When going to a dealership what is the maximum amount of miles should a brand new car have ?

 

Some cars have very few miles on them, such as two-three in total. Most of these were accumulated during shipping and PDI. I've seen others with around fifty miles on them, obviously used for demonstration purposes.

If I was buying a new car and it had more miles than those accumulated from PDI, I would definitely use it as a bargaining position. If the price negotiated was satisfactory, I would bargain for items such as servicing and/or accessories in exchange for the additional mileage.

Terry

 

Thanks for your reply, so should a new car have under 100 miles?

 

I think a new car should only have PDI miles on it. This isn't always the case however. Would buying a new car with slightly under a hundred miles deter me from buying it? If it was a car I wanted and the price was satisfactory, probably not. But I would definitely expect to be compensated in some way for the additional mileage. The dealership used the car for demonstration purposes, obviously to their advantage. It's not an unreasonable request for the actual buyer of the car to ask for a little "extra" because of this. In a situation such as this bargaining for accessories, extra warranty, or items such as free oil changes work quite well.

Terry

 

My Infiniti had 11 miles on it when i got it. My last car, a Civic Si, had 123 miles on it when I got it. Luckily, if the car has several miles on it when purchased, those miles are added to the warranty period....

 

100 miles is too much IMHO.

 

Agreed.

Although my 328i had more than PDI because it was coming from another dealer that was about 50 miles away. They told me upfront about that before signing any papers of course.

 

Anytime I purchased a car new which was not coming in from another dealer I made them put on the contract that the car must have less then 10 miles.

 

my tl had like 5 miles on it i think

 

^^ I had 5 miles also on my tsx.

 

100 is too much, if it has that many, its been used for a lot of test drives and stuff. they should throw in extra stuff for that kind of miles. and since its been test driven, it was probably driven hard (when i test drive a car i drive the shit out of it), kind of like a rental. the most i've ever seen on a brand new car was 30ish.

 

Same thing happened to me with the CL, dealership was 35 miles away...

I could have asked for them to flatbed it tho', but i didn't push the issue...

New cars should have less then 10 miles on 'em...

And on the next new car I get, I'm going to have the dealer skip the prep... I want the car with plastic on the seats, etc...

 

With the hundreds of dealers and thousands of cars available, there's no reason to buy a car with more than 20-30 miles on it unless it's uber-rare and had to be driven from one dealer to another.

 

In California, there is no legal mileage limit, but the car must never have been titled.
I have heard that some dealers use 400 miles as the dividing line between "new" and "used," although a big discount will apply for any car with more than 100 miles on the odometer. I also saw a "used" Cayman for sale a couple of months ago- it had 87 miles on it.

 

All the cars my family has bought had less than 50 miles. I thought it was a lot when my dad got his '08 F350 with 30 miles but it had been on a few test drives since the '09s were almost due.

 

When I bought the wifes IS350 it had 115, however it was the only white one on the lot and she had to have it then and there .

for me, I'd try to stay under 50, or like Terry said, use it as a bargaining tool

 

The RL had 22 miles on it at delivery which the dealership told us is normal for Japan-built cars to have higher miles than the Ohio-built models

I have worked at a few local dealerships and the least I've ever seen on a new car is 2 on a Hyundai Elantra. I saw a brand-new Land Rover LR2 come in pre-PDI with 164!

Personally, I prefer single-digit readings. Over 40 is too much for me.

 

My '05 TL had 3 miles on it, the '03 TL had just under 5.

 

An infiniti dealer tried to sell me a car with 100 miles on it. He said "It's brand new" Sure it was.... I walked out. If I buy a new car I will not accept a car with more than 20 miles on it. If they don't have what I want, I go look elsewhere.

 

my accord had 6, and i put on 3 of those miles during the test drive.
but i dont agree with everyone here saying it should have less than 10 miles. because people don't always buy the car they test drive. most dealerships will let you drive any car on the lot, not just a demo car.

 

Cayenne had 0 or 1 miles on it... put 3 miles on during the test drive and took it home.

 

Anything less than 30-40 is acceptable. Some dealers have separete facilities where they keep most of their inventory so cars need to be driven to the showroom to get picked up which adds mileage.

 

I wouldn't bitch unless it was over 50. And even then I wouldn't really give a shit.

 

Do you do that with your couches and chairs too?



I wouldn't be too worried if a car had a few miles, over 100 might be pushing it, but the later in the model year you are, the more miles that are likely to be on it. I test drove my TL twice before I actually bought it. I think it had 8 when I got it and I was probably responsible for 4 of those. You have to figure most cars have been taken on a test run or two before they are bought.

 

i don't mind as long as it's 100 or less.

 

it's a personal call.

for me, anything over 30 is too much. but if you think it's high but are ok with it and can use it to bargain, then why not?

my car had 8, i think.

 

What are PDI miles?

 

PDI is short for Pre-Delivery Inspection. Most dealers will have a tech check the car over when it arrives at the dealership. Fluids are checked, tire pressures adjusted, all lights and accessories are confirmed to be in working order, lug nuts torqued, and a short road test.

Terry

 

when i worked at the acura dealer, most of them had around 8 miles after pdi and driving them to our storage lot. but the lot guys would use the cars on the lot to go too the bank and such, so some of them did get some extra mileage on them.

but they would usually take first pick from our storage lot instead of giving them the one that everyone test drove.

 

Thanks for the info. That's why I like these forums, you get good info and tips.