When looking at new cars to buy in a dealership or online, you may come across what’s referred to as an ex-demo or ex-demonstration car to be slightly more detailed.
At first glance at least, these ex-demo cars can look just as fresh as the entirely new models on offer, but ex-demo cars are offered at discounted prices, and for good reasons too.
Basically, an ex-demo car is one that has typically been used for test drives by potential customers or dealership staff. Ex-demo cars can potentially cover thousands of miles before they are put on sale, which largely explains how they end up being offered at a reduced price.
Ex-demo cars tend to be a higher trim level version of whatever the model is since the dealership staff will be keen to show off to customers what features you can get on the car. With that in mind, it’s possible to get a very attractive deal on a well-equipped, high spec car that’s almost completely new but there are a few things to think about before deciding to go for such a deal.
One thing to consider with buying an ex-demo car is that in a similar case to pre-registered cars, you’ll be registered as the car’s second owner, rather than the first. That’s because typically the dealership you’re buying the car from has already put itself as the first legal owner, so they could use the car for test drives. This affects the value of the car should you decide to sell it in the future.
Also, on the day an ex-demo car is registered by the dealership selling it, the warranty becomes active at that moment. So, if you buy an ex-demo car, you won’t have the full length of the warranty the car usually comes with and the road tax and breakdown cover will also be reduced, possibly by a very significant amount.
If you check up on these details before agreeing to buy an ex-demo car, you can way up whether it’s still a good deal or not from a more informed point of view. Also, it may be worth arranging for an inspection of a car you’re thinking of buying if it is an ex-demo car, because it may have picked up some imperfections during past test drives.
Find prices for new cars here at carkeys.co.uk
