Very low mileage used car - good or bad?

lemon26

I'd thought that as well - I'm going to gove the DVLA a call tomorrow to see if they can shed any light on the issue. Going to ring the garage back and ask for the dates off the V5C.

cyclonebri1

Distorted_Vision wrote: »

Surprisingly, very low mileage is more often than not a bad thing.

Its spent all is life stop starting and cold runs, that no way to run an engine in properly.

Its also spent time sitting around staying damp underneath and not having and time drying on the road so components start rusting prematurely underneath the car.

A very experienced mechanic once told me that he's seen loads of cars with very low mileage for the ages and most of the time these cars are in worse condition than a car thats done normal mileage and has been serviced regularly.

And that's pretty much my view with a fair amount of evidence to back it up.

Reasons for a car to have rediculously low mileage;

Being an ex demo for far to long.

Being subject to an accident that took yonks to sort out

Spent all it's time back at the garage due to constant mechanical issues.

Belonged to an "old dear" that didn't get out of 2nd gear or drive it out of the viliage.

Being written off and cloned.


I'm sure there are more but that's food for thought surely

harveybobbles

If the oriinal DOR was 18 Oct 07. That could have been in N.I and started off on somthing like GCZ 1257. Then in 2009 it was re-registered at the DVLA and put onto a mainland UK plate. As NI use a different system.

That could explain things. Maybe...

You could phone Citroen UK and ask them for a bulld date and who the supplying dealer was...?

Interesting thought...

Date of First Registration with DVLA 29 10 2009
Date of First Registration 18 10 2007

lemon26

Hi again, I've spoken to the dealer who is speaking to Citroen tomorrow to get a more detailed history - they are offering to put in writing that the car is not an import and has been in the UK all of its life. It was registered in Oct 07 but apparently not properly registered until Oct 09 - is this something the motor trade can do?

The way they explained it was that it was used for static display and some demonstrator drives for the motor press then back into the showroom as it has all of the accessories that can possibly be fitted. Sort of a 'look what we can do' car.

It was never sold by a dealer but went straight to Citroen UK, whose head office in Slough is listed as the registered keeper. The 1500 miles service was done in Apr 09 at 1477 miles by Citroen and since then it has been on display. However, with the release of the new 1.6HDi engine and change to VTR+ trim they can't display the old one or use it for a demo so they're selling it.

I think it's a good deal, spec'd a new car to the same level and it was £22k without the leather interior. Comes with one year Citroen warranty and the balance of the anti-corrosion warranty. I've got an older Citroen currently and have lived in north Scotland for 4 years now and have yet to find any rust on it - you'd not believe the amount of salt they put down between Nov and Mar either!

harveybobbles

lemon26 wrote: »

It was registered in Oct 07 but apparently not properly registered until Oct 09 - is this something the motor trade can do?

Never heard of that one!

All the big guys have head offices on Bath Road in Slough btw.

Evilm

Its either been a "show" car so has only been driven to and from car shows or a Demonstrator so it would have been driven by people who were looking at buying a new one (and was never registered with the DVLA as it would have been driven on trade plates).

We picked up an ex-demonstrator a few years ago with low mileage and a nice drop off the sticker price although it didn't have the registration issue this one has. Worked out well for us, hope it does for you if you decide to buy it.

harveybobbles

Evilm wrote: »

Its either been a "show" car so has only been driven to and from car shows or a Demonstrator so it would have been driven by people who were looking at buying a new one (and was never registered with the DVLA as it would have been driven on trade plates).

If it has never been registered then how does it manage to get a reg date in 2007 and one in 2009? I'm going for it being a Northern Ireland car.

emmell

I hope it wasn't a 'press' car, may have been driven by the 'stig'.
ML.

harveybobbles

We had a batch of Audi A8's when they were launched just after 2006. The V5 read:

The Audi A8 Project
Yeomans Drive
Milton Keynes

or what ever the address is for VWFS.

Basically they were press car or demo cars, but they were sold as one owner and no one knew any different.

lemon26

Thanks once again for your thoughts Harvey, got a couple of phone calls to make tomorrow, one to Citroen UK and another to my local DVLA office to see if they can shed any light on where my car came from. The dealer says the supplying dealer was Citroen UK themselves as the C5 wasn't available in the showrooms when this one was registered. Wonder if that's where the confusion has started? Hopefully all will become clearer tomorrow.

EDIT> The C5 wasn't officially launched in the UK until March 2008 but, as the car I'm looking at was a pre-launch publicity tool, could that be the reason for the confusion. Strangely, confused.com have it down as a 2009 model when I put in the 57-plate registration!