DeNile'

I don't mind a couple of test drive miles on my car, but dealers are outta control!! They take these new cars home over the weekend and go on trips in them. If the car isn't yours don’t drive IT!! I had to wait because the car I wanted at the dealership was out with a dealer the day I wanted to buy it. So I was like ***** that, and asked how many miles it had, the car had 500, so I was like he!! No and began walking out. To put a long story short they got one from another dealer with 46 miles on it so I took that one! These dealers gotta be stopped!! Buy your own D@MN CAR!!!!!! And I couldn't order one cuz I was doing S-Plan pricing.

RobDickinson

Grr. Mine had 5 miles on when I collected. I expect no more than 10 max.

greese

When i was buying my current car (an Accord coupe) nobody could find the keys to give me so i could leave after buying it. The general manager had them because he was planning on letting his daughter use the car for the weekend so she could go to the beach with her friends.

When the sales guy asked him for them his response was "I have them, i am taking it home for the weekend" when he told him he just sold the car and needed them for the customer he got all pissy about it like i was ruining his day. Claims he had the car reserved and they were not supposed to sell it.

Sure buddy. Ask your sales guys not to sell cars. That will work.

greese

ciccone376

this also goes to point out that you should NEVER EVER buy the Demo car.

Demo cars are the bastard child of the dealership and are used for anything and everything.

Need to go get McDonalds? Let the 16 year old receptionist use the demo car

Need to go pick up the GM's dry cleaning? Give the demo car to the disgruntled employee so he can rag it out on the way.

Need to take your mistress on a date? Use the demo car and let valet's take it for a joy ride.

Need to take a customer home? take the demo car.

Plus, the demo cars never get treated nicely, trust me, I know.

P.S. DeNile,...your signature has to be the the funniest thing I've ever seen, until i realize that you might be serious, at which case it becomes sad. You aren't into material things are you? oooohhhh a color wrist watch! I hope the trekies get jealous:-) sorry, I just had to poke fun.

Sea Ray

That sounds similar to an RX8 that I was interested in until..... It had about 250 miles on it which I was told was driven by the sales manger only, home for a night or two. Sure, no test drives I bet.

They could not under stand why I was not interested, and then after I made a deal eslewhere, they offered it to me at $1K under invoice. I might have been interested if that deal was offered first.

However the car I did buy had 12 miles on it, and was sitting in another dealers showroom which I knew they would have to drive it back. Then they ended up delivering the car to me the next day after they did their own pre delivery inspection. So the car got to me with.........251 miles BUT at least I knew who had driven it the whole way!

My salesman is a younger guy that you can tell respects cars. Of course they also sell audi and porsche so he is used to driving real nice cars, and in his opinion he thinks the 8 fits in the same class as the others. So at least the miles on mine were pampered before I got it.

But in end, nothing beats getting that new car with 0 miles

RXhusker

That's why I was there when my car was unloaded from the truck (see avatar) :D I told my sales guy that the only way he would get a perfect score from me on the follow-up survey was if he called me when the truck arrived and I was there when it was unloaded.

I had the first RX-8 sold at my dealership and it had 1.2 miles on the odo when it was unloaded off the truck. Those of us picky pre-order customers sent instructions to our dealer not to drive the car, wash the car, look at the car longingly , etc.

I can't imagine the dealer is following the break-in recommendations during the first 600 miles on those demo cars

Cyclonus

"Dealers have to be stopped"? That doesn't make much sense... the dealer owns the car, they're free to drive it or do whatever they want with it. They're fully aware that some maniacs out there won't buy a car unless it has less than half a mile on it, but legally, until it's sold, it's their car, and they can do whatever they want with it.

That said, it's not really intelligent on their part. In fact, it is somewhat unusual for dealers to use new cars for the weekend or for their own personal business or whatever. Often times, salesmen or managers might take a USED car for the weekend, but it's somewhat unusual for them to use a new car that way.

mikeb

there is a lot of stuff dealers shouldn't be able to do
I know I work for a sub prime auto lender and I see how they trick people all the time

Texas 8

I agree. But on the other hand, if I were a dealer I honestly can't say that I wouldn't take home a car every now and then for a weekend stint. But, I sure as heck wouldn't beat the crap out of it like some stories I have heard.

greese

I grew up across the street from a guy who was a manager at a car dealer. He didn't even have his own car. He just brought a different car home each night.

greese

Nubo

Sure, they can do whatever they want with their property. But they shouldn't be allowed to sell as "new". The number of miles to qualify as "new" should be lowered, imho. 300 miles presents far too much potential for abuse. Should be more like 30. Come up with some other term for demo cars or dealers' pets.

med_mx6

i'm a S-Plan newbie... why can't you order one?

So... you otherwise have to find a dealer who is 1) willing to sell at S-Plan prices, and 2) has the exact version of the car you want?

Sea Ray

Hey Med-mx6,
I have had 3 other dealers get mad at me for not giving them the sale, even though it was an S-plan. They will do a drealer trade if you tell them what you want, mine did when I told them they did not have the car I wanted. They found it, made a call, did the paperwork and sold it to me right then. And no additional transportation costs.
You can't order it but you can find a dealer trade. Get on mazda online and find the car you want with the search feature. Go to your nearest dealer and tell them where it is.

Good luck

350 Formula

Nubo,

The definition of new is a state thing, not a dealer thing. It is considered new if it has never been titled. It could have 5,000 miles on it if the dealer kept using those paper plates and still be considered 'new' Now, as a consumer you can do whatever you want. You can say, 30 miles is too much or 10 miles is too much or whatever. You are buying the car, not being forced to take it.

Nubo

I see. I thought there was some kind of (state) limit on how many miles allowed to still sell as a "new" car. I guess that would just be a matter of semantics though. As you say, when it is all said and done it's up to the buyer to decide what's acceptable. Caveat emptor!

Cyclonus

I agree that it's not too intelligent for a dealer to rack up unnecessary mileage on a new vehicle, but it wouldn't make much sense for the government to start over-legislating the issue... the mileage is clear for anyone to see. If the mileage on the vehicle is higher than you want to accept, don't buy it.

eccles

I think it's rather ridiculous to say that dealers should not be allowed to put miles on cars. Certainly, if a vehicle is special ordered for a customer, then that customer has every right to expect and demand that his car be delivered with the bare minimum mileage, but in the case of general stock on the lot, it's entirely the dealers' prerogative.

If a potential buyer has issues with the mileage on a particular vehicle, he can either renegotiate the price or move on to another specimen; nobody is forcing him to buy a "used" car at a "new" price. If the dealership finds themselves with demos that nobody wants because of the mileage, guess what, they'll stop using them as demos!

Now if a customer was shown one car and delivered another with significant mileage on the clock, that would be a different situation, but I don't think we're talking about that sort of deceptive practice here.

elmalloc

I had to tell my honda dealer 3 times that if I am ordering a new accord v6, it has to come with less than 15 miles on it. he said "wells ometimes the car gets delivered to another dealer and we will have to drive it over ot our dealership which may tack on 150 miles".

Right. I had to tell him 3 times I want to order new, not something off the mother freaking lot. I told him if it was test driven by anyone else, even with only 25 miles on it, I don't want it.

-ELmO