"Delivery Miles"

notahappycamper

I suppose it should read "delivery Kms". Anyhoo, I'm picking up new car next week and I'm just wondering what sort of "delivery miles" should be on it? I don't want the feckers to be using it as a demo before I collect it!!

Stevie Dakota

Anything more than 10km's would piss me off.

listermint

really should be around the 3km mark not much more

PaddyFagan

Depends on the make and how it got to the showroom - probably <20km. They run a few km on in final testing, the rest is governed by how many times it has been loaded and unloaded off trucks... It's possible that your garage got it from another garage (swaping around of stock) and that might push the figure up....

Paddy

craichoe

AFAIK, they can reset it before it gets to a certain mileage , but they can only do it once.

RedorDead

Did hear of an Audi RS6 delivered recently with 135km on the clock.

This is normal apparently for S and RS models to test them around a special track just after they leave the production and before they hit the boat. Just the final stage of quality control.

ART6

Most bog standard cars are delivered to dealers on car transporters by specialist firms, and so the delivery mileage (as quoted above) should be only a few miles at most. However, if you ordered a special in any sense it might have been taken to the dealer by a delivery driver, and then the mileage could be anything.

-Chris-

listermint wrote: »

really should be around the 3km mark not much more

Dunno if I'd agree with that.

Most of our cars, if they've never been driven, will have 18kms (ish) on them at delivery time - loading off and off boats & transporters etc.

If we've had it in stock on-site, it'll be more likely 30km (ish) as it may have been taken for a couple of test-drives.

I personally wouldn't be worried about anything upto 100km, although if it's above 45km you could probably make a big deal of it and see if you can get some free stuff

JoeA3

If the car's been on the dealer forecourt for a while, chances are it's been moved around a few times, or even taken on test drives as Chris said.
Also, its possible to reset the counter back to zero on most cars at least once before it reaches say 100-150kms.
And I've often read stories of the lads at the ferry port taking cars off the boat with great care!

vectra

AudiChris wrote: »

Dunno if I'd agree with that.

Most of our cars, if they've never been driven, will have 18kms (ish) on them at delivery time - loading off and off boats & transporters etc.

+1

I collected my Special Order SEAT Cordoba 1.4TDIs last Feb and it had 26Kms on the clock
I wouldnt be too worried at anything under 30Kms.. if it is over this then the garage may have possibly used it for a tesdt run or two as a demo.. That would Pi$$ me right off thinking some plonker got to drive the $hit outr of my new car before me

WHITE_P

Most new cars I've taken delievery of, my own and company one's included have typically had around 10 to 20 miles or equivelent km on the clock.

All new Rolls Royce's were delievered with a min. of 1000 miles on the clock year's ago, this was down to predelievery testing. I don't know if this is still the case.

Stephen

My Civic was delivered with 11km on the clock.

rebel.ranter

collected a Land Rover Discovery in 2000 with 4 miles on it.

-Chris-

vectra wrote: »

if it is over this then the garage may have possibly used it for a tesdt run or two as a demo.. That would Pi$$ me right off thinking some plonker got to drive the $hit outr of my new car before me

Cars onsite are used for test-drives if there's not a similar reg'd model available, that's a fact of life. The trade off there is that while the car has 40km on it instead of 20km, all I need to do is re-clean it and screw plates onto it - you can take it away today!
(That might not sound like that big a deal, but when you're looking at that or a 10 week delivery time for an Audi, it can make the difference)

Lucifer

I'd say between 5-20km would be normal enough. In work they usually come in with a few kms on the clock, maybe 5-10 and then we would put another few on with moving them around. We have an underground carpark 5 mins from our garage where they are stored so that will add 3 or 4 bringing it there and back, also if we bring it to the petrol station etc. also, i work on opels, and its not possible to reset the clock, but it may be possible on some makes, i dont know.

Padraig Mor

Was rather surprised a couple of months ago to be given a test drive in a Mazda 6 - which was sold (plateless etc) and awaiting collection by a customer!

-Chris-

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Was rather surprised a couple of months ago to be given a test drive in a Mazda 6 - which was sold (plateless etc) and awaiting collection by a customer!

That's bad form, imho. Once we receive a deposit on a car we immediately ground the car to make sure that nothing happens to it. Once we have the deposit, we presume the car belongs to someone else.

L-M

I think AudiChris has hit all the buttons. Unreg'd cars can often be used for test drives, especially if there isn't a demo about. I wouldn't worry about anything under 50... Over 50 i'd ask a question or two:D
Best of luck with the new motor

RobAMerc

who cares what it is - you'll have a couple of hundred of ks on it by the end of the first week.

is this not being a bit finiky - come on - who's gonna care whether its got 28000 or 28082 on it when your selling it ?

most new cars are almost fully bench run in these days so they aren't gonna do much damage and people dont exactly 'GUN' cars on test drives anyway.

do you have to be the only person to ever drive it just because its new ?

10-10-20

AFIK, the Audi control system allows the importer to reset the clock up to three times as long as it's done before 100km. So, in theory, your car could have 300km on it without you knowing.

bazz26

I am usually more concerned about the condition of a new car than a few extra kms on the clock, when collecting it. In other words checking for scratches or scuff marks on the bodywork is more important to me. Alot can happen to a new car from the time it leaves the factory to when you collect the keys. And it doesn't just happen when the car is driven.

-Chris-

10-10-20 wrote: »

AFIK, the Audi control system allows the importer to reset the clock up to three times as long as it's done before 100km. So, in theory, your car could have 300km on it without you knowing.

Not sure, but I think you can only do that once.

We never bother though. I think most customers assume that we have the capability to somehow delete delivery mileage, but I believe a customer will find it far more suspicious to collect a car with 4km on it than 40km. If I've gone to the bother of resetting it, exactly what am I hiding?

RobAMerc wrote: »

who cares what it is - you'll have a couple of hundred of ks on it by the end of the first week.

Probably the most incisive post so far.
Keep all this in context - make the day about collecting your sparkling new car, not about whether there's 13 or 31km on the clock!

vectra

RobAMerc wrote: »

do you have to be the only person to ever drive it just because its new ?

Well
That would be one of the Purposes of handing out a shed load of cash on your new pride and Joy :cool:
Otherwise buy a demo model

Biro

vectra wrote: »

Well
That would be one of the Purposes of handing out a shed load of cash on your new pride and Joy :cool:
Otherwise buy a demo model

Agreed. There was a garage around Sligo who were selling a brand new 911 Turbo, and I was looking at it. The side walls of the tyres had some score marks that can only come from some sideways action. I'd hate to shell out €235,000 for a car and have all the young bucks working there snigger and tell their friends how they drove the balls out of yer man's car and he paid more than a house for it!

-Chris-

You gotta distinguish between delivery/test-drive miles and actual abuse.

You'll NEVER be the first person to drive your car, it had to be transported here.
Your new car will NEVER have 0km on it unless the odometer is reset.
Your new car should however be immaculate and mechanically perfect, anything less is unacceptable (including scrubbed tyres etc.).

Biro

AudiChris wrote: »

You gotta distinguish between delivery/test-drive miles and actual abuse.

You'll NEVER be the first person to drive your car, it had to be transported here.
Your new car will NEVER have 0km on it unless the odometer is reset.
Your new car should however be immaculate and mechanically perfect, anything less is unacceptable (including scrubbed tyres etc.).

I accept that perfectly. But it's kind of relative too. For example the transport miles should be small, and the guys delivering them do it for a living, and while may not be the most careful men around, would not bother taking them for a burn as they probably load 20 A4's every day, so why bother?
If a car is in a dealers though, should it not be a demo model if it's used for test drives? Isn't that what a demo model is? Either way, if I ordered a car and had to wait for it to be delivered, I'd be unhappy if I went in to do the deal and someone else had driven it, outside the necessary people to get it there. That incudes some sales guy going for tea bags or whatever - shouldn't happen. If it were already sitting at the dealers and I haggled a bargain on it as I didn't actually get to choose spec, then I'd expect a better deal, and also expect a few small runs on it.
However, if I ever win the lotto or make a fortune at work and am in the market for a proper car like an RS6, or GTR or 911 GT2, I'd go to the factory to collect myself as part of the experience and also to save anyone going for a burn in my new toy!

-Chris-

Biro wrote: »

I accept that perfectly. But it's kind of relative too. For example the transport miles should be small, and the guys delivering them do it for a living, and while may not be the most careful men around, would not bother taking them for a burn as they probably load 20 A4's every day, so why bother?

You get pretty jaded about cars after a while in the motor industry. I ordered a €160k Q7 4.2TDi recently and it came in yesterday. A couple of years ago I'd be all excited and trying to sneak a spin, now I'm just worried that it's exactly the spec we ordered and would kill anyone who wanted to drive it - if it get's damaged, I'm dead!

Biro wrote: »

If a car is in a dealers though, should it not be a demo model if it's used for test drives? Isn't that what a demo model is?

You try and have one of every model on demo, but it's not always practical. Sometimes you'll have to take a customer out in an unreg'd (but unsold) stock car if they want to experience a specific engine/gearbox etc.

Biro wrote: »

Either way, if I ordered a car and had to wait for it to be delivered, I'd be unhappy if I went in to do the deal and someone else had driven it, outside the necessary people to get it there.

If it's a car that's ordered for someone, it should never be driven except for transport or preparation. Once it belongs to someone, you have to treat it with utmost respect.

Biro wrote: »

That incudes some sales guy going for tea bags or whatever - shouldn't happen.

I'd probably fire someone for doing that!

Biro wrote: »

If it were already sitting at the dealers and I haggled a bargain on it as I didn't actually get to choose spec, then I'd expect a better deal, and also expect a few small runs on it.

It's a good bargaining tool too, don't knock it!
Also, any of those test drives were done while accompanied by an employee of the garage, so it's not like someone's gone and borrowed it to go do donuts in it either...

Biro wrote: »

However, if I ever win the lotto or make a fortune at work and am in the market for a proper car like an RS6, or GTR or 911 GT2, I'd go to the factory to collect myself as part of the experience and also to save anyone going for a burn in my new toy!

+1,000,000

I'm amazed people don't do this more often!

Biro

AudiChris wrote: »

It's a good bargaining tool too, don't knock it!
Also, any of those test drives were done while accompanied by an employee of the garage, so it's not like someone's gone and borrowed it to go do donuts in it either...

It's the best bargaining tool really! Everyone wants to pick their colour. The dealer needs to buy a car to sit in the showroom to show off a particular model. That leaves the gap of the dealer needing to sell that car which is still brand new, not a demo, therefore will offer a better trade in deal for a customer who doesn't get to choose the spec/colour! The only time it doesn't work is if the dealer had it in a hideous colour, but that rarely happens.

MarkN

If I ordered a car, I wouldn't accept anyone test driving it. The day you sign a purchase order form, you enter into a contract and the garage have an obligation to get you a new car, not a test driven for 40 kms car, a new one.

Most I have ever had on a brand new car is about 10kms/miles.