[Raghu M]

Golden rule - when someone is pushing you to make a decision, move away!

[HighRevving]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

It's definitely a risk and worth considering only if the discounts are really good and you have a known contact who knows the vehicle history.

They would only know the vehicle’s history of accidents and major repairs, what happens in routine test drives is still borderline abuse.

A demo car does not necessarily mean it has something wrong, but the chances of something going wrong is the gamble. Hence the discount, of course.

[84.monsoon]

I would stay far away from the demo car. The eagerness to sell you the car and that too at a big discount without even negotiating gets me uneasy. You would need to rule out any accidents, flooding or other kinds of major damage. In case of an accident repair for a customer owned car, the BMW system forces the log of the car to be updated with this info, but there may be ways a dealer can manage to get a repair done at their own workshop without any formal record.

I can take a second hand car for paid inspection to the BMW dealership. But what is the dealership itself owns the car, who will certify the car then? This reminds me a bit about the song Chingari Koi Bhadke from the movie Amar Prem where one of the stanzas goes:

majhdhaar mein naiyyaa Dole,
to maanjhee paar lagaaye
maanjhee jo naav Duboye
use kaun bachaaye?

[Cresterk]

The bmw demo cars in particular are best avoided because there is a good chance they have been used in some BMW joyfest event where they allow everyone and anyone to go completely ham on the cars. You are better off buying a used 5 series (after proper inspection) for that price.

[Bailey]

Another point to add as to why the BWM demo cars in Kerala have greater mileage is because the cars are shared between the 3 showrooms (all owned by the same dealer) in Kerala. Hence they run from one showroom to the other for demo's as per clients requirement. Especially the premium versions. If a car run's even twice a month to each showroom, you are looking at about a 1600 km run.

[NYMEX]

A demo car should be bought only after getting it checked extensively at a well-equipped garage by an experienced engineer, but only if there has been no accident.

Check list is:
1) Condition of entire underbody (including running board) with cover removed, condition of cover, suspensionst, chassis
2) Thickness of rotor & brake pads
3) Condition of all oils & fluids
4) Alignment, Toe-in/out, camber & wear on each tyre
5) Paint work on the entire car including under moving light
6) Engine & gear box - running condition on a dyno

If all are okay, then insist on the following:
1) 5-year extended warranty (starting from date of your purchase)
2) Change of all filters, oils and fluids, wipers and battery - in front of you

The demo cars are okay to buy but only if you know how to spot a lemon.

[inwester]

Originally Posted by MZee

Hi all,

The BMW dealer in Kochi where I plan to settle down is offering a 2022 model BMW 330 Li M sport with an on road price of Rs 63 lakhs (the split up being:
ex showroom: 48.83 lakhs, Insurance: 1.36 lakhs, road tax @ 21%: 12.13 lakhs, TC: 48k, accessories and essentials: 70k).


Thank you.

Here is the price (on-road in Kochi) for a brand new BMW 330Li M Sport -
Ex-Showroom Price ₹ 57,70,000
Registration Individual ₹ 12,36,700
Insurance ₹ 2,47,684
Other Charges ₹ 59,700
------------------------------------------
On Road Price in Kochi ₹ 73,14,084

So they are offering you a 10 lakh discount compared to that.

I think with 1 year and 10,000 kms, its not an outrageous quote, per se. The clientele buying this car is probably very different from someone who test drives Force, let's say. It will be okay to buy it even as a test drive/ demo vehicle. 10,000 kms is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

If you can negotiate another 5 lakhs down, i.e. around 58 lakhs, I personally would be okay buying it. I looked at the used car prices from two of the major resellers (Royal Drive and Harman Motors) and there isn't anything that was screaming as a deal.

C Class starts around 70 lakh in Kerala and if you want C300d then its another 7 lakhs.

I personally won't get a Camry for 58 lakhs.

On another note, does that mean you pay road tax of 12 lakhs on top of the full road tax someone just paid a year ago. That is ridiculous.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by inwester

The clientele buying this car is probably very different from someone who test drives Force, let's say. It will be okay to buy it even as a test drive/ demo vehicle. 10,000 kms is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I looked at the used car prices from two of the major resellers (Royal Drive and Harman Motors) and there isn't anything that was screaming as a deal.

On another note, does that mean you pay road tax of 12 lakhs on top of the full road tax someone just paid a year ago. That is ridiculous.

I have personally test driven cars from both BMW and Mercedes in Kerala and they let you drive it pretty hard and pretty long if they feel that you are a serious customer. If you are willing to take the risk, atleast get extended warranty and service package added in the deal.

Royal drive keeps a margin of 10l and even more sometimes. Harman is pretty expensive too. Both can be negotiated down if you know what you are doing. The list prices are set targeting the rich NRIs who come to Kerala and need a car immediately to show off for weddings without joining the new car waiting list. They will look up up the price of a new car online and it will be high due to all the recent price increases. However the used ones listed on sale are priced about the same as what the first owner paid for it onroad back then

[Newtown]

Originally Posted by MZee

.... the question I wish to ask is whether it makes sense to buy a car used as demo for test drives.

About the time when the 320d was new in India and Infinity had just setup their dealership in Mumbai, they had offered a very close family member of mine, a similar car. It was a demo car that had done about ~15,000 km if I remember correctly. I had inspected it and told them that we would buy it if they brought it up to showroom spec. There were some paint chips that needed to be fixed, some odd plastic pieces were loose in the interior etc.

They agreed and we paid a deposit with the understanding that if the outcome was not to our satisfaction, we would get our money back - no questions asked.

Infinity did their bit really well and the outcome was fabulous. We went on the own the car for many years. In fact, it was sold under a year back. Along the way there were no major issues. The usual wear and tear and some odds and ends.

My experience says that if you can try and negotiate a similar deal, this could be well worth it.

[lamborghini]

In general demo cars are best avoided. Multiple short drives, cold starts, high revving, slamming of doors and checking quality of interior build by pressing plastics (more now thanks to youtubers who do this), brake checking, etc.

I've seen the odd high end demo car doing high speed runs on the sea-link & other avenues, and are also often given out to journalists and bloggers for testing when the company cannot provide a test car.

Finally, all of these drivers are new to the car. So judgement errors, etc. are common place and these cars tend to pick up scratches and dings.

I personally would avoid it and not recommend such a car either - would rather settle for a camry if being majorly chauffeur driven, a regular 330i in a lower trim if self driven, or a even a Superb if it'll be a mix of backseat / family and self driven usage. A little higher on the budget could even see the discounted A6 make it's presence felt.

With that being said - a premium German brand such as BMW will obviously be on top of maintenance : they can't risk showing up in a shoddy car to a customer's house or errors popping on the MID.
In case you really like the car after testing it and you do decide to go ahead : go through the service history with a fine comb - when were the services carried out, accident damage that has been rectified, etc.
If this is clean, I would next make a list of work to be carried out for the dealer to rectify before delivery, and also discuss with BMW on maintenance and service packages - BMW is generally pretty good to deal with (all subject to local dealer of course) but this could help reduce your risk a lot - especially if you plan to keep the car for a shorter period of time.

[Jaganjrb]

To the post initiator,

I know that many a time when selling a demo Vehicle, the dealer or the sales company provides an extended warranty on the vehicle (if the vehicle is part of BMW premium selection).

If you are able to get such a warranty, then you could still consider the vehicle.

I agree with most of the comments above regarding the abuse of demo vehicles. Having said this, I can also say that 10k is not a lot for a vehicle and especially the engine.

I was (infact still) in the same dilemma regarding a motorrad bike and my co-worker who is the head of customer relationship told me that most of the bmw motorrad bikes like GS are built to be indestructible. So even YouTubers taking bike for longish rides and all the abuse doesn't matter to the bike at all.

Needless to say, you should do a thorough PDI for sure.

Hopefully this helps you a bit.

Cheers,
Jag

[heysac]

10 lac isn't good enough discount. People do all sort of bad driving to test the limits on demo cars so best to avoid it. Buying a used car would be a much better option since the owner would have taken care of it!

[shankar.balan]

On a related note the Jeep Wrangler chaps in Bangalore told me recently that they sold their demo Rubicon after it had done 40K Kms in 4 years. And apparently they sold it for around 55 Lac.

They said that while they did use it for hard test drives and off road demo days and trips to hill stations and all, they had scrupulously maintained it throughout.

Thing is this looks like it is the normal price for such a ‘customer-owned’ niche vehicle in the used market.

Hence, I would have imagined that a dealer demo vehicle of the same type would have fetched less, because of the sheer hard usage and abuse that customers, prospects, wannabe off roaders and even the showroom and service staff put such a go anywhere demo vehicle through.

[anandhsub]

Isn't this a test drive vehicle than a demo vehicle?

From what I know demo vehicles barely do 1000-2000 kms in an year given they are just stuck inside the showroom almost all the time except when they are transported to some event (like a mall) to be showcased.

A 10 lakh discount for a <1yr old demo vehicle might have still been fine but definitely not for a test drive vehicle that has been abused day in and out.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Isn't this a test drive vehicle than a demo vehicle?

From what I know demo vehicles barely do 1000-2000 kms in an year given they are just stuck inside the showroom almost all the time except when they are transported to some event (like a mall) to be showcased.

A 10 lakh discount for a <1yr old demo vehicle might have still been fine but definitely not for a test drive vehicle that has been abused day in and out.

Usually, the event consists of media cars owned by the manufacturer which might get sold one within a year, supplemented by demo cars from the local dealer. The CLA I tested belonged to the Goa dealer and the V90 CC belonged to the local dealer, later was acquired by an ex-colleague who got an extended warranty with it.