Buying a car? Buy the Demo!

"Demo" is the term we use to describe the demonstrator vehicles that managers and some salespeople are allowed to drive home. If you take this advice you'll find that many dealers no longer allow their salespeople to have demos but most still give their managers a vehicle to drive.

If your shopping for a brand new car you can often pay less than MSRP and sometimes even less than invoice for a demo. The disadvantage for new car shoppers of course is that you are limiting yourself to the equipment found on the particular demo you are looking at. New car shoppers should check the mileage on the demo they are considering as well. Most states require car dealers to title a vehicle as "used" or "pre-owned" once the odometer shows five to six thousand miles. The closer to this mileage limit the demo your looking at is, the more you'll likely be able to save.

Purchasing a used car demo doesn't necessarily offer any price advantage over any other car on the dealer's lot, however the used car demo can offer greater peace of mind. Why? One of the perks of my position is the privilege of a demo and I can safely tell you that I only pick and choose the best driving and best equipped vehicles currently in inventory. No need to drive a mid level Ford Taurus when a Chevrolet Suburban LT is sitting right next to it!

How can you determine which vehicles are demos on a dealer's lot? Look for the dealer license plate bolted on the back. Most states issue dealer specific license plates and demos are generally the cars with the plates bolted on as opposed to magnetically attached or tossed in the back window. In states that issues their dealer tags in a numerical series I also suggest looking for the lower number plates. Every society has some version of a class system and in the dealer sales world the lower the number that appears on your plate, the higher up the food chain you are. The lower number plates will typically be bolted to the nicest vehicles on the dealer's lot.

Shopping for a used demo car can be extremely effective in the under $10,000 price range. Independent car dealers are most likely to allow their staff to drive vehicles home and I can recommend no better way for you to pick out the higher quality cars currently in the inventory. If you're a buy-here pay-here customer, this is even more accurate. Buy-here pay-here dealers tend to keep cars valued at under $5,000 even though they may charge far more and you can be sure that only the most reliable cars are being driven home or used on a daily basis.

Remember, look for a demo the next time your in the market for a new or used automobile. Demos will certainly offer you greater peace of mind and usually save you money too!

As always, thank you for stopping by!