When you enter a car showroom or a car dealership, all the vehicles behind the big glasses, are known as demo cars. These are usually used for display or even for test drives. Demo cars are usually under the ownership of the dealership and are handled by those people.
Buying A Demo Car
But often, demo cars are considered as used cars, as they are being trolled around by various test drivers. So getting a demo car in a condition as new, is a hard find, and one has to keep an eye for such situations.
The demo cars are best buys for people looking for top-spec, shiny, new cars but are a little short of the price tag amount. Or also for people who are looking for some discounts in these cases. There are no fixed numbers on how much savings or discounts you can be assured from buying a demo car, as these depend on various factors like segment or the price range that the car falls under.
These savings and discounts can range more in case the demo car has been driven for a bigger number of kilometers or depending on the condition despite the refurbishing. And the dealerships are looking to get rid of such demo cars and just lookout for a good deal, so there is always room for negotiations.
Always remember the fact that all demo cars are still used cars, and they are being driven by different hands with different driving ethics. While some might be gentle to the powertrain, some smash the pedals to have a knowledge of performance extremes.
Walking around the demo car for a regular check could save you from investing in a scratched new car. Even though dealerships get the car refurbished into a new piece, small things can be missed out by them, costing the buyer money on repairs.
Are you interested in learning more about our demonstration vehicles? Castlegar Toyota has a wide selection of demo vehicles on clearance! Shop our demo inventory today, or call us at 1-(877) 969-1929 or reach out online for more information.
Nobody really gets a good deal on a demo car. That's why I do not recommend buying them. Since no pricing data is available, you can't easily valuate it. In most states there are no laws about labeling a car as new or used, except that once it has been titled, it's used. This allows the dealer to legally claim their demo with 5,000 to 10,000 miles is "New."
In the past, a demonstrator was the car the dealer would use as a selling tool to convince a customer to buy. The vehicle would be ordered with the very best of what the latest model had to offer, because any advanced new gadget on board represented an opportunity for the smart sales person to 'upsell' the customer, boosting the commission from the sale.
These days, a car may be a demonstrator in name only. The car purchased may be registered by the dealer, as it was in the past, but it may sit at the back of the lot with just delivery kilometres on the odometer. Buyers who lust after a new car, but just can't afford the full outlay could find themselves pushed in the direction of this 'demonstrator', offered a transaction price better than the dealer is willing to concede for a new car, and with the balance of the new-car warranty.
The buyer will have to accept the colour and options in exchange for the lower price, but a lot of consumers are willing to accept that. It's rarely a problem, when the dealers are careful to order a 'demonstrator' in one of the more popular colours, and fitted with the options most commonly chosen by buyers.
Sold with factory paid on-road costs and longer new-car warranties, a "demonstrator" in the modern context can be an appealing alternative to a new car. A demonstrator that has passed through the hands of all sorts of uncaring idiots on a test drive, perhaps not so much.
From the perspective of the dealer and the wholesaler/distributor/importer, demonstrators are a great device for clearing near-new stock at a big enough saving to tempt you away from an altogether new car. Never mind that the demonstrator may be a new car by any definition, notwithstanding it's already registered.
A demonstrator or "demo" is frequently a smokescreen for dealers to publish the discounted prices of brand new stock. The law forbids price fixing between dealers, and advertising big discounts doesn't help the resale prospects of a new car. It can also incur the wrath of the manufacturer and other dealers on the same dealer council.
In these cases, there has to be a demonstrator as described somewhere on the dealer's premises, but you might find that you can buy the very same car, brand new, for the same price. All you have to do is ask. The first step when you go shopping for any demonstrator is to investigate whether you can get the same price on a brand new example of the same car. Or even better.
If it is not a brand new car (ie: a 'demo' in the older definition of the word), then you need to treat it just like any other used car. Whether it has 1500 or 8000 km on the odometer, it has been on the road long enough for it to be in a condition that's no longer new, despite appearances. It helps to know the alternative sources of near new stock so you can identify exactly what you are looking at.
These are company cars driven by employees as part of their salary package and can be a good source of cheap, low mileage cars when they are often assigned to spouses or other family members who cover very low distances. Some factory retirement packages include the ongoing supply of the latest model. Depending on when they are first registered, these cars can come off fleet far earlier than other company cars if they are replaced as soon as a new model arrives. They are usually disposed of in a highly-competitive internal dealer-only auction system after which they are then retailed in some of the most remote corners of the country. Because they are well-serviced and sorted, they can be great buying especially if its factory owner used internal clout to get a unique feature or colour combination.
These cars can be outstanding value as the kilometres are usually very low (under 10,000 km), they are treated well because the employee had a financial stake in the car and they carry full factory clearance discounts as well as some extra price cuts for the kilometres they have travelled. The manufacturer may even top up the warranty so it matches a new one. These cars are often presented as "factory demonstrators" and are very different to the factory clearances of staff company cars.
When two manufacturers are slogging it out in a close run battle for Number One, registering new cars at the end of the year under these same circumstances can mean the difference between winning and losing. As these cars trickle back onto the market early in the New Year when the local factories are closed, they can be great buying. Because manufacturers have learnt that this brings new car sales to a halt until they are cleared, this practice is no longer as common as it used to be.
One option for re-selling this car is to feed it into the demonstrator or loan car fleet. It is fairly easy to identify these cars, because the first registered owner will be a private buyer or a fleet operator other than the dealer or manufacturer. In an ideal world, you should be told of its exact history, yet careful omission could 'guide' you to make assumptions that are not correct.
Inspection of some new cars may reveal panel damage, colour changes and other repairs between the factory and the dealer. One of the few options to clear such a car once it has been identified, is to offer it as a demonstrator, where customer expectations are not as high.
This innocuous little term implies that the car has been assigned to a program but in fact, it is more likely to have spent its time in a factory-backed rental car scheme or company car leasing scheme that includes a buy back component by the manufacturer or the importer. The savings are huge but they are not demonstrators when they are turned over just before their heavy usage becomes too obvious.
A demo car is one that has been registered by the dealership to be driven by employees, family members, or by customers on test drives, and is usually only a few months old when put up for sale. Some may have been used by manufacturers for launch events or appearances, but most demo cars will only have done a few hundred to a few thousand miles by the time they go on sale. Demos are an attractive option for buyers looking for a used bargain.
These cars have been registered to the dealership but never used, and they are put up for sale immediately. If you see what looks like a demo and it has delivery miles and was registered less than three months ago, the chances are this is a pre-reg.
While demo cars get their wholesale cost to the dealership reduced through manufacturer bonuses and tax write-downs by the dealership accountant to reduce their price and make them attractive to buyers, a pre-reg has cost the dealer the same money as a brand new model.
This is a tough one because it can vary so much. You as the customer have no way of knowing how much margin a dealership has in a demonstrator. They may have got nothing more than the de-fleet bonus from the manufacturer, but they may also have had further registration bonuses when they registered the car.
For those wondering "demo" is short for demonstrator. A dealer demonstrator vehicle is a vehicle driven solely by dealership employees for advertising purposes around the surrounding area. Employees drive a New vehicle for a set amount of time or KM reading and then jump into a different new vehicle to drive.
You now may be asking yourself why someone would buy a "new" vehicle that has already been driven by somebody. Today we're going to share with you 5 reasons why you should always look into buying a dealer demo when considering a new vehicle.
One thing you will never have to worry about is the condition that you will be getting your demo in. All dealer demonstrator vehicles are treated with the upmost of care by staff who are responsible for keeping the vehicle looking brand new at all times.
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