicles parked in a row: a red Ram 1500 Rebel, a black Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss, a gray Jeep Wrangler, a gray Jeep Gladiator and a gray-green Toyota 4Runner, with wild horses far down the beach. — **Concept render** · Program vehicles on the Carova beach

Your customers already vacation here.

The Norfolk, Raleigh-Durham, Washington, Richmond and Charlotte markets send almost half of all Outer Banks visitors, and they drive right past your stores to get here.

85%Of our renters head for the wild horses

14Families a week, per vehicle, at capacity

0Salespeople along for the ride

$0Program fee, ad bill or per-sale fee

Two demo drives a day in summer, weather and demand allowing. Visitor share: Zartico data in the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s April 2025 director’s brief.

Costco-style

The same idea as the Costco Auto Program, with one difference

You already know how a buying program works: a posted price, a named contact, a vetted store. This one trades the participation fee for a demo unit, and the loop around the block for five and a half hours on a beach. Nobody has to be a member.

What you place

Four things, none of them cash

A unit, a price, a person and a count.

A demo unit: One current-model-year vehicle per brand you want on the beach, the one your store sells new. It stays yours. The mileage ceiling, return date, deductible and return condition are agreed in writing before it enters service. It comes home before 7,500 miles, the point where Virginia stops calling it new, and swaps for the new model year every season.
One program price: One posted price for the model and trim you place, dealer fees included, taxes and tags extra, the same for every driver. It shows on the vehicle’s card before anyone books. A driver keeps the price they booked with for 60 days after the demo drive, on that model and trim, while you have one. Change it for new bookings whenever you like.
One program contact: A named person who isn’t paid on commission for program sales and answers a driver within one business day.
A monthly count: Your contact enters the demo drive receipt number at signing. We reconcile those with your confirmed sales once a month, under a written agreement, so the program can show what it’s worth.

What we do

The drives, the advertising, the drivers, the pictures

Beach 4x4 has run four-wheel-drive rentals on this beach for six years. The demo drives run on the same crew, the same checks and the same wash bay.

The vehicle, looked after: Beach 4x4 operates it, washes it after every demo drive and keeps it inside the same checks as our own fleet. Insurance, the mileage ceiling, the deductible and the return condition are agreed in writing before delivery.
The demo drives: Hotel pickup in Kitty Hawk, a staff walk-around, license and insurance checked online before anyone arrives, five and a half hours on the Carova 4x4 beach, and a freshwater wash every time it comes back.
The advertising, paid by us: Google search and YouTube in your market, on the car-buying-service and no-haggle searches and the Outer Banks trip searches, plus our own ten-site Outer Banks network. No program fee, no advertising charge, no per-sale fee.
The drivers: Drivers can ask to hear from your store and tell us when they expect to buy. Those requests go to your program contact the same day, with what they drove and when. Nobody else’s name does.
The pictures: The family’s photo with your vehicle, sand still on the tires, and footage from the beach you can use in your own ads.
The report: Once a month: demo drives, drivers from your market, contact requests, and program sales.

The rules

One dealer per brand per market

One vehicle. One posted price. One contact. One dealer for your brand in your market. We pay for the advertising and bring the shoppers. You pay no program fee and no commission. At the end of the season you have the numbers to decide whether to do it again.

One dealer per brand per market: Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Raleigh-Durham, Washington D.C. with Hagerstown and Frederick, Richmond, Charlotte, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The first store to place a unit holds the brand for the season. Exclusive means every contact request from a driver whose home ZIP code is in your market comes to you, from the day your unit enters service for as long as it’s with us.
No membership for the driver: Costco shows its price to members at the dealer. We post yours on the site, for everyone.
No cash fee, no per-sale fee: Your contribution is the agreed use of one dealer-owned demo unit. Whether to apply the driver’s $325 toward the purchase is your call.
Nothing to sign on the beach: Only drivers who ask for your store are referred, and nobody is obliged to buy. Drivers who do buy finish with your program contact, at your program price.

The demo drive

Five and a half hours, nothing rushed

From the hotel it is North Carolina Highway 12 north through Duck and Corolla, then sand all the way to the Virginia line.

0:00
Keys at the Hilton Garden InnPickup in Kitty Hawk, with a staff walk-around.
0:15
Highway 12 northAbout 22 miles through Duck and Corolla, roughly 45 minutes of real road driving.
1:00
Air down in CorollaTires to 18–20 psi, a mile before the ramp.
1:10
The Carova 4x4 beachAbout three hours on soft and packed sand, with the dunes, the surf and the wild horses. Drivers stay 50 feet from the horses.
4:15
Air up and head southBack down Highway 12 to the hotel.
5:30
Keys back at the hotelStaff walk-around at drop-off.

Why slots, not weeks

A weekly rental puts one family behind the wheel. Two demo drives a day in summer put up to 14 families a week in the same vehicle.

Weekly rental1 family a week

5½-hour demo drives, 2 a dayUp to 14 a week

Route map: from the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk north on Highway 12 through Duck and Corolla, air down in Corolla, then up the Carova 4x4 beach to the Virginia line. — **The route** · Kitty Hawk to the Virginia line · Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Vehicles wanted

The adventure vehicles we want on the sand

Current model years only, the ones your store sells new, swapped every season. Concept renders show a model on this beach. Fleet photos are our own vehicles.