As I said before, we have dealers up here who have demo models that they will deliver to a customers house to try them out. Had a dealer here who offered to bring a country clipper to my house for a demo. My wife vetoed it because she said our mower was paid for and even though it is only a 48" I still get the job done fast enough. lol I sure was interested in the 60" country clipper charger. Really like the single joystick and the flip forward deck. I don't know if they use late model mowers that are trade ins as demos, or just a new mower that they send out as a demo and sell it at a discount later, but it helps them get business. Dealers have been doing that here for years.
We use to have that luxury here but the only company now that will let you take one home to try out is grasshopper. I don't know why the dealers stopped letting you take one home and try it out. On a side note I did try to demo a Dixie Chopper at one time and when I asked to demo a machine the guy stood back and said are you just looking for a mower to use for today as if I was just needing to borrow one of his mowers to complete the day out. Kinda pissed me off so I never had any dealings with them anymore.