Buyacar.co.uk

mike.magill

Hi,

The website buyacar.co.uk offers some amazing discounts on new cars that I don't seem to be able to get my local dealer to match (or even get close to).

I'm trying to work out the catch.

So far I've discovered that you do not get the V5 document until six months after you take delivery of the car (to prevent you from selling in the first six months). The car remains in the name of the supplying company until the six months is up and then you become the second named owner of the car.

Also you have to pay for the car before delivery (unless you take a bankers' draft with you and collect from buyacar's office).

What do you all think?

Is the extra discount you receive worth the above 'catches'?
Will the car be worth less when you sell it on in, say, five years time?

What haven't I thought of?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Pink.

Hi mike,

You should get more help with this on the Motoring board so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

mike.magill

The car I'm interested in is the Volvo S40. The discount is about 16%. I can't find anywhere else that offers that kind of discount.

DealDrivers_company_representative

We reply (carefully!) as we are also a broker.. and we have permission to post on here from ML, to offer advice to site users.

We've had no negative feedback about them from our own customers. You just need to make a decision by understanding pre-registration sale conditions.

There are 2 situations where dealers can pre-register cars: one is at the manufacturer's insistence, to move stock into the marketplace. Where the manuf'r has instigated it, the dealer is free to re-sell the car straight away after pre-registration and the logbook can be changed immediately.

However, if the dealer themselves decides to pre-register a car to help them hit a sales target, they are supposed to run the car as a demo for 3-6 mths (depending on brand) before re-selling it. These are the terms they are bound by within their manufacturer franchise contracts. It essentially stops lots of cars hitting the marketplace too cheaply and ultimately de-valuing that brand (which then affects 2nd hand values..so customers do ultimately lose out long-term when dealers do this in bulk). Car prices continually being driven down mean re-sale values drop in-line with them.

So, if a customer buying a car is told they cannot have the logbook yet, it means it is a car being re-sold earlier than it should be. The only way the dealer can stop the new buyer informing the DVLA of a change of ownership (a requirement upon the sale of a car in this country) is to withold the logbook at date of sale until such a date that he is then allowed to formally re-sell under the terms of his franchise contract for that car brand.

If the V5 has to be produced for an insurance claim (i.e. in a write off situation) you are somewhat stuck so ask their advice as to what you'd do in such an event.

Also ask your insurer's advice about how you fill your insurance application in. If you tick the boxes to say you are the only registered owner/keeper, you can't produce a V5 to prove that for some time. So, if a claim has to be made where the V5 has to be produced (i.e. a write-off accident) your insurer may cite that you made an incorrect statement on the application form (you know what insurers are like!). Ask your insurer's advice, some don't have an issue with it and are happy to overlook the V5 documentation delay (I think Churchill are ok with it when we last checked with a batch of insurers, but a guy we asked at Direct Line wasn't sure what their policy was when we asked!) but some do take issue - so you need to check.

Some insurers said they would only pay up to whoever's name was on the V5 document..which could be the dealer who sold you the car.

It is a way of getting cheap cars as a second owner but everyone needs to assess how happy they are with the conditions of sale. Regular S40 discounts available as normal 1st owner deals are currently around 13-15% depending on spec' and engine etc.

Hope that helps.