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more on how many miles on a new car
Posted by Ari Kahan (more from Ari Kahan) on Thu, 17 Feb 2000 12:14:50
Thanks for the various reponses I got to the
'how many miles ought to be on a new car?'
question.
I thought a couple of them seemed to demand
comment, as follows:
>The dealer should offer you one car to 'test' drive with 2000-3000 miles so
>you can see how 'fast or whatever takes your fancy' it goes. If that car
>is sold it will be as a used car (in the UK classsed as 'demonstrator').
I have had experiences where I've wandered into a dealership and
asked for a test drive, and their 'demo' units were in use
on other test drives (or by salesmen's wives...)
The salesman, who does not want to
chase a customer away by saying, 'Sorry, all our demos
are in use,' will grab the keys to a new car on the lot,
and send me out in it. I'm QUITE sure that when I get
back, this 'new' car is not suddenly put into the demo
pool; it's still 'new,' and some unfortunate soul is going
to end up buying a car I've beaten up on for perhaps
ten miles, believing it to be brand new.
>The dealer should not really offer you even allow you to test drive a
>boxed car.
The problem here, though, is the difference between what they 'should'
do, and what they (or some of them, anyway) actually do. In
theory, I 'should' be able to ask, 'Has this car been
driven by other customers on test drives?', and get a straight
answer... but I think it's naive to believe that I would.
>A friend took a test drive of an Aero at a local
>dealer, and the salesman asked him to observe
>a 5,000 RPM redline and not use full throttle.
Even if we trust the salesmen, it's hard to trust
the other test-drivers!
>I've been selling cars for over 20 years, so I feel qualified to answer
>your question. In Maine, a new car is one that has never been previously
>titled, and still has the orinal manufacturer's 'Statement of Origin'.
>It could have anywhere from under 20 miles, which is usually the case,
>to quite a few thousand, and still be considered new.
Yup, that's just what I thought!
>As to running in, I was told by the dealer that modern engines don't
require >the nursing that older engines do, and to feel free to take
>full advantage of the extra horses the re-chip and sports exhaust upgrade
that >I'd had fitted from the word go...... which was nice!
Although the dealer might be right that modern engines
are not quite as sensitive to these things as the older
ones, it is very difficult for me to believe that the
manufacturer would recommend an unnecessary run-in period.
By advising that you beat on the car in the first 500
miles, it seems to me that the dealer is enhancing the
prospect that you'll be back for a rebuild just after your warranty
has expired.
To sum up: It seems that one should expect to take delivery
with something under a dozen miles on the clock, and
perhaps as few as 5, unless the car has been dealer-swapped
or test driven by others.
Thanks for the input!
-Ari
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