Jonesi

A buddy at my work is looking at a car for his daughter, the car is demo and has 4,300 miles on it.

What should he expect to get off for the car being a demo? I've never bought a demo and have no idea what it would be..

I was think around $1-2k..

synth19

I would stay away, demo's are usually beat on pretty hard and never properly broken in. The savings is not worth the potential problems.. besides a few grand can be saved with some good negotiating and patience.

SakiGT

Depends on the car. Maybe $1k-$2k IF it was a high demand model.

But just a regular car? I wouldnt touch it without 10% off the top.

I dont care what they call it...its just an untitled used car.

subinf

At least a few grand. Its hard to really know because you dont know how the demo was treated. Some only wind up in the hands of the managers while others get the shit beat out of them by numerous people.

LuvMyTSX

I've had no problems with my loaner TSX and I've had it a year now. Bought it a year old with 16k on it, for $23,500. MSRP for the '04 TSX was about $27k.

Moog-Type-S

Depends on the car make and model. What's the car?

cob3683

with Saki about demos being beat on. If they do go through with it, I would start at $1,000 above whatever the used price would be.

A demo is not a new car, it is a used car, and should be priced as one

GreenMonster

I got my 94 Tbird w/ 14K miles on it... It was a former daily rental (I didn't find that out till years after I bought it). It had an MSRP of $20K and I paid 12K for it...

So I think you should be able to cut more then a couple thousand off the price...

I'd be more comfortable buying a used car from a private owner over a demo

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I'm always wary of buying demo cars because I know how I treat demo cars and I imagine that a lot of other people treat them the same way. They really do get beat on pretty hard so sometimes they are prone to mechnical failures earlier than non-demo cars. Just something to keep in mind while you haggle with the rep for then numbers.

kurt_bradley

Correction: A demo is an unregistered vehicle. Technically, it is still a new car. Mileage and a couple months of demonstator use does not equal the car being stated as used. Especially when it comes to sale, financing, and titling purposes. For the most part, many dealers only give demos to members of management and try to be rather strict as to the driving conditions inflicted upon the car. As a person that was in management for Honda/Acura for a number of years, I will say that I took good care of my cars and so did my staff. If there were any signs of hard use or negligence, there would be serious reprimands. On one occasion I did terminate an F&I employee for his driving habits. When a person calls in to say that someone is driving the car in a manner less than intended, they aren't only making a bad name for the dealer, but also the brand image. The cars are meant to be a rolling advertisement first, and a perk of your status and position second. Some abuse that priviledge.

When it comes to the sale of a demo, Honda was specific that the car had to be designated in your inventory as a demonstrator on your available inventory (or "on-hand report"), had to be used for 6 months or roughly 6k miles (whichever came first), and that the car would have it's first service taken care of by the dealer prior to its sale. As for the selling price of the car, we would usually sell them for $500 over dealer cost and they usually had a couple accessories on there that we practically gave away at cost to install. Financing was also stated for the car as a new (unregistered) demo and would still normally qualify for the best rates offered for new cars. This is different for those of you that think that a demo is a used car. Traditionally, interest rates and lease terms for cars that are technically used (as in "titled and registered") are higher than those of new cars. The warranty period for a demo was typically adjusted to the increase of use and mileage. As an example if the car had been used for 6 months and 6000 miles, the factory bumper to bumper coverage would be adjusted to 54 months and 56000 miles to accomodate wear and use that the customer did not inflict.

Take note: Some dealers may vary in their policies when it comes to pricing of demonstrator units and their negotiability. This may also vary from make to make. I just happened to be fortunate enough to be on the managerial staff for 2 Acura dealers that were designated as Precision Team dealers (having achieved this as a recipient of Acura's Dealership of Distinction award), and for 2 Honda dealers that had received the President's Award (designating the highest caliber of satisfaction in a number of categories for Honda). I cannot promise what others may do.

ZtotallynakedZ

A demo VW Golf worked great for my grandmother who never drove over 30mph

West6MT

Do you really want to risk the potential problems of buying a Demo car?

Infamous425

my uncle bought a new QX4 demo before. got 3 grand off

MJMeucci

I had a 1999 Volvo XC70 that was a demo, never had any problem with it. I think they took off about 4k when I bought it with 6,000 miles.