Register car as a demo?

kat939 · 12-04-2012 7:20am #1

Hi all - I've been looking at buying a new car for a little while, and last weekend found one and let the dealer know that I'd be interested once I got the finance sorted. Now that's taken a few days and the dealer has since rung and offered a slight discount if the car can be registered as a demo model and put on D plates - would this make any difference in the long run trying to sell it on etc? He insisted I'd still be the first registered owner but I thought cars had to be registered and taxed by the garage before they could be called demo models?

Any ideas?

corktina · 12-04-2012 7:33am

you can callwhat you like a demo model, it isnt a legal standing.Its possibly a way for them to fill their quota with the manufacturer.so long as you are first reg'd owner, shouldn't make a difference, ( a D reg will make it easier to sell on too possibly)

just ask them to explain fully why they want to do it

biko · 12-04-2012 7:35am

Garages aren't registered as real owners, only people are.

Ask yourself, why is the place suggesting this type of deal? What's the mileage? Was it used by an employee before you?
I'd say to shop around other sellers for the same car, is there a price difference?
I'm wary of car sales people and if they offer you to knock down price that'd be an ever bigger thing to wonder about, imo.
Btw, for a demo I'd expect more like 10-15% off the price and lots of extras and full warranty for the same period as a brand new non-demo.
What did they offer?

alanclarke1975 · 12-04-2012 7:40am

Having had the experience of working for two dealers - i would say not to worry too much.

As part of the Franchise contract the dealer has to put a certain amount of cars on Demonstration per annum. The dealer may already have 11 reg "Demos" that they feel fits the bill, and has seen an opportunity to reg a demo and also shift it at the same time.

Take his discount, also take it with the car taxed (as the dealer will probably have to hang onto the tax book to prove the car is demo'ed etc)

Has the car delivery mileage ? Or is it more - as in was it used as a Demo?

If the garage is registering it, the garage will be the first owner. Ask to see the RF101 (Tax book)

colm_mcm · 12-04-2012 7:58am

Yep, you'll be the second owner as the garage will have to tax the car to get the reg cert, they usually send this to the distributor to hold for a few months, but I've heard of garages changing ownership through other means.

Being registered as a demo wouldn't bother me, shop around in your own county and see what's on offer

smash · 12-04-2012 8:07am

biko wrote: »

Garages aren't registered as real owners, only people are.

Come to sale time, he'll still be the 2nd owner of the car.

I'd also have queries about insurance because technically the car will not be in your name until the garage transfers ownership to you.

kat939 · 12-04-2012 8:08am

The car was never used as a demo, only delivery miles on it and is (or rather will be!) a 12 reg. They were only talking about €200 or so off, but since it was never actually used as a demo I wouldn't worry too much about that side of it, I was just wondering what the idea behind it might be. Otherwise it's a fairly high spec model and is coming with the full manafacturer's warrantee, roadside assistance etc, and is priced around that same as other dealers for the same model. I'm hoping to meet up with them this evening to hand over a deposit, so will investigate a bit more at that stage. Good to know there's probably nothing to worry about - apart from that D reg;)

smash · 12-04-2012 8:09am

kat939 wrote: »

They were only talking about €200 or so off

Crappy discount to be honest.

listermint · 12-04-2012 8:14am

200 is a poor discount, your helping them remember

12-04-2012 8:18am

smash wrote: »

................
I'd also have queries about insurance because technically the car will not be in your name until the garage transfers ownership to you.

As with any car, no issue there.

L1011 · 12-04-2012 8:28am

I got just under 3k (17k-14k) off for taking a registered as a demo; albeit it was a car they were having serious trouble shifting anyway.

Made it clear I didn't want D plates on it; think that helped a bit.

Anan1 · 12-04-2012 8:32am

kat939 wrote: »

Hi all - I've been looking at buying a new car for a little while, and last weekend found one and let the dealer know that I'd be interested once I got the finance sorted. Now that's taken a few days and the dealer has since rung and offered a slight discount if the car can be registered as a demo model and put on D plates - would this make any difference in the long run trying to sell it on etc? He insisted I'd still be the first registered owner but I thought cars had to be registered and taxed by the garage before they could be called demo models? Any ideas?

If you do this then the garage will be the first registered owner, but this shouldn't effect resale value much if you can explain the deal to potential buyers. My main concern would be whether you can properly insure the car while it's registered to someone else. Clarify this for starters, and also find out how long before they'll let you transfer ownership. I'd also be wondering what would happen if the garage were to go under in the interim. Finally, it all depends on the car but €200 sounds like very little.

alanclarke1975 · 12-04-2012 8:43am

The €200 euro reduction is a bit low. Remember if this dealer is getting a nice reduction from the distributor.

What are you buying btw? Has the dealer a few 11's on his forecourt? Would they do a deal on them?(And shove his poxy €200 discount) Or is your heart set on a 12 reg?

kat939 · 12-04-2012 9:12am

I know 200 isn't a lot, but this was after a certain amount of haggling for a cash discount etc already, and I wasn't expecting to get any more off the asking price at this stage! It's a Fiat 500 - I wouldn't care about the reg but it's the model and colour I really want, and I'm told (mostly by dealers, so taken with a pinch of salt) that it's a low margin car anyway. My main worry was it would delay the sale by adding an extra step to the registration and that it might affect it selling later on.

Anan1 · 12-04-2012 9:21am

kat939 wrote: »

I know 200 isn't a lot, but this was after a certain amount of haggling for a cash discount etc already, and I wasn't expecting to get any more off the asking price at this stage!

Just because you don't expect it doesn't mean it's not available. The dealer will get a certain discount for registering the car as a demo, and i'd be expecting a fair bite of that cherry. €200 is most likely a bit of an insult.

kat939 wrote: »

It's a Fiat 500 - I wouldn't care about the reg but it's the model and colour I really want, and I'm told (mostly by dealers, so taken with a pinch of salt) that it's a low margin car anyway. My main worry was it would delay the sale by adding an extra step to the registration and that it might affect it selling later on.

The car will be worth a bit less come resale, so the discount up-front needs to reflect this. The longer you plan on keeping the car the less this matters.

12-04-2012 9:23am

kat939 wrote: »

I know 200 isn't a lot, but this was after a certain amount of haggling for a cash discount etc already, and I wasn't expecting to get any more off the asking price at this stage! It's a Fiat 500...........

Did you shop around a few different dealers?
Lovely car btw

mickdw · 12-04-2012 10:38am

DO NOT take a demo if only getting 200 reduction. It would be utter madness. You will be second owner which will have a penalty come trade in / sale. Also, some insurers offer better new for old terms in the case of an accident providing you are the cars first owner.
Why bother with any possible issues for 200. They are making a fool out of you offering such a small discount and if they told you that you would still be first owner, they were lying.

subway · 12-04-2012 11:02am

how does it affect warranty (first owner stuff)
its going to impact depreciation immediately

you also have the fact that no one will believe your story when you sell it.
either your the second owner (lower value) or it was a demo car (i'd just walk away)

i have a serious thing against buying a car thats been taken on 100s of test drives. too many unknown quantities, espcially how was it driven in the initial run in period, was it ever let warm up before driving off, etc, etc

corktina · 12-04-2012 11:16am

i do wonder if some of youse actually read the first post.

subway · 12-04-2012 11:45am

i wish some posters on boards would say who they are referring to & what they are talking about instead of being vaguely passive aggressive.

we cant all get what we want... :pac:

kat939 · 12-04-2012 3:58pm

RoverJames wrote: »

Did you shop around a few different dealers?
Lovely car btw

Thanks - can't wait to have it now:D I've done a good bit of shopping around and think I have a pretty good idea of what's reasonable - I'd just never heard of anyone offering a brand new car as a demo before for the sake of a couple of hundred euro...

Thanks to all for the advice, think I'm going to leave the demo business alone and take it from there:cool:

galwaytt · 12-04-2012 5:23pm

Anan1 wrote: »

The car will be worth a bit less come resale, so the discount up-front needs to reflect this. The longer you plan on keeping the car the less this matters.

Respectfully.........I disagree.

Used prices for any given car will vary anyway, and the 500 is probably one of the safest bets, resale-wise, so, worst case, you will most likely see no penalty at all, if you keep it any more than a reasonable time.

I'd agree the discount should be more than 200, on A.N. Other model...........but the 500 is both an easy-selling, and hot-selling model, and it's likely someone will take it as-is, if OP doesn't.

OP - look at it another way: are you saying you're prepared to walk away from it, over 200? If so, pay the list, be the first owner, and I daresay the 200 will vanish into the ether come resale time. As you say, if this is the car you really want, 200 is a small sum to lose it over.

Anan1 · 12-04-2012 6:38pm

galwaytt wrote: »

Respectfully.........I disagree.

Used prices for any given car will vary anyway, and the 500 is probably one of the safest bets, resale-wise, so, worst case, you will most likely see no penalty at all, if you keep it any more than a reasonable time.

Sure how could an extra owner on the book but devalue the car?

Granted it won't be by much, but it still won't be a one owner car. I think we need to know how much of a discount the dealer gets for registering the car as a demo before being able to make a call on how much of that the OP should fairly get.

galwaytt wrote: »

I'd agree the discount should be more than 200, on A.N. Other model...........but the 500 is both an easy-selling, and hot-selling model, and it's likely someone will take it as-is, if OP doesn't.

OP - look at it another way: are you saying you're prepared to walk away from it, over 200? If so, pay the list, be the first owner, and I daresay the 200 will vanish into the ether come resale time. As you say, if this is the car you really want, 200 is a small sum to lose it over.

My understanding is that the OP is buying the car anyway, the only open question is whether to let the garage register it as a demo for x amount of time first? Which also brings us back to my earlier concerns about insurance and the garage going under?

Register car as a demo?

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