Ex Demonstrators

[99dndd]

I have my eye on a 2013 Mk6 Golf Cabriolet with 25,000k on the clock.

Looks good but the advert starts with "This is an ex-demonstrator vehicle."

Is there anything in particular that I should be wary of?

[Nickp82]

In short, no. Being an ex-demonstrator normally just means it has either been ragged around by a salesman or sat in a showroom for a few months after being registered.

[JaredVannett]

99dndd said:

I have my eye on a 2013 Mk6 Golf Cabriolet with 25,000k on the clock.

Looks good but the advert starts with "This is an ex-demonstrator vehicle."

Is there anything in particular that I should be wary of?

"This is an ex-demonstrator vehicle." = The village bicycle, everyone's had a ride.

[mcflurry]

On the flip side, many demonstrators have a high spec to encourage the test pilots to opt for the optional extras and higher models

[Earthdweller]

99dndd said:

I have my eye on a 2013 Mk6 Golf Cabriolet with 25,000k on the clock.

Looks good but the advert starts with "This is an ex-demonstrator vehicle."

Is there anything in particular that I should be wary of?

Five years of test drives ??

I’ve just bought one ( an ex demo car ) 6 months old and 4K on the clock

25k of test drives seems a bit extreme !

Or are you saying that five years ago, for a few weeks or months it was owned by a dealer ?

In which case I’d be far more concerned about how the other owners treated it !

[99dndd]

Earthdweller said:

Five years of test drives ??

I’ve just bought one ( an ex demo car ) 6 months old and 4K on the clock

25k of test drives seems a bit extreme !

Or are you saying that five years ago, for a few weeks or months it was owned by a dealer ?

In which case I’d be far more concerned about how the other owners treated it !

It's from one of those used car supermarket places so I imagine it was a demonstrator, sold to someone else who's then traded it in.

[aaron_2000]

A good chunk of our cars have been demo/ex-demo. Focus ST170 was ragged by a manager for 7k, engine never drove right, Leon 225 was a Demo with 2k on it, that had dog hair all over the boot and leaked heavily into the footwell. On the flipside, the X3 was an ex-demo + 1 owner, that was specced to the brim, as is our M3. Both the X3 and M3 were just sat in dealers, the M3 had only been there 2 weeks, only had delivery mileage. It depends as a poster above said, if it's been a salesman's rag around, or if it's been a showroom display item. I'd imagine after 5 years any issue from it being a demo will be long gone now.

[99dndd]

aaron_2000 said:

A good chunk of our cars have been demo/ex-demo. Focus ST170 was ragged by a manager for 7k, engine never drove right, Leon 225 was a Demo with 2k on it, that had dog hair all over the boot and leaked heavily into the footwell. On the flipside, the X3 was an ex-demo + 1 owner, that was specced to the brim, as is our M3. Both the X3 and M3 were just sat in dealers, the M3 had only been there 2 weeks, only had delivery mileage. It depends as a poster above said, if it's been a salesman's rag around, or if it's been a showroom display item. I'd imagine after 5 years any issue from it being a demo will be long gone now.

Cheers.

Here's hoping.

[Wardy5]

I'd just go and view, with the same usual level of 2nd car buying caution - buyer beware and all that!

Have a look over the history and any paperwork and see what the story is with the 'ex-demo' comment. Seems a bit odd to me, on a car of that age.

[Mr Tidy]

Well you really need to know how long it was an "Ex-Demonstrator" for!

I bought a BMW 123d in January 2008 that was a "Pre-Reg" as it was registered in September 07, but it had done less than 20 miles when I picked it up, so not ragged around at all. Probably just registered to help massage the sales figures!

And ex-demos/pre-regs do tend to have a better spec.

You just need to go into it with your eyes open.