A demo with more miles than anyone expected
The used car manager goes to price last spring's demonstrator for sale. The mileage is well above what the plan assumed. It has been used for extended test drives, lent to a customer whose car was in for warranty work and driven home by a salesperson most weekends.
Nobody did anything wrong individually. Collectively, the car has been used without anyone watching, and its value as a used car reflects it. Meanwhile another demo in the same model has barely moved and is due to leave the fleet next month.
Demos are shared cars with no owner
A demonstrator belongs to the dealership but is used by many people for different purposes. Its use is recorded, if at all, in a key log or a notebook.
- Test drives, loans and staff use are recorded in different places.
- Mileage is read at service time, not per use.
- Manufacturer rules on demo holding periods and use are held by the sales manager.
- De-fleet dates are worked out when someone thinks of it.
- Damage is noticed at de-fleet, not when it happens.
What an untracked demo fleet costs
Demos that do more miles or pick up more damage than planned are worth less when they are sold as used cars. Demos that sit unused are a missed chance to sell new cars from them. If manufacturer rules on demonstrators are not followed, support tied to them may be affected.
The time cost appears at de-fleet, when the used car manager has to find out what happened to each car.
There are smaller leaks too. Fuel used on staff weekends, parking fines on customer loans that cannot be traced, and minor damage that is never linked to a driver all add up over a year. None of them is large, but all of them come out of the same margin as the used car sale.
How we build the demo fleet log
- Each demonstrator has a record: model, registration date, the manufacturer's rules that apply to it as you record them, and a planned de-fleet date.
- Every use is logged on a phone when the keys are taken: test drive, customer loan, staff use, event. Mileage and fuel are recorded out and in.
- Customer loans record the customer and their details, and condition photos, as for courtesy cars.
- The fleet board shows each demo's total mileage, use by type and days until de-fleet.
- Cars running ahead of their planned mileage, or not being used, are flagged to the sales manager.
- As de-fleet approaches, the car is added to the used car prep plan with its history attached.
| Use type | Recorded | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Test drive | Customer, mileage | Links to the sale |
| Customer loan | Customer, photos, mileage | Damage and fines |
| Staff use | Staff member, mileage | Fair use and mileage |
| Event | Event, mileage | Marketing value |
How you apply manufacturer demonstrator rules is for you and your manufacturer. The log records what happened so you can check it.
A demo fleet you can manage
The sales manager can see each demo's miles and use at any time. Heavily used cars can be rested and quiet ones put to work. At de-fleet, the used car manager knows exactly what they are taking on, and any damage has already been traced to a date and a driver.
Does your demo fleet look like this?
- Nobody knows each demo's current mileage.
- Demo use is recorded in a key log, if at all.
- De-fleet dates are worked out late.
- Damage on demos is found at de-fleet.
- Some demos are overused while others sit.