Currently looking at a 2012 Prius II that's a few hrs from my home (local dealer won't negotiate). The sales person I've been emailing with says there are 240 miles on the car. When I questioned this, he said that it was probably a dealer trade. I assumed he meant that those were miles put on either at the other dealership or in transport(?). I thought those miles sounded kind of high for a new car. What do you think?
They sound kind of high. If it was a dealer trade then it came a long distance but given you live in Kentucky I could see this happening. It could also have been a dealer test car. Either way it's not a lot of miles but I would inspect the paint very thoroughly for defects. You can accumulate scratches or rock chips in a short amount of time, especially if the person driving doesn't give a damn. FWIW my car had less than 20 miles on the ODO and it was a dealer trade. Even then I noticed two very light scratches in the bumper and door area.
Definitely no expert, but I even thought mine was kinda high at 40. My truck I bought a few years ago had 5.
Dealer trade could explain the miles. Could also have been used as a demonstrator, most small dealers don't have a specific car they use to demonstrate to new customers they just grab something off the lot. Before I bought my Prius I drove one that was later sold as new. I remember the sales guy telling me to "put my foot in it" so I could see how much power it had compared to the Gen2. But new cars are not suppose to require much break in anyway so it probably doesn't hurt anything. I was glad to see mine only had 3 miles on it when I took delivery though.
Ya I know at 40+ miles mine definitely had some test drives under it's belt. Hopefully it wasn't driven too rough.
Carfax & a quick internet search on the VIN revealed that the car has been at four different dealerships, 3 in TN & 1 in KY. Now I'm even more suspicious of the car. It seems a bit excessive to me.
I would make an inquiry with them about the reason it was moved around to 4 different dealership, although I am willing to bet it was a dealer-trade around.
Still mulling this over today so I checked Carfax on it to get a clearer picture of what's going on with its history. First, the Carfax report says it was manufactured on 3/25/12. Really? I thought all 2012's came out in late 2011? 8 days later it arrived at Dealer #1 & became part of "dealer inventory". 13 days later it arrived at Dealer #2 where VIN glass etching & pre-delivery inspection took place. On that same date (?), it arrived at Dealer #3 (where it now lives) & was offered for sale. The distance between dealer #2 & #3 is 230 miles, which would explain the mileage on the car. With all that now in mind, I will go & test drive the car tomorrow, since it doesn't seem so "suspicious" to me anymore. Sorry if this is obnoxious, but I really need others to help me think this through. Buying this car is a lot like getting married to me. It's a HUGE commitment! But hopefully I can claim my brand new car in a few days!
Most cars do come in prior year(some even mid-year). But I have been told that the Prius is one of the last cars to come out for each model year with December/January as delivery date. And they obviously still make them for quite a few months after they start making them which would explain the March date. Good luck and enjoy!
A Washington dealer I visited had more than one Prius Hatch with more than 250 miles. They were being test driven regularly and most were dealer swaps (you can see the original dealer location on the window stickers) It does seem strange they would drive the swaps around as opposed to having them transported. I was happy to test drive one but I would prefer to buy one with less road time. Now if they were offering "used car Prices" I might reconsider
