A demo isn't a new car. Here's what that quietly changes

The demo is the car the dealer's staff have been driving, the one you took around the block last Saturday. It usually has a few thousand kilometres on it, the latest spec and a price that makes the new one next to it look greedy. For plenty of buyers it's the smartest car on the lot.

Just go in knowing what you're buying, because in law it is often not a new car.

How the states see it

There's no single national definition, but the regulators that address it are consistent. NSW says plainly that a demo "is not a new vehicle. It is classed as a used vehicle", and its dealer guarantee on a demo is cut by one month for every 2,000 km driven. Victoria treats a dealer's obligations on a demo the same as a used car. South Australia's cooling-off rights cover demos. The ACT requires the window notice to say so if a car is being sold as a demonstrator.

Ask one question before anything else: when was this car first registered?

The warranty clock

The ACCC warns that selling demonstrators can cause a vehicle's warranty to start before you buy it, and says dealers should disclose this. So a "seven-year warranty" on a demo registered eight months ago may have a little over six years left. Ask for the warranty start date in writing and do the maths on the price with that in mind.

When a demo makes sense

• The discount beats the warranty time you've lost.
• You want a model in a spec the dealer can't get new for months.
• The kilometres are low and the service record is clean.
• You're comfortable with how your state treats it for warranty and cooling-off.