I recall a thread a couple of months ago debating how many miles on the clock are acceptable when you pick up your new car from the dealer...
Collected my wife's Panda today - with 0 km! It'd been driven barely 300 yards from the compound to the PDI workshop. The mechanic said that it didn't even have any petrol in it when they took it out of the compound!
Should I have worried about a lack of pre-delivery test drive? Fiat must be pretty confident about these cars!
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THey couldnt get it started when it left the line
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Did you see the sticker "don't forget to reconnect the speedo during PDI"
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They could have reset it with their hand-held gizmo, or realised the original was kaput during the inspection! :o)
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THey couldnt get it started when it left the line
LOL
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I'd personally be suspicious if my new car had 000 on the clock. I would expect about 5 - 7 miles and would then be satisfied that it had been properly PDI'd etc. Of course there is nothing stopping the manufacturer from resetting the speedo - but I guess we give them that trust. I have personally known of an instance where a 'new' car was driven from Luton to London with the speedo disconnected, given a buff and shine and presented to the new owner with 4 miles on the clock...and this was in the days of manual speedos etc.
We have to have some level of trust somewhere, but I would reject my new car if it had double-digit miles on the speedo for 'new'. And conversely a nil return - well that'd definitely raise my suspicions.
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but I would reject my new car if it had double-digit miles on the speedo for 'new'.
So it has 11 miles and you think you can reject it? Think again
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I was thinking more like 20-something. When I bought my spanking new Passat, it came with 7.some miles on the clock. 15 miles might be my limit and I would get the Dealership to justify why the car had done so many miles - remember, you only pay the balance upon collection, and if you're not satisfied, then you don't pay. Yes you might be in breach of contract etc. but the Dealer would have to take you through the Courts and you'd go from there. I'd happily look at rejecting a car with 20-something miles on the clock, it's not 'new' at all.
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Each to their own I suppose. If I was buying a new car - I probably wouldn't look twice if there were 40 miles on the clock. That's me though. I suppose if I was really buying a new car, I'd be wondering what they'd been doing in it.
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Adam
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Yeah, like Adski says, it'd really make me sit up and notice. I think the PDI needs to cover a minimum distance so that all ther relevant tests can be done. So from production line to facxtory yard to container to port of delivery and then to dealer (remember most of these journeys are done/should be done on the back of a transporter and the car should not be driven) and then you pick it up - you'd expect < 10 miles on the clock? maybe Blue-Haddock could shed some light on this as he works for a main dealer?
OK I can expect a car being improted from abroad to have a *little* more leeway - but if it was say a Nissan made right here in the UK or the Toyota Corolla there'd be little justification for the car to have anymore than a *couple* of miles on the clock.
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The legal definition of new is first registered owner. Try and reject a car with 20 something miles on the clock and they will be keeping your deposit, and will be chasing you for the balance. "20 miles? of course it new.
I bet you would be upset if you realised your spanking new passat might be crash damaged repaired.
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From the time the car leaves the factory it has to be driven..If it didnt have petrol in it it wouldnt drive..Can you see anyone pushing motor into rather large car park/pushing on to trailer from car park..then pushing off into garage park area.it then has to be driven into workshop for PDI.after this is done.it then goes for test drive..usualy a set mileage by garage.Of around 2 miles-up to 5 if I recall.I worked for main dealers for a while.And have never seen a car with zero miles on clock..Come to that never seen a new car pushed into garage??unless it had a flat battery/run out of fuel
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Steve
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My last new car had 130 miles on - an import, so perhaps driven from the docks? Or maybe used for demo purposes - most of us have been taken out in a new car from the compound with the trade plates on. The important thing is that there is no damage. The worst new car I have had in this respect was a Golf with very few miles on the clock but one front wing that was a distinctly different shade to the rest of the car, and none too well aligned. It was a company one so I settled for being annoyed - not sure how I would have handled it had it been my own brass.
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My last few new cars have always ahd between 10 and 15 miles on them. No complaints.
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I've never seen a new car with zero miles on the clock - surely by the time they have left the factory, be driven to a storage compound, retrieved from said compound, put onto transporter, then taken off at required destination and with a short test drive as part of the PDI they would have a minimum or 2 or 3 on the clock.
The most i have seen about about 18 miles on the clock - if it had any more than about 20 on i'd be suspicious
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One well known French manufacturer imports through Southampton docks. The cars are driven maybe 1/4 mile from ship to a Pdi compound. There are scores of chaps carrying out various bits of the pdi outdoors on hundreds of cars. Each man has a particular part to check in a production line type of operation. From there the cars are moved a few hundred yards to an indoor line where various underbody and level checks are made. Damaged or faulty cars are sprayed or repaired on site. Cars are loaded directly onto a transporter and delivered to the dealer already PDI 'd. Assuming that each car covers the same distance under it's own power in France, a total distance of less than a mile on the odometer would be reasonable.
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I wouldn't expect to receive a new car with 0 miles on the clock; it has to have been driven to some extent and therefore should register some distance.
I'm surprised at the number of people who would reject a car with 20 plus miles on the clock; when I picked up the Ford Ka it had done about 72 miles and I wasn't in the slightest bit concerned; the car with in perfect condition and all worked as it should. I think to an extent a reasonable mileage is not an indicator that the car has been used for some other purpose, but reflects the nature in which the car was delivered; as has been mentioned the car may have been driven from docks or other to the customer; I have seen this situation and the car in question had done approximately 100 miles at delivery, but was certainly none the worse for that.
Regards
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The most i have seen about about 18 miles on the clock - if it had any more than about 20 on i'd be suspicious
Like the man says, it would raise my suspicions and would initially lead me to reject the car - I'm not saying that it'd be easy to reject, but I would be loathed to hand over my money with such 'high' mileage. But I'd certainly give it a shot :)
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When I picked up my new MKV Golf last December, from my Bromley Kent dealer there was 23 miles on the clock. I could certainly account for 12 miles of this as it was driven from their PDI depot in Dunton Green near Sevenoaks and I suppose the rest could have been due to testing and driving around the port of Sheerness to which it was shipped from Emden in Germany.
I must admit that I could not too up tight about this although I was a weeny bit surprised but said nothing to the dealers.
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I've only ever bought brand new with a motorcycle, and they come in a big cardboard box anyhow, but more than a 'few' miles would certainly give me pause for thought. Delivery mileage can mean round the factory/docks etc, but can also apply to picking it up from storage and driving on the road by a plater to the dealership, and the manner that I have seen some new motors being thrashed makes me wince.
(stand by for angry response from platers)
WTM
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I've read somewhere else that Vauxhalls with a digital odometer can be reset to zero, providing there is less than 6 miles on the clock. But this can only be only be done once. The ecu logs that it's been done and prevents anyone from attempting it again.
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I've only ever bought brand new with a motorcycle, and they come in a big cardboard box anyhow, but more than a 'few' miles would certainly give me pause for thought. Delivery mileage can mean round the factory/docks etc, but can also apply to picking it up from storage and driving on the road by a plater to the dealership, and the manner that I have seen some new motors being thrashed makes me wince. (stand by for angry response from platers) WTM
OMG ! you mean new cars DON'T come in a big cardboard box ? ;-(
(can you tell I've never bought new ?) ;-)
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OMG ! you mean new cars DON'T come in a big cardboard box ? ;-( (can you tell I've never bought new ?) ;-)
They might do for all I know. wasnt there an ad not long ago showing all cars as toys? sure part of it showed a guy putting it back in its box....
WTM
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I suppose in days of old one could reverse the car onto transport/out of factory/into dealership, without clocking up any miles. A bit time consuming I suspect but was this ever done?
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Mike Farrow
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In the 1970s my boss went to the MB factory in Germany to collect his new car, one of those flat ones with concave roof. He was given a guided tour of the works and a big lunch and drove his car right out of the factory. Zero miles on the clock. I swore that I would do the same one day but events overtook me, as ever.
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Well, the Panda in question at the start of this thread was NOT road-tested by the dealership - they didn't have time! Although I ordered it from their stock 3 weeks ago, they only fished it out of their compound a few hours before I came to pick it up, and it wasn't ready for me at the agreed time!
Regardless of the mileage, I did find this a bit disconcerting, but like I said in the original post, I guess the dealer and the manufacturer must have a lot of confidence in the car!
In any case, it is in tip-top condition; a credit to the Polish factory. It's 2 grand cheaper than the VW Lupo 1.0E I bought new 4 years ago, and apparently a better car!
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I have had a new car every three years on average since 1979.
The mileage has varied from a low of 6 to a high of 80. Each car however has been delivered to my place of work or home.
I was very proud of the 405 (9 miles). This was delivered to Richmond High St on a transporter. The Jam this caused was featured on Capital Radio's traffic report and flying eye.
(yes his first drop, mine was the last car on the top!!!!!)
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Maybe I am missing something but someone who used to work for VW told me that there was a sequence of stalks or buttons to be pressed which zeroed the mileometer as long as it was under 50 miles. Your car with zero miles might have several hundred for all you know! Does anyone have a good Golf 1.8 GL to sell ????
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Any new car can be zeroed in the dealers workshops, at any time using the plug in diagnosis gizmo.
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Any digital speedo can be zeroed if you have the relevant piece of kit. And if you haven't got the piece of kit have a look in the autotrader under speedo recalibration
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Well, throughout my year selling new cars I never saw one with less than about 5 miles on the clock, and that was arriving from the factory.
I think to say that it's a good idea to reject a new car with more than 15 or 20 miles on is ridiculous, the cars have to be driven from compounds to PDI workshops etc. driven to valeting bays and then test driven, I've seen lots of new cars with more than 20 miles on the clock and I wouldn't think twice about it. There's nothing sinister about it, it's just for whatever reason that car has had to be driven further around compounds than another new car.
I'd be far more concerned with whether it had been crashed and repaired properly or just bodged up. ihpi, I bet you don't realise how many brand new cars are handed over to their owners having been crashed in compunds and repaired?
The only car that was much easier to hand over with few miles on the clock than others was the Ford Ka thanks to the way it's speedo worked. Blue Haddock, what brand do you sell?
By the way, we once had a customer try to reject a vehicle (I think it was a van) with 50 miles on the clock, Ford told him that acceptable delivery mileage on a brand new car was 500 miles and he was forced to keep it! AFAIK the reasoning behind that been the car might have to be dealer transferred from one end of the country to another and that may, in an axtremely freak occurence have to be done without the use of a transporter.
Blue
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I do get the occasional car with under 5 miles on it - usually a corolla or avensis which are made about 3 miles up the road from the dealership.
Like Blue says often new cars get the odd scrape or ding on them and they get repaired before the customer takes delivery, earlier this month i had someone damage the door on a car that was going out later that day. We simply swapped the door off of an identical car that wasn't going out for a a while and the customer was none the wiser.
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Exactly, and what people don't know doesn't hurt :-)
I know some people will think that's a disgrace, but what else can you do with a damaged new car?
I suppose if the factory was next door to our branch then maybe I would have expected more cars with just a few miles on, but all our Ford's were made abroad.
Blue
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No doubt given the number of vehicles flowing through a dealership, mishaps will happen. But if a car has done 100+ miles and then been 'zeroed' upon hand over, I'd suggest that you could find mileage discrepencies by looking in the wheel arches under the engine bay front of the bonnet and sills for stones and chips and road muck that invariably accumulate in crevises etc.
I'd like to think that my Passat was original with 7.some miles on the clock since I took over half an hour to make sure that all the panels and lines were in absolute alignment and there were no colour discrepencies. OK so I might not know if a car door had been pranged and it had subsequently replaced, but if a 'smart' repair was done and then the car handed over to me as 'new' - without the fualt being highlighted - then I'd guess I'd have a case against the supplying dealer - or even if the mileage had been tinkered with before it had been supplied to me...Ithink that if these sorts of practices go on then Dealers are leaving themselves open should problems occur in the future. I can't see it being worth their while engaing in these sorts of practices as the norm.
Any hint that my new car might be anything other...and I'm not paying until I am 110% assured and convinced of it's condition - or why it has 20+ miles on the clock. Soory, but new means just that 'new' with little mileage on the clock and since msot cars are shifted around teh country via transporter - I'd want to know why my particular car had done 20+ miles?
Maybe it's jsut me, but I've only ever bought the one new car and been very satisfied. I doubt I'd buy new again (got it out of my system now!) so the problem shouldn't arise :) However I thank all the industry workers for their input and I'm perfectly happy to put my hands up and say that my expectation was off the mark. But I'd make detailed enquiries if my new car had 20+ miles on the clock at time of 'delivery'.
This is why these Forums are so good, so those with the knowledge can share it with the likes of us :)
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