200 miles too high??
 

Hi all,

Shopping for a BRZ, I came across one at a dealer, priced at $300 over invoice but it already has 200 miles on it. Not sure if that's a deal breaker or not... Anyone care to share their opinions? The dealer said the 200 miles were from a dealer trade, then traded back.

A lot of bad things, or should I say bad drivers, can happen to a car in 200 miles...

Plus over invoice? I dunno. They could try to say its a rare car and they sell well, but obviously that one hasn't being that many miles on it at a dealer

I wouldnt pay over 300 invoice for a car that has 200 miles on it already. I would wait for another one

It's 100% possible it was driven one time from one dealer to another by a totally responsible salesman, or 20 times by terrible test drivers. Problem is, you'll never know. I'd wait, even if it were $300 below invoice.

As much as this car is in demand, I really doubt those are all test drive miles.

Most likely a dealer trade.

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With that kind of mileage it's only worth a used car price. Too many miles to justify a new car price.

Mine had 120 because they had to go out of state to dealer trade for the model and color I wanted. Google Maps said the dealer they got it from was 110 miles away so it was new when it left them and arrived at my dealer.

When I ordered mine they asked how many miles would be ok for me to buy it. (They had to trade for another dealer) I told them less than 50 and got 20 miles $$$

just depends on the risk you want to take. You will probably never know, or you could check car facts and look on google maps to see how far it is. If i was you i would wait, they are only getting cheaper.

Thanks for the input!! Decided to pass on the car as uncertainty will get the better of me.

can never go wrong with waiting longer.

It is the $300.00 over invoice that stands out the most. I would tell them I will pay MSRP only and if they won't do that then they don't really want to sell the car at fair value. If it was me, I would simply say that the miles on the car leave questions open, but if they will sell it at MSRP, I would buy the car. The warranty is very comprehensive and if the only problem could be if someone overrevved the car by a considerable amount during break in period you can see how high it was revved and how long. The dealer has the ability to plug the car in to their computer and tell you if the car has ever been over red line longer than it should have been, any misfires or other anomalies that might have happened. That will tell you how the car was driven during those extra miles on the car. If the dealer is willing to back the car then buy it for a fair price and be happy:)

Just an FYI, invoice is the wholesale price dealers pay for the car before holdbacks and incentives.

MSRP is the sticker price.

Invoice is cheaper than MSRP so 300 over invoice is a damned good deal unless the OP meant 300 over MSRP.

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^ nope, $300 over invoice ($27,1xx for a limited with some extra port installed stuff). I've been able to get under MSRP pricing with each inquiry recently, $500 off MSRP being the highest.

Good deal. Everyone is still at MSRP over here by me. If you can find one of course.

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Just as an aside, I've never heard of dealer trades being driven. Every time I've seen one, especially on "premium" cars (which these are definitely based on supply/demand), they put it on a trailer/flatbed.

Most places I've seen wont even let you test drive them unless they think you're prepared to buy one.

All of the cars I've purchased in the last 25 years that involved a dealer trade were driven between dealers. The furthest one being 300 miles from Michigan to Illinois.

Of course, none of these were premium cars, most expensive one only 42k.

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I will be picking up my car Tuesday and it will have about 200 miles because of a dealer trade. I am paying $50 over invoice and not pushing any optional extras onto me either. Very happy with my dealer. Actually it's right next to Subaru of America in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Ziad is the owner and a awesome guy!

Did you already negotiate the price or is that an internet quote? If I were you, I'd go in, try to use the mileage as leverage, ask for $300 below invoice and settle for invoice price because they will undoubtedly try to "bump" you.

I used to sell Audis at a little Porsche/Audi dealer and we constantly had to swap in cars from other dealers, sometimes as far away as New York or Maine. We sold cars costing two to three times as much as the BRZ with a few hundred miles on them, and honestly I never had people complaining about it so long as I disclosed it beforehand. You Subie guys get so anal retentive about mileage; it's silly! If you saw all the old geezers that drive cars back and forth around my dealer, you wouldn't be concerned. Obviously if you test drive the car and something seems weird, run away screaming, but otherwise you should be fine.

I went to the Scion First Drive event with the FR-S's last year and the kids beat the bag out of those cars! They probably had 2500 miles on them by the time I got behind the wheel, and the two cars I drove felt A-OK to me!

Honestly i would just wait for a new one.. Dont rush you will have your car and enjoy it just as much. When i got mine it had 105 miles.. And it was just a test driving car so sigh hopefully nothing bad happened but so far everything has been smooth :thumbsup: After paperwork and stuff came out to be 28-29~

FYI - I've found it common for dealers to drive the cars when doing a dealer swap. Large dealerships like Heuberger Subaru have dedicated employees who primary job is to shuttle cars back and forth. Same happened with a VW I bought years ago.

I guess I am less worried about the driver wanting to joy ride and beat on a little 200hp car, if that was their actual job to safely transport it. As long as they let you know beforehand, I don't see the big deal. Just depends how anal retentive you are...

I bought my BRZ from Heuberger as a dealer trade with 115 miles on it. I put on more mileage than that in just driving to work in 2 days! Plus I got to enjoy it right away.
:happy0180:

I agree. If the dealer can show you that most of the mileage was due to a dealer swap, well, then I would do the deal and not worry about it. If the 200 miles was mostly from people test driving the hell out of the car, I would just wait and get a different car if it bugs you that much,

I bought a car that had 120 miles on it, of which 100 were due to a dealer swap. I never had a second thought about it and have had no issues. Of course I also don't subscribe to the light foot break-in period either. Drive it like you stole it!

Mine had 6 miles on it. :D

I would mostly check for any body damage due to being on the road for that many miles. Rock chips, etc.

Mine had over 600 miles when I bought it, it was flawless. Do what you want.

As somebody who bought plenty of used cars with over 100 000 on all of them with their original engines I seriously doubt anything can scrap an engine that early in it's life. What could have happened, redlining the engine? Who don't do that with a new car! lol

IIRC, mine had 2 miles on her when I picked her up. 200 miles on the clock I'd consider a dealer demo model and would expect to get a significant discount and possibly an extended warranty.

Tell them that you will buy the car for under $500 MSRP, if they dont budge then f**k em, find a new dealer.

Its possible that upper management was driving it plus customer test drives. Thats how it work when I sold cars. I drove something different every week. Frs/Brz would have been on my list! Everything over sticker is just bonus money on salesman pocket. So if your really like him or owe him money you can pay him back by paying over sticker. (think about all the mods you could do with all money you'd giving away)

I'm in the same boat. The dealership will bring the car to my house or work, but they have to drive 200 miles to get it up here. I'm paying MSRP but it will have 200 miles on it.

They won't budge on the price at all.

200 miles? God no, that to me is no longer a new car - barely used but used nonetheless.

200 miles ~ 320km. That's almost the distance between Toronto and Ottawa!

You're paying for a new car - should be under 10 miles.

200 miles is a lot only if its done a 1/4 mile at a time...
I think you will be fine.. It's a car.. It's not that fragile.. Or we bought the Wong car!!
Only you can decide... But it's not that unusual for cars to
Have a few hundred miles on the odo new..

Like some of you already mentioned, dealer probably drove it from another location. I don't agree with it. I think if it's over 20 mi in distance, they should transport it with a truck. Bottom line: 200 mi is a lot. Wait for another one or have them drop the price.

I'd be more worried about the "old geezers" NOT getting on it a little bit. There are a lot of myths about break in but one thing for sure is that you don't want to set it on cruise and drive 100 miles on a highway to another dealer.

Does it come with a full warranty?

Most dealer trade drivers are retirees. They don't drive fast - if they have too may tickets (4 points/ 2 tickets in OH) then the dealership's insurance will go up. IE, they will no longer be employed. Plus, they aren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Contrary to popular belief, car dealerships are low margin operations. It's not uncommon for a dealer traded car to have 200+ miles on it. The only "hard driving" will be have been from a non dealership employee (potential customer/ tire kicker test drive).
If you're considering buying a dealer traded car, check for rock chips/ dings/ etc. These are normal things that happen during the course of a car's life on a lot. Never close on a car at night. The dealership should be willing to correct the situation.
Regardless of what the dealership tells you, there is no such thing as a "non refundable deposit" in most states. If you put money down to have a car brought in, you can refuse to take delivery - for any reason. If no products or services have been exchanged, they can't keep your money.

Thanks. I should be getting it sometime next week. It arrives at the dealer next Monday and then they will deliver it to me. I will have them come around lunch time so I can inspect for damage.

Thanks for all your inputs.