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Mileage from previous test drives


Donstar

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I am regularly looking at new trucks.  A pet peeve of mine is climbing into a new truck on the lot and seeing hundreds of km's/miles on the odometer.  I am glad that dealers allow you to test drive the new vehicles, but not the one that I might want!   At what point do you negotiate a price reduction for demonstrator status?  I know registering a car for the first time is what defines it as used.  However, I'm more concerned about the depreciation caused by rental car style test drives than the loss created by being previously registered!  

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Most vehicles I’ve bought had mileage on them. I usually buy leftovers, longest on the lot to get the biggest discounts. I usually get extended warranty thrown in or next to nothing as a result.


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10 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

Most vehicles I’ve bought had mileage on them. I usually buy leftovers, longest on the lot to get the biggest discounts. I usually get extended warranty thrown in or next to nothing as a result.


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Yeah, I think if a man is going after a demo, or one that has just been test driven a lot ( 100 miles or more ) then, I believe it really pays to be a good negotiator.  Usually, they will discount those trucks pretty good to begin with but, like the above getting an extended warranty for next to nothing is really nice. 

 

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IMO dealers should only have 5-6 configurations of each model for test drives, compare options, etc. Once you’ve decided what you want, you place an order and get your brand brand new truck. That’s how it works in Europe and I never understood the inefficiencies stocking up on 100’s of cars, some of which no-one may want. The only advantage is being able to drive it off the lot the same day but I’d happily wait for getting exactly what I want and knowing no one has honed it in a test drive. Added benefit is you can completely configure to your taste and no more endless hunting for that rare combination of options dealers won’t stock because they don’t think it will sell. I bought my Silverado on order but that seems more of a rarity so it was a huge hassle on its own - wish it was the standard car buying experience.

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Yeah, I think if a man is going after a demo, or one that has just been test driven a lot ( 100 miles or more ) then, I believe it really pays to be a good negotiator.  Usually, they will discount those trucks pretty good to begin with but, like the above getting an extended warranty for next to nothing is really nice. 
 

My work vehicles got mileage on them quick. I traded every two-three years. I had to be creative to not get burned on trade ins. With few exceptions I only bought deals. I’ve even bought dealer loners or salesman vehicle with 6K miles on them as new. Big discounts on those. Some packages such as Texas Stagecoach usually add thousands to the sticker. As a leftover had deep discounts.


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13 minutes ago, KARNUT said:


My work vehicles got mileage on them quick. I traded every two-three years. I had to be creative to not get burned on trade ins. With few exceptions I only bought deals. I’ve even bought dealer loners or salesman vehicle with 6K miles on them as new. Big discounts on those. Some packages such as Texas Stagecoach usually add thousands to the sticker. As a leftover had deep discounts.


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I'll bet so. That's pretty sweet!

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I don’t think I would ever buy a loaner. I’ve had loaners and I know how I treated them. You wanna talk about a “break in period”...?

 

My ‘19 was a showroom model and by the time it got transferred to the other dealer (same company, different location), it had close to 200 miles on it. Didn’t really bug me at all because they really went the extra mile in detailing it for being a floor display.

 

Flip side, my ‘16 was a leftover, bought late in the year, but only had 6 miles on the clock when I bought it. Go figure.

 

Either way, I think after 500 miles, I’d probably walk, or at least really negotiate my hat off if it was the truck I really wanted. Too many other fish in the sea.

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The last loaner I was in had less than 2000 miles and the interior literally looked like it had 200,000. Scratches all over the door panels, icky looking upholstery and a rip in the back seat. Nothing like buying a new car that looks like crap.

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Mine had 10 miles on it when I bought it.

Heck, it had only been made 2 months before I bought it. I love it.

But, the last demo/loaner/whatever ya wanna call it was a long time ago.

In 1997 actually.  I bought a Honda Passport with 5,000 miles on it. It actually wound up being a fantastic SUV.  Of course, one can tell a little bit about it by the condition it's in when you first look at it. But, ya never really know the whole story behind those miles. 

I reckon it's a gamble that can pay off big or get ya burned. 

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I love loaners. You have to look them over pretty well and it helps to have a nephew that works in the service department. The last vehicle was for Mrs. Sheepdog and had 1700 on the clock. It was immaculate and priced right, nephew got me over there when he saw it going up for sale.

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My TB LT was a dealer trade from near Houston all the way up to Amarillo. It had about 700 miles on it by the time they drove it up, but those seemed like good break-in road miles. Zero mechanical issues thus far. 

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59 minutes ago, lebag335 said:

My TB LT was a dealer trade from near Houston all the way up to Amarillo. It had about 700 miles on it by the time they drove it up, but those seemed like good break-in road miles. Zero mechanical issues thus far. 

Yeah, that's exactly what those miles were.

All that did was get the tires broke in nicely :)

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All vehicles get a State inspection during prep. Ones with the oldest State inspection stickers are the one longest on the lot. And I always test at least 4 or 5 variants of the model chosen. Found a gem this time an RST 4 miles on the odometer sitting with a 5 month old inspection sticker and over $14K in option over MSRP. Told me that was the one to go for dealer was stacking up interest payments and channeling all his dealer toward it. Over $15K discount including the $1000 tax differential on the trade. Wasn't really planning on hot red but for $14K worth of free options - what the heck?

 

Converted it to red & blackout look with gloss black wheels emblems trunk trim and tinted fogs to match other front lamps . Next is tint on the reverse lights (plenty of light at night anyway with the HD camera and HD display) and black chrome over shiny chrome trim around the front bowtie.

 

 

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I got an extra $5k or so off my wifes 2018 Equinox that was a service loaner with about 5k miles on it when we bought it... A few hundred miles is not much of a negotiation point IMO.. Every new car I've bought in the last 10 years I've been given the option to take it over night and burn a tank of gas to see if I like it before I buy... I wouldn't buy from a dealer that didn't let me take it for a good shake down overnight...  I think you're going to find lots of new cars/trucks with 100-300 miles on 'em, maybe ask 'em to knock of $0.30 a mile? That is what they charge for mileage overage on leases if I recall correctly??

 

Also since you're looking at pickup trucks not Corvettes I doubt people are out there driving 'em like they stole 'em.. Most people are like you, considering buying one of these things and they don't wanna trash it out either in case the pull the trigger on one... 

 

Another plus of it having a few miles is, maybe the truck would have had a chance to have some issues pop up such as shakes etc..

 

Finally, if you get a good dealer lined up they should be able to locate a truck for your with lower miles even if they don't have one on their lot... 

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