Can anyone chime in on the details of a PDI? What is the typical mileage on a car fresh from the factory? The reason I'm asking is a dealership said they only have one car available to look at with the color and features I want but it's "in the shop for the next day". Its supposedly going through its PDI. It just strikes me as odd as I spotted 3 others on the lot with the exact specs I'm looking for. I'm not trying to be too paranoid, but let's say this car has 5-10 miles on the car (the salesperson said it shouldn't have more than 10 miles on the Odo, to which my response was why would there be that many before going through a PDI); wouldn't there be close to zero assuming it really did just come off the truck? Could this be a lemon or a car that had a problem during a test drive? Thanks for the feedback.
5-10 miles is nothing. New cars do get moved during loading/unloading, at the port and between dealers and people do potential test drives on new cars.
A PDI is a check everything over so there's no surprises when the car is taken for a test drive or delivered to a customer. If there's any accessories, they're installed, all the fluid levels are checked, etc. ealers make swaps on cars, so that can be where mileage adds up. The warranty doesn't start until the car's delivered to the customer, so the mileage isn't a big deal.
My new Prius had 146 miles on it- the PA dealership port traded for it from NY harbor then drove it to PA. Funny thing is- two days later I drove it back home to NY from PA (right past NY harbor again).... oh well, good thing it gets 50+ mpg!
I was told that they normally have under 10 miles on them when they arrive at the dealer -- mine came from another dealer and was checked out with 4 miles -- it had about 30 when I finally picked it up it. Dealer was about 20 miles away They also need to fill the tank with fuel - so that will add some Many will have been used for test drives -- so that will add some miles.
Mine had 4 miles. My last new car was driven up from another dealership & had something like 120 miles when I took delivery. But I knew they were going to drive it up and had agreed to it.
They had to get my car from another dealership. The car had 106 miles on it when I took delivery. I would say it's normal to have 5-10 miles on it.
PDI is really the first service of a new car at the dealership. There's a few things they have to set up (like on the 2nd gen Prius, they had to install a couple rubber plugs in the bottom of trunk), they check all fluids, tires, etc and do a short test drive. The techs are very busy, so they may only drive it a mile or so. You can request to see the PDI sheet. I like to give a car a decent look over before a test drive and when getting more serious about buying that unit, I really look it over hard, inside, out, under the hood. I'll get on the ground and look at everything. Reset a tripmeter on your test drive. Go out for at least 20 minutes if it's going well. See that the MPG comes up nice and high. Mine hit 51 MPG at end of the test drive. Listen for any strange noises. Make sure it tracks in a straight line, brakes straight. Common sense stuff really. When stopped, try everything inside, seats, belts, doors, hatch, under the hood, look at fluid levels yourself. Double check the tires, bring your own pressure gage, check their work. check the oil level. .... then go in and 'buy' the car (do all paperwork) and they should be detailing the heck out of it at that point, so on final delivery, it is sparkling clean and you drive away with a huge smile
Yep, there are even dealer swaps from state to state. When the car is put in the purchaser's name, the warranty starts.
