[vredesbyrd]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Found this ad on Facebook today.

"Mahavir". One should be vary of that name. A proper second-hand used Skoda from a shady dealer would be a better option than a demo car from Mahavir.

[YakubKC]

How does the RTO registration for these test drive cars work? I see them with regular, private number plates which means they are registered already. If so, then wouldn’t Vahan show details of this?

[alokk0912]

Just wanted to say thank you once more to Team-BHP! Only place where we get access to such information. I am expecting delivery of my new car which is a top variant this month end and this information is right on time.

[Aagi_88]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Isn't the odometer reading going to give this away? I thought it was impossible to tamper with odometers on today's cars.

It's a myth, I would say. I sold my Brezza ZDi with 68k on the odometer to a dealer; my car was listed on team bhp classified showing 46k run car. So I guess nothing is impossible in today's time.

[i74js]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Isn't the odometer reading going to give this away? I thought it is impossible to tamper with odometers on today's cars.

Not at all, I just took the test drive of Honda Jazz for spouse and the ODO was off; after I checked with the salesperson who brought the car at my place, his response was "Sir, this is a display car, since you insisted on fully loaded version with sunroof, I got it for you".

Disabling ODO in case of Honda is very much possible, I cannot comment about others.

[Chrome6Boy]

Thanks for the timely heads up GTO.

My MG ZS EV is up for registration today. I got the VIN and checked, it is an August 2022 manufactured car. I was worried as the MG dealership insisted on complete payment before the car was alotted to me.

[syedyaseer]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Isn't the odometer reading going to give this away? I thought it is impossible to tamper with odometers on today's cars.

My Swift ZXi+ was with the Mangalore dealership and was delivered to me at my home town which is around 140 kilometers away.They drove it with my approval. When delivered odometer read 18 Kilometers.

[Sivacar]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Skoda dealers are listing these cars with a discount provided and officially mentioned as test drive car

Mercedes also follows a similar practice,
Were the demo cars are sold by the pre owned section of the dealership

[Sivacar]

The odometer tampering is possible with manual transmission cars. For cars with Automatic transmission it is impossible to disconnect or tamper odo meter

[voldemort]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Isn't the odometer reading going to give this away? I thought it is impossible to tamper with odometers on today's cars.

I'm aware of a Honda City that was delivered with the odometer showing 0. I'm pretty sure the car would have moved atleast a kilometer since manufacture.

However, it wasn't a demo vehicle or anything, and over the last 4 years that car has been flawless.

So, Honda (or atleast 1 of their dealers) know how to tamper the odometer.

Originally Posted by audioholic

Skoda dealers are listing these cars with a discount provided and officially mentioned as test drive cars. Found such advertisements from at least three of them so far with around 4-6 cars per dealership. These are unregistered and apparently with standard warranty as provided by the manufacturer.

I know that Mercedes-Benz and BMW sells demo vehicles at a discount, but they clearly mention upfront that it's a demo vehicle. BMW even advertises this in the newspaper. Such cars come with warranty, though I don't know if it applies from the manufacturing date or from the date the customer takes delivery.

Of course, the odometer would have a high reading (of 20000 km or whatever). However, the car would have been unregistered, so the customer that buys this car is infact the first owner.

For Mercedes, "test drive vehicle" and "demo vehicle" seems to be different things, though I'm not sure.

I don't know whether this is a good practice, but if the manufacturer says this upfront, and the customer is okay with it, who am I to complain?

Of course, it's totally fraudulent if they never disclose that what they're selling is a demo vehicle.

[Theyota]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Show me an honest car sales person and I show you a myth.
Jeroen

I generally agree with you. There is saying in India that says "Crows are black everywhere" or something like that. But I must also say that many car buyers also act as if their life depends on getting the last 100 dollar discount. Also we have many customers who will not accept a car with a simple door panel scratch that was caused during transportation and was perfectly repainted like new. They ask for a complete different car as if the cars in the factory never go through many such issues during production process.

The current new car sales model is not sustainable. The margins are miserably low for a genuine investor. Therefore a lot of folks who tend to continue in this business tend to cheat.

[Night Raven]

In 2015, my Punto was delivered with less than 50kms on odometer. Shortly after driving out of the showroom I realised my odometer wasn’t working. Didn’t want to spoil the new car excitement for the family, so kept quiet. Went back to the showroom next day and told them to rectify it which they did in a matter of minutes. I was upset, but didn’t make a fuss about it since the car otherwise had no issues. It served me faithfully for 7 long years and had more than 1lakh kms on the odometer when I exchanged it for the Compass. In about a month, I found an ad on OLX for my Punto. Unsurprisingly, the ad mentioned the odo reading around 55000

So yes, I strongly believe odometer tampering is the norm not only in 2nd hand market, but also in new car dealerships.

[nomad47]

I took a test drive of Sonet couple of days back. The car has large "Sonet Experience" written on both sides. Same goes for Hyundai also. Are those easy to remove?

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by nomad47

I took a test drive of Sonet couple of days back. The car has large "Sonet Experience" written on both sides. Same goes for Hyundai also. Are those easy to remove?

Those are just stickers. Very easy to remove.

[PaddleShifter]

Is it Test Drive cars being sold as new or new cars being used for test drives?

An additional point that can be kept in kind is:
When planning to buy a new car, check if the dealership has a proper test drive car with thousands of kilometers on the odo (unless a new launch).

Many dealerships do not invest in test drive cars. The Nexa dealership from whom I bought S-Cross did not have a test drive car and were using new cars from their stockyard for test drives. A random TC plate is attached to the car which is then sent for TD. Such dealerships keep on changing these so called TD cars at freuqent interval so that car does not put up a significant odometer running.