fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery

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Fri 30 Mar 2012 21:07
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - innocenti66

The wife went into local fiat dealer on 3rd March and ordered a new fiat 500 on finance. Chose spec / added extras and paid a deposit and were the told car would be 6-8 weeks delivery (salesman entered this on order form). Dealer contacted us yesterday and said that we have to start the 7 day drive away insurance so that they can register it however this must be done before 31.03.2012. When told they didnt know when car would be delivered but hoped by end of next week we said that we'd rather wait until its delivered. At this point we were told that if we did that we'd lose the finance deal we'd agreed as fiat insist that dealers register the car now as its in the uk and that the finance deal we bought with is only offered / available until 31.03.2012. We dont want to have the car registered with no idea of when its being delivered and also the 7 day insurance may run out by the time its arrived ?

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Fri 30 Mar 2012 23:23
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - MikeTorque

Well they can't register the car until it's built and has arrived in this country anyway. If the car is in this country then they can register it, in which case they should be able to commit & confirm a delivery date with you.

The 7 day insurance isn't worth much anyway as it doesn't cover as much as fully comprehensive insurance, however, it does allow the garage to be able to purchase the VED license for the windscreen, make sure it's purchased in April rather than March. It's better to get your own fuuly comp insurance in place prior to collecting the car.

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Fri 30 Mar 2012 23:46
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - Auristocrat
Surely they would need to tax the car on registration - which would prevent them taxing it in April. Car dealers used to be able to tax a car for 1 year and 1 week, which would prevent a whole month being lost.
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Fri 30 Mar 2012 23:53
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - MikeTorque

They only need to purchase the VED license prior to the buyer collecting the car, it can be done on the same day as collection. Registration has to be done earlier to allow for number plates to be issued and insurance documents issued.

Edited by MikeTorque on 30/03/2012 at 23:53

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Fri 30 Mar 2012 23:59
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - bonzo dog

Hi I66, if it's one of the low rate finance offers specified on Fiat UK's web-site, this does specify that the offer is to end March 2012, so they are probably telling you the facts.

If on the other hand it is not one of these offers then they are purely trying to get the car "sold" in March rather than April.

Of course even if it is the former Fiat UK may have an equivalent offer in Qtr 2 but you wouldn't know unless you left it.

Your choice; either way, good luck

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 00:42
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - innocenti66

They have given us the dealer reference (for the insurance co) and the cars reg number and asked us to set up the free 7 day drive away so they can then register the car.The car is built and is in the uk but they dont know and cant say when itll be delivered. We dont want to take ownership of a vehicle with the warranty started with no indication when well see it. It is the before march 31st finance deal but we agreed to finance, were accepted etc / ordered at the begining of the month, with no mention of it having to be registered before 31st and were even given 6-8 week delivery time (would have taken us to begining of june potentially). If they could give us a delivery date it may make a difference but to leave it open doesnt seem right

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 10:00
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - RT

I've never had a car registered and/or taxed on any day other than the day I collected it - it seems that you've been misled by the salesman.

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 10:20
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - SlidingPillar

Chances are the warenty begins when you collect it, not earlier. If that's the problem, get the dealer to put the issue in writing (a verbal contract is worth the paper it's printed on).

Good luck.

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 12:45
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - innocenti66

Thanks all. She called fiat finance this morning and got into a complex discussion regarding insurance, ownership & law (she works in insurance) and also added that she could still order another car today and still get the march finance deal. They agreed that she was right and no problem for us to take delivery when car arrives to Dealership.

Dealership (sales manager) have also emailed to confirm. Good result and more importantly shes now happy again so my weekend wont be a nightmare.

Edited by innocenti66 on 31/03/2012 at 12:49

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 15:09
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - bonzo dog

Chances are the warenty begins when you collect it, not earlier

The warranty commences upon vehicle registration, not collection

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 15:10
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - bonzo dog

I've never had a car registered and/or taxed on any day other than the day I collected it

Happens very frequently, for a variety of reasons

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 16:12
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - RT

I've never had a car registered and/or taxed on any day other than the day I collected it

Happens very frequently, for a variety of reasons

So the car starts to age without you being the user - as I said, never happened to me and never will.

Frankly this sounds like a variation on the pre-registered "new" car - in other words you're actually buying nearly new but not at nearly new prices !!

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 17:05
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - SlidingPillar

The warranty commences upon vehicle registration, not collection

Not for the last three new cars I've bought it didn't. Date on warrenty is date handed to customer.

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Sun 1 Apr 2012 21:44
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - bonzo dog

Not for the last three new cars I've bought it didn't. Date on warrenty is date handed to customer.

So you are saying that the car was registered on say 1 Sept 2010 but the manufacturers warranty commenced on say 5 Sept 2010 & run for 3 years?

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 18:00
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - Avant

Thank you, Innocenti, for raising this, as it's useful for anyone buying a new car.

The buyer should be entitled to insist that the warranty runs for X years from the date of taking delivery: that's surely the implied meaning of a warranty contract. But if the dealer dates it earlier and the buyer signs it, (s)he will be deemed to accept that date.

Pre-registered cars are a different matter as this is a deal where you pay a lower price for being the second owner, with the warranty starting at the beginning of the first ownership (the dealer).

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 18:43
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - RT
Pre-registered cars are a different matter as this is a deal where you pay a lower price for being the second owner, with the warranty starting at the beginning of the first ownership (the dealer).

Pre-registered cars are fine, you're paying an appropriate price.

n this thread the OP seemed to be at risk of paying for a new car while getting a pre-registered one but thankfully seems to have the necessary agreements from the dealer.

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Sat 31 Mar 2012 18:46
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - retgwte

I had a dealer try to register a car in the month before delivery, so that the salesfolk could claim their bonus in the sales targets of the earlier month. Sales folk got very agressive about it. Wrote a letter to MD telling him I would be setting up "XYZ dealers are rubbish dot com" within the week if they didnt stick to the original deal - and they backed down.I thik they get away with this stuff with little old ladys who pay full price and have not got a clue. Current car was taxed a few days before end of month and they didnt put the special tax disc on so I effectivley lost a months tax, wont be going back there either, I wouldnt have minded paying but felt robbed by that.

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Sun 1 Apr 2012 01:08
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - Avant

"....won't be going back there either."

Good point - if a customer feels that buying a car has been a battle, or in any way an unpleasant experience, they won't go back to that dealer. The same applies if a salesperson hasn't appeared to want to sell. Some dealers (usually the big chains) seem to think only of short-term gain instead of making the effort to ensure that the customer comes back next time.

The long-term approach does work. I'm on my second Skoda from Jewsons of Oxford; SWMBO her fourth Mini from Wood at Odiham, and elder daughter her fourth Yaris from Octagon Toyota of Bracknell.

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Sun 1 Apr 2012 21:50
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - bonzo dog

The buyer should be entitled to insist that the warranty runs for X years from the date of taking delivery: that's surely the implied meaning of a warranty contract

I'm not certain that the buyer does not have a warranty "contract" with the manufacturer.

The customer's contract is with the dealer which as we all know is sale of goods. The manufacturer's warranty is seperate to this.

I agree that the customer can indeed insist on taking delivery on the day the car is registered but circumstances may make this undesirable or not possible.

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Mon 2 Apr 2012 00:03
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - Avant

A new-car warranty is certainly a legally binding contract: in many cases the manufacturer takes responsibility for part of the warranty period and the dealer for the rest. Either way the buyer should be able to insist that it runs from date of delivery.

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Wed 24 Apr 2013 00:06
fiat 500 - dealer wants to register before delivery - jazzist

Been given the same message about a 500L I have on order..

I received an email saying that they want to tax and register it this month to get the deal they offered me and to do that I have to take up dealer insurance now? WTF.

I don't understand TBH.

Edited by jazzist on 24/04/2013 at 00:07

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