How do dealers dispose off a Demo car?

[akash_m]

I think one should refrain from buying colors which are used as demo cars; Eg: white in Dzire, red in SX4, yellow in i10, orange(whatever) in swift, silver in civic etc. This way you can never get fooled by the dealer!

[agbenny]

They sell it with huge discounts or sell them in the second hand car dealers.

Originally Posted by v12

I guess most of the demo cars are sold to unsuspecting buyers by the dealers as a regular car. Manufacturers sell them at a discount to their employees.

[bblost]

When I bought my Car from TrueValue there was this car for sale.
The salesman informed me that it belonged to the Dealership and was used as a Demo Car.

There were no stickers or any indication on the car as such.
The information was provided spontaneously.

Dealership was RKS Saboo @ SomajiGuda, Hyderabad.

[gd1418]

Buddy, that is the Beemer company for you. Here we are dealing with the Indian mindset...

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

Any DEMO CAR is registered in the name of the dealer. So when they sell it - it'd be easy to know. Unless unscruplous dealers try selling it off to an unsuspecting customer as a new car... I don't hink it is possible to do that.

BMW had offered me a demo car at a huge discount. They told me point blank it is the DEMO CAR, the car had clocked 16k in one year. I'd be the 2nd owner. SIMPLE


Cheers

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

those are just vinyl- you can just peel them away

Thats a neat cake walk then isnt it ?

Originally Posted by akash_m

I think one should refrain from buying colors which are used as demo cars; Eg: white in Dzire, red in SX4, yellow in i10, orange(whatever) in swift, silver in civic etc. This way you can never get fooled by the dealer!

Good thought ! But, is there a hard and fast rule that only specific colours would be used as demo cars ?

[phamilyman]

Akash saab,

come to Dhingra "the Dependable" Motors, Gurgaon (Tata Fiat). You can pick n choose your car for demo

... just as long as its intended owner is not expected soon for delivery!!

[BeamerBoy]

Here are my 5 cents for the thread. This is primarily what happens to the Demo Cars in the premium segment.

The concept is called 'Young Used Car'. It is a strategic approach; more than what meets the eye. There is a focus to create a healthy pool of 'Young Used Car' in the market. The contributors to this pool are Demo Cars, Company Cars (MD, GM etc of the dealership & those of the Parent Company), Parent Company's press cars etc.

The first 6 Months or 15,000 Kms (as a thumb rule) are the period of least depreciation for the dealer/parent company. Therefore all young used cars will be available for sale ideally during this period.

Another aspect regarding Young Used Car (YYC) is that the pool is cautiously targetted to buyers that are 'just beyond' the new car's price point. If such a customer is made to buy the car, the returns in terms of loyality are much beyond the hefty discount the car's price tag is carrying. (See the goodwill for the Beamer that Ricky_63 is spreading in his quote below).

Further to this, the dealers do not get any credit facility for Demo Cars (unlike the stock cars that they order). The Demo Cars are already paid for by the dealer and therefore already locking capital. It will be foolish for the dealer to wait for an unsuspecting customer and destroy his cashflow figures.

To sum up: This is a strategic pool aimed for a specific customer segment. The parent company will want it to be used that way. But then to every rule, there are exceptions.

[shortbread]

Most dealerships register the odd car to fulfill the test drive requirements of that model and sometimes the manufacturer insists them to do so, in these cases it will be pretty evident that it been used by the dealership as this will be stated in the RC book. At least this how the system is supposed to work. But that's not always the case.........

Almost all dealerships use the liberty of rotating new stock cars for test driving purposes. This is a well known fact as most of ourselves have been given test drives in brand new cars with temp. dealer plates on them. The dealerships benefit in many ways

A single test drive car of a model will not be able to satisfy sales/marketing demands. The dealership cannot afford to keep a few cars in stock and pay the bank installments. Also they do not loose out on depreciation when selling them.

Salesmen require to fulfill test drive appointments at various places at the same time, especially in cities. The field salesmen mostly roam around in cars most of the time. Other than this a ready car must always be available at the showrooms for walk-in customers. These demands can only be fulfilled by rotating various stock cars into these roles.

Salesmen will prefer a new stock car to a registered test drive one anytime.
Regular testdrive cars undergo a huge amount of abuse in the hands of customers and even more so in the hands of reckless dealership staff fulfilling there boyhood fantasies. The abuse on these registered cars will crop up during a test drive, potentially destroying a prospect sale. A new stock car is a far safer bet, Also u can use the brilliant excuse that the car lacks power because its not been properly run in yet.

Most customers can be fooled when they ask questions regarding this,

We are getting it registered soon
All Test Drive cars are sent back to the manufacturer for R&D purposes
These are digital meters and cannot be tampered with.
Nothing is farther from the truth.

Most of todays cars using digital odometers are much easier to fiddle with
than analog ones. One can disable the meter cluster or in some cases the odometer alone by removing fuses in the fuse box, most sales guys know this. Only at the point right before the test drive they plug it back in so everything looks normal to the unsuspecting customer.

In my former career as a salesman for three various dealerships, I have seen and been part of this first hand. I have sold a 8+ lac car used as a test drive car and logged more than 8000kms (Yes, 8000kms+) to an unsuspecting customer. The car gave various problems especially since none of the sales guys with whom the car changed hands, showed mercy to a new raw engine. Ive also sold a stock car that met with an accident during a Test drive and had two doors and the front panel replaced.

Im not proud of what I did, but as the saying goes, its a dirty job somebodys gotta do it.

If a dealership is offering hefty dicounts to one particular car or color be careful.

A color not in stock and in transit is always a safer bet.

Check the cars tyres of small threads sticking out. This is easily destroyed within a small distance, Virgin cars should have this intact.

Pray and Keep ur fingers crossed.

[sparkplug]

Guys, some threads mention that dealers do try to sell off demo-cars to customers. Ofcourse - I believe all of them do, otherwise where will the demo-cars disappear?

My suggestion (if manufacturers were honest enough) is to post list of engine numbers of demo-cars on respective websites... I don;t think they will do it.


But on a serious note - how do we as users identify that the car dealer is selling off to us is not a demo-car?

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[manish7]

These days dealers ask you to sign form for a test-drive and they ask for your driving license number etc. Likewise, they must be asked to display car registration certificate photocopy in the demo car itself.

BTW, the form also declares that you'd pay for any damage that might happen during a test drive -- and you're made to sign that form before you drive.

[GTO]

Somewhat related thread here : Seconds (Factory seconds)

[lamborghini]

From what one of my relatives told me, dealers are given two options for TD cars:
- They can get them at a discount for personal use, provided the car is offered for a discount. I was made to sit in a Toyota Camry that was the dealership owners personal car for a TD. Needless to say, the car was extremely dirty and he must have gotten the car for a very good price
- Second option is that they get a company car, which they use only for TDs and these cars are better maintained.

Also, when the time comes to sell the car off, many companies sell the car to buyers, either through the dealership (such as TrueValue) or through Brokers. We bought a 2001 Honda Accord 2.3 M/T done some 9,000km, owned by a Honda Dealership, for less than 12L (I do not remember the exact figure). That time however, we bought it through our broker and not from Honda itself and the first owner was listed as the Honda dealership. It was a good deal at that time, as we got a less that a year old 17L car for a steal.

[pulsar56]

I have noticed in some of the threads that most of the test drive vehicles had their Odo's cut off and they could not tell what speeds they were doing during the test-drive.

Is this a tactic used by the dealers to dispose off a demo car as a brand new one?

[akhilesh51]

All 'official' TD cars are registered and insured in Dealer's name so little chance that such cars be sold to unsuspecting customers.

Further, most companies have rules clearly stating the minimum time a TD car has to be with dealer and ranges somewhere between 1 year and 3 year unless model is discontinued.

Post this, a dealer has two options:
1. Sell to a second-hand car dealer or True Value in maruti's case.
2. Sell it to a customer with hefty discount obviously stating clearly that the car is used and registered as Demo Car.

Though on a different note, some dealers use normal stock cars as TD but these cars in no way classified TD cars.

[hrag]

VST Motors Chennai tried to sell me a 'showroom display' Pearl White Safari EX 4x4
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-m...tml#post340528 (An office car)

Their offer was a tankful of diesel in addition to the usual discounts. They kept insisting it had never left the showroom except for services