Demo model

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Trent242

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If you purchased a new car, but something gnawed at you leaving you with the suspicion that the car you actually purchased is a demo model.... what would be the things you checked to confirm your suspicion?

I'll also plant the following seed:

Decoding the VIN states the car was manufactured in February 2012. It was purchased this year in March as a 2013 model.

Any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

(If there are guys / salesmen working in the industry, I would seriously be grateful if they could answer the following question:
Can a dealer turn the mileage back on a car with the computers they've got on-site ? If so, by how much? )
 
How many Km's were on the clock when you drove it out the showroom? Drive past the Toyota plant in Durban an see how many new cars stand there in the blazing sun. The fact that the VIN states it was made in 2012 denotes the manufacturing year (MY) of the car. If it is a MY2012 but registered as new with the Transport department in 2013, then it is a 2013 model, MY2012.

That said, a manufacturer cannot sell you a MY2012 car with specifications/equipment that only came with the MY2013 variant as "new", that is why you often see huge specials and "limited edition's" from dealers close to when a shape/specification/model update is imminent.
 
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Trent242 said:
Can a dealer turn the mileage back on a car with the computers they've got on-site ? If so, by how much? )
Click to expand...

I'd say thats pretty underhanded - it should be stated as a demo model if it is. (I bought one last year, only had 250km on the clock)
 
The car was brought up from East Londen to PE, about 240kms. When I picked it up, it had 56km on the clock. Phoning another dealer, for the same brand, in another town, I checked and they stated that such a delivery would be done by truck. But I found a petrol slip in the car, where they put R400's worth of diesel in the car in East London 2 days prior to me collecting it here in PE.
When I collected it, the tank was empty.
 
Trent242 said:
The car was brought up from East Londen to PE, about 240kms. When I picked it up, it had 56km on the clock. Phoning another dealer, for the same brand, in another town, I checked and they stated that such a delivery would be done by truck. But I found a petrol slip in the car, where they put R400's worth of diesel in the car in East London 2 days prior to me collecting it here in PE.
When I collected it, the tank was empty.
Click to expand...

And the petrol slip have the car's registration on it?

If so, then there's something sneaky going on here...
 
Other things:

The plastic bag in the glove box that contained the remote for the Infotainment unit, was extremely old... the plastic clearly aged. The electric motor for the right rear window sounded like it was taking tremendous effort in opening/closing. The dealership had to 're-grease' the motor.
 
The_Librarian said:
And the petrol slip have the car's registration on it?

If so, then there's something sneaky going on here...
Click to expand...

It doesn't, but they did pay with a fleet card. I remember from my days when I had the luxury of a fleet card, that I had to supply the mileage of my car whenever I filled up. If I contact that petrol station, they should be able to provide me with the mileage of the car at that time..?
 
Trent242 said:
It doesn't, but they did pay with a fleet card. I remember from my days when I had the luxury of a fleet card, that I had to supply the mileage of my car whenever I filled up. If I contact that petrol station, they should be able to provide me with the mileage of the car at that time..?
Click to expand...

Correct. If they had taken the pains to write the mileage down. And if they're willing to co-operate.
 
I've bought a new car before where they drove it down from Jo-burg with the speedo cable disconnected, so it still had less than 10km on the clock when I picked it up. It didn't phase me becasue it was a company car, and I knew full well that they were doing that.

With respect to the manufacture date, some slower moving models do take a while to sell. Especially if it was manufactured outside South Africa and still had to be shipped out here. I can easily see it taking 3 - 6 months for that alone depending on circumstances.

I'd go to a different dealer and ask to see all the information that they have access to on their system for that VIN number. Maybe some work was done on it that got logged onto the system.

What make and model is it? I'm assuming it's not something where there is a long waiting list?
 
Trent242 said:
The car was brought up from East Londen to PE, about 240kms. When I picked it up, it had 56km on the clock. Phoning another dealer, for the same brand, in another town, I checked and they stated that such a delivery would be done by truck. But I found a petrol slip in the car, where they put R400's worth of diesel in the car in East London 2 days prior to me collecting it here in PE.
When I collected it, the tank was empty.
Click to expand...

Almost all cars can be reset once by the dealer without much hassle, if under a certain amount of km's (like 150 or so). This is to allow them to get rid of the km's done at the factory, loading onto trucks/ships, and the little bit of driving on the showroom floor.

But, an initial 240km, followed be a "reset" value of 56km... Doesnt seem right to me.
 
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