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Today I have been looking round a few motor dealers with regard to buying a nearly new run-about car. I've had a look at the whole range of makes and models but do have a new style Ford Fiesta in mind. Anyway the car the caught my eye out of all of the dealers I visited was a shiny looking 54 plate Fiesta, and just making a casual enquiry with the salesman (because there was no spec sheet in the window) it turned out that it was a 'brand new' car but pre-registered. Now I'm not bothered about whether it is brand new or not, but what are the pro's and con's of buying a pre-registered car such as this? The price and spec of the car seemed like a pretty good deal (it is at a main dealer/official UK car) and I also understand that it is at the time of year where car sales dealers are at one of their slowest times of the year. So if I decide to buy a car in the next few weeks whether it be this or something else, what are the recommended 'tricks' to get the best deal/lowest price that I can? It will be a straight cash deal, no finance or part exchange.
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My local Ford dealer is offering all new cars at cost price (some of them less) because they need to meet their targets. Some dealers will have registered the cars themselves to meet targets others like my local haven't, its a good time to buy a new car just visit a few dealers to get the best deal you can (some are really desperate). Make sure you look at all HJ's pages to see the price you should be paying.
I noticed that a particular Hyundai dealer was offering pre-reg delivery miles Getz 1.1 GSI's for £4999 with 3 years servicing, 3 years RAC and the 5 year warranty and they already have record sales this year.
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>pros and cons
I can't think of many, and the following are really scratching the bottom...
Cheaper, probably virtually unused
Dealer needing/wanting to shift because its now depreciating
1 extra owner on the V5
Potentially not a current reg (e.g. 04 instead of 54)
Can't pick your own colour/spec
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At Easter, my daughter bought a Clio which had been preregistered the previous December. She went in looking for a particular model which they did not have in stock "brand new unregistered" as it were and ended up with the pre reg one which was actually the one she wanted - DCi. It had 12 miles on the clock, had all the goodies like climate control etc, the colour she wanted (black - which means I have to clean it every 5 mins!), and she got it for the same price as a much more basic model. OK, so it was 04 reg not 54 but since she is not intending changing it for a good few years it won't make much difference. Since it was exactly the car she wanted it seemed like a good deal.
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I bought a "pre-reg" car last week.
I was surprised as the reg date was the day before I collceted it and the car is reg'd in my name c/o a broker company at my home address.
When I asked the garage I collected it from why this had to be the case they claimed that the manufacturer could not be seen to be selling the car at this price.
I suspect in reality that the broker had purchased a batch of cars and although they weren't registered until I agreed to buy one they had to register it in their name.
I intend to contact theb DVLA and try and change the address without adding a keeper since only detial that is wrong is one line in the address.
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Another issue could be that the manufacturers warranty could have started several months previously.
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Perfectly true Truckosaurus, which is why I checked hwne the car would be registered as, I believe, that is when the warranty period commences.
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My experience of buying a pre-registered car was actually featured in November's What Car? (p137).
Briefly, watch out for the spec. The '04 plated Seat Ibiza was in fact an '03 model, which did not have ABS (fitted '04 onwards). I'd even asked if it had ABS and was told that it did. I had no reason to believe otherwise as it was registered in March '04.
Got it home, opened the bonnet and noticed various stickers showing "June 2003". Additionally, there was no ABS warning light and a subsequant test drive proved that no ABS was fitted.
A few calls mentioning "Sale of Goods Act" worked and full refund and collection arranged.
The timing was perfect as Seat had started discounting the Ibiza, so we got a new '54 plate (with ABS!) for not much more than we'd paid for a four month old pre-reg.
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Agree with Loadsy - check when the car was manufactured and there hasn't been a major change in the spec recently. I visited a large car supermarket as they had a 'brand new' Audi A2 at £1500 less than list. As soon as I saw it I knew the car was only brand new in terms of it never being registered - the wheels were wrong for the spec at that time and it didn't have climate control. Looked at the detail and the car was 18 months old! With a Fiesta you should be OK as they sell thousands of them and the Ford dealers will be after the end of year bonus.
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Loadsy, very valid points.
When I agreed to buy the pre reg from the broker I specified a 2005 spec (just released) version of the car as it had numerous extras not fitted to the 2004 spec.
The Broker was extremely determined to deliver the car to me as it was "included" in the price. The more insistent he was, the more determined I was to collect it from a dealer as it's a lot easier to inspect the car on the dealer's forecourt than to persuade a delivery man not to leave it on your driveway!
I also insisted on paying the substantial residual balance to the supplying dealer on handover of the car after the advice received on this forum. (how did I ever manage without it?)
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ABS became mandatory on volume small cars recently, some of the pre reg cars around were registered just before this law came into being
Warranty lost is biggest negative
Also if you take delivery towards the end of the month u cannot have tax disc start in next month like i think u can on brand new motors
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