Should There Be Any Kilometers On A New Car

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twofor1

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A friend bought a new car last year, when he collected it from the large main dealer there was nearly 200 kilometers on it, the salesman explained that the car transporter was full, so they drove it up from Rosslare, to ensure he had the car on schedule, there would be no additional charge for this service. My friend was delighted with this level of customer care.

Now I accept car sales persons are renowned for their honesty and integrity, but have a suspicion, in this case anyway that several potential purchasers test drove this car before my friend got it. Even if they really did drive it up from Rosslare, they shouldn’t have, I would not like someone driving my new car 200 Kilometers up a motorway.

I would think a car with 200 Kilometers is now a Demo, or I have seen cars advertised at a reduced price with ‘’Delivery Kilometers’’

Anyway, I am expecting a new car next week and think it should have less than 1 kilometer on it when I collect, even 2 would be pushing it.

Am I right ?
 
in my experience, new cars will always have a few km's on it. The 200km on your friends car is not unusual.

Even driving on/off ferrys, storage yards, around garage forecourt, take out to get fuel, etc, etc will all add up a to a few km's.

Garages often drive cars from the ports straight to the garage. You will often see new cars driving on the motorways with garage plates.
 
to me it's perfectly normal for a new car to have a few KM on it for a variety of reasons, in fact, I'd be worried if I saw one with 0 or 1km on it as it would suggest the mileage had been changed.
 
Demo vehicles are registered as such and there is a tax advantage for the dealer to do so. A small number of km on a new car is inevitable; driving out of factory, onto/off ship, around storage area pre/post shipping, onto transporter, at dealers etc. Most should be up to 20km. 200km is excessive IMO but if driven from port to garage, well then the km will be a lot higher. I don't live anywhere near Rosslare and would not be happy if my new car was driven from there.
 
Unless you're collecting it right out of the production line, it will always get a few km on, to drive it to the main dealer.
 
Thanks for the replies, so maybe I am being unreasonable expecting only 2Km, I can now see how it could be more than that, maybe even up to 10Km might be reasonable, between driving on and off boats, compounds, car transporters etc, but can’t see how they could reasonably justify any more than 10Km, for me anyway saying they drove it from Rosslare to Dublin would not be acceptable.
 
My new car bought mid last year had 2km on the clock. Anything over 15km and I would not be happy. I would not accept a new car with 200km on the clock unless I had agreed with the dealer beforehand for them to drive the car from Rosslare to the garage. Even then, a full transporter is the garage's problem and not the customer. The garage should either have bumped another car off the transporter or sent it a second time to collect the remaining cars.
 
Would not be unusual to have cars arrive here in Donegal with 200+ delivery miles,
Maybe all was needed was the Garage to explain first !
 
also, some cars are driven between dealers if a customer wanted a particular colour or spec...but I would not accept 200km or miles on a new car, unless previously agreed!
 
Cars get driven between dealerships. Some new cars are delivered without brakes and other equipment which must be fitted by the selling agent. Most new cars are delivered with only a smell of petrol in the tank. New cars get driven by mechanics for several reasons. 200kms up on a new car is not unusual. I would be suspicious buying a new car with only a few kilometres on the clock.
 
twofor1 said:
Hi Leper, what would you be suspicious of ?
Click to expand...
1. Brakes not properly tested.
2. Fuel injection not functioning correctly.
3. Wheels not aligned.
5. Fluids not inserted (e.g. brake fluid etc)
6. Safety features unchecked.
7. Electrical components not properly checked.
8. Possible damage during transportation.

Do you need me to continue?
 
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Leper said:
Do you need me to continue?
Click to expand...

No thanks Leper.

All those things and more should of course be checked, my understanding is this is called the Pre Delivery Inspection, and would involve a test drive.

I have been told my car is arriving in Rosslare and will come to the main dealer I am buying from by transporter. I accept my original expectation of 1 or 2Km might be too low, but in my case anyway, allowing for all the shunting, fueling and a good test drive maybe even 15Km would be acceptable, but 200Km, no.
 
I like this thread because buying a car is very important for everybody and rightfully the subject is for discussion here.

We all want to believe that the "new" car with 161 on its registration was rolled off the assembly line yesterday, vacuum packed and spirited 100% intact to the forecourt of some main dealer. Paddy turns up, hands over €30,000.00 @ 0% interest and drives his virgin car away with zero on the clock - Not so! The likely situation is the car you bought was rolled off the assembly anything up to 18 months ago, stored in an open compound, bombarded with sunshine. It is then driven to some ship to be ferried to Ireland, fairly open to salt winds and even salt water. On arrival in Ireland (or even to another EU country prior to being ferried again to Ireland),the car gets driven off the ferry to another holding compound from where it is collected and brought to another holding compound. Remember, the car is open to the elements since it left the construction assembly line. The manufacturer then has the cars moved to one of several compounds around the country. Your main dealer purchases several cars, each one tested for colour, damage, etc beforehand. The new car will then be driven or carriaged to the main dealer's forecourts and can travel between forecourts in other locations.

At the latter end of the process, new brakes might be required, clutch parts might have to be replaced, etc etc. So, if the clock shows 200kms of usage, it would not be a concern to me. Remember it is possible your "new" car is older than the runaround your spouse bought six months ago. Best of luck with your new car.
 
200km is way too much unless special circumstances apply. Leper - your storytelling skills are coming to the fore there! Yes, the car was manufatcured several months ago, driven around the factory, to ship/off ship, around yard etc but 200km would be way too much. Don't forget that the spouse's runaround went through that process too so it all evens up.

Would this thread qualify for "1st world problems" designation?
 
Leper said:
I like this thread because buying a car is very important for everybody and rightfully the subject is for discussion here.
Click to expand...
For those who see cars as status symbols or life goals, buying them is very imortant. The rate of depreciation suggests that people pay a 20% premium for "brand new" cars in the hope that nobody else has farted in them yet.

As somebody who is coming to see cars as (at best) a way to get 5-7 people from A to B, I'm dismayed by this thread. We would collectively be better off if we cared about them less, and drove them less frequently. The first 0.05% of a car's expected lifespan should have no real effect on the value of a car unless it's a lemon or it's been driven into a wall.
 
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What's the big deal about having 200Km on a car that should reasonably be about to do 1000 times that mileage?
 
I have experience in this area and can say that the scenario leper depicts can be true but is more common when a car model is coming to the end of its lifecycle as there is excess cars with no homes to go to.

New models will generally have only been manufactured a few months prior to delivery and the same goes for special orders that have non standard extras.

Re 200km on a new car, this is too high unless a customer agreed for it to be driven from wherever the dealer sourced the car from (distributor or another dealer in the network).

Also some new cars can arrive to dealers damaged, if spotted they are returned to the distributor who repairs them and then sends them back out.

The only people who are get to drive a truly "New car" are the news who drive it off the factory line!!!
 
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