Worked scenario
The demonstrator that became stock nobody wanted
A demonstrator is a marketing expense disguised as inventory, and dealers who never separate the two cannot tell what demonstration costs them.
3 min read
A vehicle is taken from stock for demonstration. It is still stock in the record, still valued at cost, and it is accruing kilometres and age that the record does not reflect.
The exit is never planned
Demonstrators are put into service on a decision and taken out of it on a discovery, usually when someone notices the mileage or when the model is superseded. By then the discount required to move it is substantial.
Cost the demonstration, not the loss
The difference between what a demonstrator cost and what it eventually fetched is the price of demonstrating that model. Recorded that way it is a marketing decision with a number attached. Recorded as a poor sale it looks like a failure of the sales team.
Planned exit changes the arithmetic
A vehicle taken out of demonstration at a set date and mileage sells into a known market. One held until it becomes awkward sells into whatever market is left, and the difference is entirely a scheduling decision.
What changes
- Demonstrators identified as a separate stock category with an in-service date
- Depreciation and kilometres tracked while in use
- Planned exit date set when a vehicle goes into demonstration
- True cost of demonstration visible per model
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