Pros & Cons of pre-registered car

movilogo

I'm in the market looking for a new car for £8k. What I should check for buying pre-registered car?
I understand that since they have been already registered (in dealer's name?) their price should be lower than the brand new one.

Is there any drawback of buying pre-registered. I think officially I shall be 2nd owner but that should worry me much if I get substantial discount from brand new.

Is the warranty anyway affected?

Any thought?

david29dpo

the warranty would have started from the date of registration, so is ticking away as we speak. pre-reg cars can be a good buy at the right price, make sure you get it at the right price so bargain hard! when you sell it, most buyers will not worry about it having 2 previous owners because it will be obvious you where the first, so to speak.

MrSmartprice

Both of our cars were pre-registered. Mine was an ex-demonstrator which I bought with 1k on the clock. The dealer agreed to add on the four months to the warranty that they had used the car. MrsS had a pre-registered car with no miles on the clock. She also got the full warranty.

Both of our cars were bought with large discounts over the already-discounted new price. The fact that they have the seller as the first owner makes little odds if a car has a full service history when you come to sell it.

Go for it, and bargain hard! Chances are they need space for new stock anyway.

colin79666

I got a 6 month old grande punto with 3.3K on the clock (ex courtesy car)
got more than £1200 of the new price

you should also get the balance of any breakdown cover (RAC/AA/etc)

bunking_off

Agree that ex-demo cars in particular can be stunning value (this is slightly different to straight pre-registered - these should have delivery mileage versus ex-demos tend to have 3 or 4k on).

Before now, I've bought a Mondeo for £6k less than list, and a Jag for (wait for it) £17k less than list. Both 6 months old, approx 3k miles. Obviously I could have bartered on the list, but the savings are still approx £4k/£10k better than anything I could have got for a brand new car at the time.

DealDrivers_company_representative

There's a permanent page on our website called 'buying tips' which goes through the things you need to weigh up, and in July's edition of What Car there was a major 2 page article on pages 148-149 about the pro's and con's.

Key issues include asking WHEN it was registered and why. It's warranty started ticking from that date, and if it was the dealers own' decision to register it then he shouldn't be reselling it until he's run it as a demo for 3-6mths- so will withold the logbook from you for that period to prevent you alerting the DVLA. If this is the case, don't touch it..as per our comments on this site for over a year and the recent article in What Car, there are legal implications and insurance cover implications.

If it was the manufacturer's decison and they supported the dealer financially to do it, then the dealer is free to sell it on straight away and transfer the log book to your name as 2nd owner.

No-one pre-registers cars which are 'in demand', they'll only pre register cars they are stuck with or which are hard to re-sell. So weigh up whether it is an obsolete model, old shape, bad engine, terrible colour or trim, loaded with unwanted extras etc or not before deciding.

alanrowell

DealDrivers wrote: »

No-one pre-registers cars which are 'in demand', they'll only pre register cars they are stuck with or which are hard to re-sell. So weigh up whether it is an obsolete model, old shape, bad engine, terrible colour or trim, loaded with unwanted extras etc or not before deciding.

Dealers preregister for many reasons - notably to qualify for manufacturer's bonuses for registrations in a given (generally slack) month

dnc1781

See:
http://www.whatcar.com/news-special-report.aspx?NA=225709

zappahey

alanrowell wrote: »

Dealers preregister for many reasons - notably to qualify for manufacturer's bonuses for registrations in a given (generally slack) month

Indeed, and I suspect Dealdrivers would agree, but logic suggests that, if a dealer needs to pre-register (and therefore discount) a number of vehicles, he'll discount the ones that aren't moving rather than those that he can easily sell at full price.

If there's a reason they won't sell when new then there may well be a subsequent hit on the residual value when the owner tries to sell later.

alanrowell

I wouldn't assume that because the dealer is discounting that it means that the car is a "bad 'un".

It could be coming to the reg changeover and so they need to shift stock, it may be a car that's unpopular in a particular area but is acceptable elsewhere

Last pre-reg I bought was standard spec and came in silver grey. OK I wanted green but the £4000 saving on a 3 month old £11000 car made me feel a lot better

DealDrivers_company_representative

Exactly Zappahey...it is commercial suicide (or a thick dealer!) to preregister cars they can easily sell at closer to list price. They pick the more problematic cars as that is least loss, and least risk.

If all they can get hold of in time is a more saleable car then they will only register it as they are ttoally desperate for that sale and concede the financial hit. I come from a long line of franchised car dealers!

They already take a risk as they are bound by their franchise contracts to run them as demo's for 3-6mths (period depends on their brand contract) before re-selling, if they've done it just to hit their target.

If a buyer takes a car where they can't register themselves on the V5 as the owner for some weeks or months they must run that past their insurers first....but as per What Car's recent article and our own campaign for nearly 3yrs, they should be demanding the V5 immediately.