Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   New car delivery | What is the max odometer reading you will accept? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/238007-new-car-delivery-what-max-odometer-reading-you-will-accept.html)

Santosh D drops in this query via our contact us form. Surprisingly, I don't see a thread already on the topic!

What is the max km reading you will accept on your new car's odometer, at the time of delivery? I have personally been okay with double digit readings, but anything in the triple raises my eyebrows. What level are you comfortable with & why?

Do note that some manufacturers give the dealer the option to reset the odometer once and / or up to a certain km reading.

In my recent purchases, during the negotiations, I casually asked the sales guy, how far the dealer stockyard is. When I finally sealed the deals, I categorically mention that the odo should read something close to the distance travelled from the yard to the showroom, add 5/10 kms. I have always been obliged and I did not have a reason to complain. For the Punto, the odo displayed an "H" mark meaning it was yet to be reset to 0, before delivery. For tier 1 and 2 cities, I guess the yard is in the outskirts, so I would be OK 50-70ish kms at the most. What I fear most is the odo disconnected during the cars tenure at the dealership.

For me, anything below 100 is acceptable if they have a valid explanation for it. My car was delivered with 89 Km, but I was fine with it because all the other cars at the dealership had the exact same reading. They told me that this was because all the cars were driven down from their stockyard 80-85 Km away.

My City got delivered at 14 km and Nios at 12 km. I'm ok up to 50 to 60km as long as there is a valid reason.

Depends upon the terrain, distance between stockyard and dealership.
e.g. Cars in mountains are driven by roads from nearby dealership stockyards in the plains.

If a car reaches dealership in a trailer, the first thing I always check is whether a dedicated test drive car is available for that engine gearbox combo or not. If not then second thing to check is if that particular model test drive car is available or not.

If a dedicated test drive car is available in that particular engine gearbox combo, I would not worry about the odometer much but would prefer as low a reading as possible.

If a dedicated test drive car is not available, I am not buying a car with more than 30-50km on the odo (if dealer stockyard isn’t far ofcourse and cars are brought in a trailer right till the dealership).

I took delivery of S-Cross with 25km on the odo.

Few points that made me sure that the car has been used for few test drives:

- The dealership did not have a dedicated test drive S-Cross at all.
- They took out a Grey S-Cross from their stock for test drive in front of me. The car was sent to someone’s home for test drive.
- One honest employee mentioned sir only 25km on meter because we give one or two test drives from each car. He need not say this as I already knew. :)

I did not suspect more usage by way of odometer disconnection as car was Manufactured in August and bought in October. S-Cross is not a very popular model.

If I remember correctly our City when delivered was at 6km. Tiago was at 36km which was fine cos I knew that specific car was in stockyard for couple of months so the distance to showroom made sense for that reading. Anything above 60km may give me doubts if I know how far there stockyard is located and it doesn't adds up. Anything below is fine.

When I zeroed in on a Terrano, I knew even before I left home for the showroom, I wanted one in red. I had seen one on the road and absolutely loved the shade.

Unfortunately the dealer did not have one in stock but he promised to make a few calls. Later on during the day he got back in touch and informed, he could get one, but it would have to be driven from Panvel. It was that, else I would have to wait for the next factory shipment which could take weeks.

After a detailed discussion I gave him the go ahead. We checked google maps and figured out the distance. +10 to 15KM was acceptable to me. Also he would have to show me the expressway toll receipt before I would pay the booking amount. He complied to the T and I ended up accepting a car with triple digits on the odometer.


I personally would never do this. I know it sounds silly, but somehow I think it spoils the "streak" and it just doesn't feel right

My Polo was delivered with 11 Km on the Odo, which is more than acceptable, as the yard was about the 5-6 KM from the showroom.
Depending on the distance to the yard, I would be okay with 5-6 Kms above that. The problem for me is not about the actual distance, but the way it is driven. If the dealership driver redlines the new car even for the first 2-3 Kms, irreversible damage would already be done. And you cannot do anything much, as you don't know how it was driven. You can only hope the driver was responsible.

With 100 kms in ODO, I got my xuv300 and was glad about it (I had option to select others during PDI as well). Notice, many dealers have a yard outside the city and usually drive the car to showroom. I opted to do PDI on vehicles which only had current month for manufactured month (VIN) and at least 50 kms in ODO. I am not choosing lesser-mileage car in future either.

I got mine at 115kms which was the exact distance from the Nexa dealership stockyard to the Arena one at the place where I live. I was informed about this and I was updated all the time and hence was fine with it.

The thing is, you should be aware and updated as even 50-60 kms can have 20kms for someone else's test-drive especially when your variant is the one which isn't readily available.

My Swift was delivered with 11kms on the odometer. For a major metropolitan city like Mumbai I expect the stockyards to be at a distance of around 8-10 kms give or take. Anything beyond 50-60kms while taking delivery within a major city is worth asking a few questions.

My Swift back in 2006 had an ODO reading of 35 km at delivery, the Rapid had something like 40 odd and the Harrier last December had 22 km on the ODO.

Instead of the reading at the time of delivery, the odo reading at the moment I conduct the PDI matters more to me.

PDI reading shall be less than 25 kms, and brake dust shall not blacken my finger completely.

PDI to delivery, I allow the dealership guy to have 2X the yard distance to be added to the PDI number (Or RTO distance, in case a visit is needed), they have to move the cars a bit at times.

My Tiguan Allspace was delivered with 89 km on the odo. With the need for a physical visit to the RTO and back to the dealer, am not surprised by this level. Suspect somewhere from 75-100 km would be common in Bombay depending on the dealer location and the RTO where you are getting the car registered.

Stockyards of Mumbai dealers are in Taloja, Bhiwandi, Panvel etc.