New car mileage
 

We pick up our new ES-350 on Friday. Reading the fine print in the contract yesterday I was shocked to see that it has 150 miles on it.

Curious if anyone has seen anything close to that on a new car. Would you consider that to be a deal breaker?

Thanks,
Al

Hello,

as long as the cars in like new condition and the price was fair, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Most of those miles are probably because it was a dealer located and someone had to drive it to the dealer for you or another customer. Just check the car out really good before taking ownership of it. Hope this helps. Make sure and keep us all updated and post pictures of your new vehicle.

Lance

I took delivery of a new car one time that had 100+ miles. Dealer had found it for me and it had to be driven from at least 50 miles away.

Ask the dealer why it has so many miles. Personally if I could, i'd choose a car with less than 10 miles if possible. That engine could've been poorly broken in. If it's a lease go for it, but if you intend to keep it, i'd keep looking unless you have absolute assurance it was driven for transfer purposes etc. The piston ring sets have only a limited time to seat correctly so if the engine was thrashed when the rings weren't shaped well to the bore, that could introduce wear that may cause oil consumption later in life..

My ES had 5 miles when i got it... meaning really only the factory tested it then it came off the truck, sat, and i bought it

I agree. You might let the dealer know your concerns and use this as a bargaining chip for an accessory. Do you like illuminated door or trunk sills?

I'm pretty sure the window sticker shows the dealer your vehicle was delivered to. That might explain the mileage, or at least a portion of it. You might also look at the build date in the driver's door jam to learn how long it has been on the dealer's lot. Check for rock chips on the front bumper cover to see if the vehicle was driven a distance on a highway. These checks will help to verify the story your sales person tells you about its history.

With 150 miles on it, the car is not new, period. They will tell you that you still get the full warranty but the point is several other people put mileage on your ‘new’ car.

The located your car from another dealership and drove it 50 miles rather then had it trucked over?? I would have done a hard pass on that. It says a lot about the dealership.

I used to work at a dealer. Dealer trades without truck transportation is a very common practice.

[QUOTE=EV02is;11014782]I used to work at a dealer. Dealer trades without truck transportation is a very common practice.[/QUOT

I can understand this at a non-luxury car dealership but not at Lexus, BMW, Mercedes or Tesla.

Anything over 5 miles should be transported. BMW transported my 7 Series 30 miles and Tesla trucked my sons car 18 miles from Sea-Tac airport to a Bellevue, WA. All were a complimentary service.

More than likely, it was driven by one of the managers at the dealer. It's very common. If you don't like the miles on it, let them know you want one that wasn't driven yet.

Probably used as a demo... Not a good thing IMO...

As someone who can be quite OCD about fits and finishes, I would be concerned about the possibility that the car might have picked up some (likely small) rock chips during those 150 miles. And with the larger amount of painted surfaces on the front ends of new cars today, the possibility of that happening is greater than would have been the case years ago.

If I was buying a car that was a dealer trade, I would want the car to be trucked to the dealership from which I was buying the car, and, if I was in management at the dealership that was getting a dealer trade, I would be choosing to have a car that came from another dealership trucked to my dealership.

The bottom line is that a lot can happen to a car during its first 150 miles of driving. I've had the misfortune of having a brand new car get its first rock chip on my way home from the dealership after picking up the car.

If I was going to buy this car, I would be examining it with a fine tooth comb, and I would be expecting an especially large discount that was well beyond what I'd expect when buying a car with, say, 10-20 miles on its odometer.

And, if the car had been used by dealer management or as a demo for 150 miles, I would not consider it to be a new car.

Just like if it was a dealer trade, if I was interested in buying the car, I'd be examining it very carefully, and I'd be expecting to get an especially large discount on the price of the car.

Yep that's what mine was in my above post.