[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

Moreover, the car accustoms to a driver's particular driving style and it stays that way. In a brand new car, the mechanicals get to learn your style. In a demo car, the mechanicals get tuned by different, sometimes extreme driving styles, which affects performance in the long run.be).

That is a remarkable feat for any car. Im aware that many cars these days have ECU that adapt to some extent to one style, but that is a continuos process. Somebody else starts driving it adapts. Disconnect the battery and it needs to learn from scratch.

As I buy primarily second, third, fourth, fifth whatever hand cars, you'd think I would have noticed? Cant say I have. So how does a demo car mechanics which I assume has much less miles on then the cars I buy (typically 100-150K +) gets tuned specifically and cant be undone.

Personally, I would never buy a demo car, but I cant think of any sound technical rational reason really. I just don't like the idea. Either it is really new or properly used.

So I think its more to preference then technical issues
Jeroen

[Arjun Reddy]

Audi Bangalore routinely advertises the demo cars for sale. They even advertise the price. The normally advertise around 5 Laks discount. I am sure there is a bigger discount once you start talking as their brand new cars also quote similar discounts.

[apachelongbow]

I am merely questioning the financial sense in buying a demo/dealer car here. Generally a car depreciates anywhere between 20-30% of its showroom value the moment it leaves the dealer premises, some brands it may be a bit lower and some brands a bit higher.
So with dealers like Audi announcing between 5-8 lakhs discount on their demo cars, some of which are with the dealer for over a year, covered 20-30 thousand kms, how can the asking price be fair? A car which costs 50 lakhs, after a year may be available second hand from a owner for anything between 28-35 lakhs, a dealer demo car at 40-45 lakhs mean the dealer is laughing his way to the bank.

That apart, a demo car may be mercilessly ripped by all and sundry, the body work may have suffered a few hits, which may be repaired and repainted to showroom condition, this compared to a genuine second hand car, which may not look showroom fresh, but guaranteed to have been babied more by the owner. We all know how ethical dealerships are in India, so I believe buying a demo car is a bigger risk than going pre owned/worshipped.

[condor]

Even with other brands, you can ask their Used car section for any demo cars. I recently came across two AT hatchbacks, going at about 25% less than OTR.

[ajmat]

Going one step further, some of the dealer demo cars are actually manufacturer press cars. some examples

http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy-...H/BMW/M5.html/

5000 km !!! At least 1000 of these has been spent on the Buddh Circuit although driven by a professional M sport driver, but many KM by regular hacks

http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy-...H/BMW/M6.html/

As above but driven by us hacks, some of whom experiment, drive like it was stolen. etc. This particular example saw its transmission lock up and it took 40 min to remove off track.

[kp1992]

My 2 cents to the above:
is to avoid buying cars that are phased out or the 'pre facelift' models which are usually offered with a lot of discounts, freebies insurance and so on. I am not telling that the deals are not good, but in my opinion a dealer can easily whisk away a demo car to a buyer who is slightly less aware.

[joelchandra]

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.

+1 Ricky.

All A+ category dealers have a registered test drive car and it is quiet not possible for the dealer to sell it as a new car.

[satyamkaushik]

Hi All,

I am being offered a Skoda Octavia by a dealership here in delhi which was used as their test drive vehicle.
The following are the details of the car:

• Year : 2013
• ODO: 40,000 km
• Colour: Silver
• Model: Style Plus AT TDI

The dealership is asking me a price of Rs.13.5 Lakh and Registration plus insurance above this price as the car is still unregistered and i would be the first owner of the car officially.


Please could someone guide me and suggest whether it is a good deal or not ?

[AYP]

Originally Posted by satyamkaushik

Hi All,

I am being offered a Skoda Octavia by a dealership here in delhi which was used as their test drive vehicle.
The following are the details of the car:

• Year : 2013
• ODO: 40,000 km
• Colour: Silver
• Model: Style Plus AT TDI

The dealership is asking me a price of Rs.13.5 Lakh and Registration plus insurance above this price as the car is still unregistered and i would be the first owner of the car officially.


Please could someone guide me and suggest whether it is a good deal or not ?

I don' think that the style variant was introduced in 2013. Might be elegance.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by satyamkaushik

Please could someone guide me and suggest whether it is a good deal or not ?

Personally I would walk away. It's a skoda, it's a DSG. Enough said. My neighbour has had terrible experiences with his Octavia.

This car would have been used by multiple dealer representatives and multiple test drive customers. It wouldn't have been driven with care like most single owner cars.

Your first priority should be to evaluate what warranty coverage you'll get and whether you can have extended warranty.

With around that much money, I would rather suggest you to go with a new Honda City or Renault Duster.

[satyamkaushik]

Originally Posted by AYP

I don' think that the style variant was introduced in 2013. Might be elegance.

It might be the elegance variant then. I would have to check on that.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Personally I would walk away. It's a skoda, it's a DSG. Enough said. My neighbour has had terrible experiences with his Octavia.

This car would have been used by multiple dealer representatives and multiple test drive customers. It wouldn't have been driven with care like most single owner cars.

Your first priority should be to evaluate what warranty coverage you'll get and whether you can have extended warranty.

With around that much money, I would rather suggest you to go with a new Honda City or Renault Duster.

Actually I already own a Skoda Rapid TDI currently & we also have a Skoda Superb in the family so i have fair bit of experience with skoda. The maintenance is a bit on the higher side & some minor issues come every now & then but the cars are a pleasure to drive.
So i can live up with the normal running & maintenance of the car till the time the particular car in question has some problem.

As far as the warranty is concerned, i would not be getting any warranty pr extended warranty with the car.

I m a bit confused regarding the decision.

[gibikote]

As there is no warranty, the buying price would be similar to a used car I guess.

The IBB used car value suggested for 2013 Elegance 2.0 TD CR AT done 40000 kms for New Delhi is 11.3 to 11.9 lakhs.

Registration plus Insurance would be ~ 3.8 lakhs.

Both of the above would be slightly different based on model and showroom price in 2013.

You should bargain keeping these in mind, or at least get some (dealer) warranty, or both.

Let me know how it goes. I am curious as I have heard of a similar offer (not Skoda) details to be verified

Best wishes

Originally Posted by satyamkaushik

It might be the elegance variant then. I would have to check on that.




Actually I already own a Skoda Rapid TDI currently & we also have a Skoda Superb in the family so i have fair bit of experience with skoda. The maintenance is a bit on the higher side & some minor issues come every now & then but the cars are a pleasure to drive.
So i can live up with the normal running & maintenance of the car till the time the particular car in question has some problem.

As far as the warranty is concerned, i would not be getting any warranty pr extended warranty with the car.

I m a bit confused regarding the decision.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by satyamkaushik

Hi All,

I am being offered a Skoda Octavia by a dealership here in delhi which was used as their test drive vehicle.
The following are the details of the car:

• Year : 2013
• ODO: 40,000 km
• Colour: Silver
• Model: Style Plus AT TDI

The dealership is asking me a price of Rs.13.5 Lakh and Registration plus insurance above this price as the car is still unregistered and i would be the first owner of the car officially.


Please could someone guide me and suggest whether it is a good deal or not ?

If you are not getting any warranty then this does not make much sense. Unless you are not planning on disclosing this fact to whoever you sell the car to a few years down the line, being registered as the first owner also does not matter much. Being a test drive car, it would have been driven by a range of drivers a lot of whom won't even know how to drive properly but would be trying to show off to their buddies or scare the SA, all of whom would have thoroughly tested the car. Which would mean putting it through its paces, bashing down bad roads to gauge its ride quality, etc. Being a D segment car, none of which are tested and tuned to perfectly match our Indian road conditions, you can expect maintenance on the suspension linkages and other bits and bobs. I dont know about you but 40,000 kilometers of different drivers, pushing the car, would never make me feel like the 1st owner. A well handled used car would be a better buy IMO

[v12]

On a related note, this is a very interesting post on how someone almost bought a demo BMW M5. Not sure yet if this is the same car that was offered on sale, but nevertheless -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...-driven-5.html

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by satyamkaushik

Hi All,

I am being offered a Skoda Octavia by a dealership here in delhi which was used as their test drive vehicle.
The following are the details of the car:

• Year : 2013
• ODO: 40,000 km
• Colour: Silver
• Model: Style Plus AT TDI

The dealership is asking me a price of Rs.13.5 Lakh and Registration plus insurance above this price as the car is still unregistered and i would be the first owner of the car officially.


Please could someone guide me and suggest whether it is a good deal or not ?

I would just NOT buy a Demo Drive Car from any manufacturer, especially in India and especially in any of these bigger cities.

The likelihood of misuse, mis treatment and general apathy towards the Dealer's vehicle, on the part of the many "Test Drive Users" and the "SA's and Mechanics" is very very high.

Without a warranty, even more of a reason to steer clear!

Not worth it - you will never have peace of mind because whether anything goes wrong or not, your mind will always have some niggles sitting there because of the "What if?" factor!