Topic: New car inspection

[Eugened]

Hi  

I ordered a new Toyota Sienna and expect it to be delivered within the next week.
I wonder what I should inspect in the car upon delivery.
Meanwhile my checklist includes:  
- the mileage to be in the range 15-30 km,
- no scratches inside and outside (as well as dents of course!)
- the jack , spare tire, wheel change toolkit , ownership transfer paperwork

Anything I might be missing here, anybody had bad/good experience? I'd appreciate any comment on that

[S60]

Congrats on your new vehicle,you've mention good points already. IMO 1st thing is to test drive your Sienna,  make sure everything is in order.  
Make sure all the trim and body moldings are in place.  

Make sure all electrical items function properly.  


Ask the salesperson to demonstrate each accessory, I always go over my spec sheet, to make sure the Mfg has not discontinued any features.Might sound silly but changes do happen and mfgs have the right to make changes to equipment offered.

Enjoy your new Sienna.

[ArticSteve]

If you want the mileage to between 15 and 30km upon receipt you would need to have that written in the contract to be guaranteed.

I'd call them and make this point clear.

[Eugened]

Thanks for your comments .
Articsteve, I am just curious did you hear about or encounter any cases when dealers used a new car  before the delivery. (I posted a link from siennaclub.org in another thread about that, I am just curious how often they do such things ). Besides, what do you think would be the maximum mileage that they normally need for PDI?

[Exserviceguy]

Hi Eugened, Most PDI procedures used by dealers require a minimum 20 km roadtest to ensure everything works well and especially to verify auto trans fluid level, (must be hot to measure).  Consider the fact that Asian imports must drive from the plant to the staging lot, (where carriers take them to the port), then onto the ship, then off in BC to another staging lot, then to the railcar, then to another staging lot in Central Canada, then to a road carrier, then to the dealer.  Domestic built units only miss the trip to the ship and off.  Most car makers limit the overall mileage to 150 to 200 before a car can no longer be considered new and must be registered as a demo.  The down side to demos is that the warranty clock starts ticking the day the unit is registered as a demo and if you buy it you can't get those days back.
Demanding a unit with under 30 kms may be asking too much, anything under 100 is OK.

[Eugened]

Well, as far as I know Sienna is actually manufactured (or assembled) in the states, so quite fankly I don't think it is a valid point regarding driving to a staging lot and from it

[ArticSteve]

Not to name any dealer, but I know that "the van" only gets driven up the street to be filled with gas.  No test drive.  PDI is not done by a mechanic.

I would expect 6km to 10km depending on how far the gas fill up place is.

I'd call them or drop by and tell them flat out that you want to see the car as soon as the carrier drops it off.  Before it is unwrapped and cleaned up. That way you can see if it was banged up during delivery. Believe me, dealer people are used to every type of person and request so don't be reluctant.

I ordered a brand new 79 Camero with a 350, sport suspension (Z28s had a 6 month wait) and I was there when the dude drove it off the car carrier and I took the mileage and I went to those wackos that ran Don Howsen Chev-Olds and told them not to take that car off the lot and they didn't. I had a friend back in school that delivered cars and customers for Golden Mile Chev Olds and every Vette and Cutlass 442 and Chevelle 396 and Camero got burned up. Golden Mile was the biggest Chevy dealer in Canada in the early 70s. My son says it still happens a lot.

(Message edited by articsteve on February 28, 2005)

[Mdxtasy]

My 2 new car purchases....the EL had 4KM on the clock and the MDX had 23KM on the clock when I took the keys.  Any more than 35KM and you start to wonder if they took your car to get lunch.