//M3 Dealer Demo

[jkerouac@xxxxxxx]

re: E46 //M3 Dealer Demo
    The oil consumption sounds reasonable.  That also says the car has
never had its oil changed since new.
    Dealer demo cars:
Strongly recommend against.
    Why not?
Buying a demo at 3700 miles is like having a heroine addict with AIDS
breast feed your new born child.
    Numerous people test drove your car and then bought new ones off the
truck rather risk buying the dealer's beater.
These cars are typically beaten to hell on short local rides too often
to risk.  3700 miles on that "Demo" could mean 37,000 of normal engine
wear.  1200 mile break in?  By 500 miles that engine had probably seen
7000rpm many times.
    At 3500 miles when my //M was new I was finally taking it to
redline. Consider every prospect who wanted to see how quick the car
was.  Not likely the car was sufficiently warmed up on the test drive
before that demo car saw over 7500 in three gears.  Lots of slam bang
shifting before the trans and differential oils were warmed up too.
Would the dealer be willing to waranty the clutch on that demo for 100k
miles?  I doubt it.
    One way to spook a dealer on a car that has been beaten on is to ask
them to plug in the Modic and show a readout of max rpm reached, all
fault codes, number of times started, etc that the engine has been
subjected to.
    Check the "In Service" date.  That is the date your warranty takes
effect.  So if the car went in service and had its PDI done six months
ago, your warranty is that much time shorter.
    What makes it a demo?:
The story they tell you is that it was the Sales Manager's demo.  Your
auto insurer will likely be able to do a VIN search to see if the car
has been titled before.  The reason to do this is that 3700 miles is
high for a demo.  It could have been a lemon, could have been an
immediate loan or lease repo.
     _Worst_ nightmare story about buying a Demo?:
What I saw happened a few years back was that BMW ordered a dealer to
buy back a new car soon after the initial sale.  This was due to both
serious mechanical problems with the car, and documented lies the
dealership told the customer.  That cost the dealer a lot of money.  The
dealer sought revenge against the initial purchaser via defamation
slander and libel against them within the BMW community.
    The dealer repaired the problems with the car, but the dealer lied
to the next purchaser, failing to disclose a service history not
deserving of a car with 100,00 miles, let alone the 3000 miles the car
had on it.  The customer was told the same story, that it was a Sales
Manager demo.  When in fact the car had been previously titled and was a
used car.  The dealer resold the car as a new car, and titled with a
prefix on the title indicating initial new buyer.
    Of course by the dealer's own bad kharma, the first purchaser
happened by chance to see the car many months later and discussed the
car with the later customer who the dealership duped.  Armed with sales,
registration, and title papers from the initial purchaser, the second
buyer confronted the dealer.
    Leave it to say  that actions such as that can cause a dealership's
license to sell cars revoked.  The dealer paid significantly in many
ways, to settle up quietly with the customer they comitted fraud
against.  Also the Sales Manager and the Sales Lady lost their jobs
immmediately upon getting caught.
    Though before they were fired they did succeed in essentially
'bribing' the local BMWCCA chapter to try to stop anyone from knowing
about it.  The money keeps flowing, and that chapter continues to
present that dealership as reputable to its membership and keeps a 'hear
no evil, see no evil, speak no evil' attitude about the dealer's
subsequent unethical and illegal conduct in the disposition of that car.

    So the word "Demo" can mean many things, most of which you would
never want to purchase.
    Pricing of Demos:
    That you can get a better deal on a demo is a myth.  Any new car can
be bought for a minimum deal.  Dealers make the same deals whether its a
demo with miles or a new unit fresh off the truck.  Just matters how
easy or willing they are to do it.  If they are tacking $10,000. onto
the price of every other //M3 then they will tack it on to the demo
too.  What you might avoid dealing with on a demo is no attempt at them
saying that the dealer added markup or them trying to shove list price
in your face as "sir, this is as low as the ownership will let me sell
any //M3".
    An //M3 demo is a $50,000. crap shoot, while a new one off the truck
is a much safer bet.
Good Luck,
'jk
KAR120C

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