Pros & Cons of pre-registered car

MORPH3US

lic wrote: »

I have just bought a brand new C3 from https://www.Broadspeed.com for less than I could have bought a second hand one for.

I hope you checked Drive The Deal first!

Just had a quick look (so it may well vary) but Broadspeed seems expensive compared to DTD.

@ dnc1781, to be fair, they prob don't include metalic paint like 30111987 got, but on DTD, they have the same car as 30111987 got WITH metalic paint for about £200 more than he paid, but "got some road tax.... after haggling" versus a full 12 months tax, 3.3k miles on the clock versus 0 miles on the clock, 6 months lost warranty and "the unknown factor" of has it been ragged etc...

Means going with DTD, paying the extra £200 would have IMHO been a much better option.

M

bunking_off

lic wrote: »

Why buy a nearly new car, ex demonstrator, or one the dealer wants to get shut of, when you can buy brand new for less.
I have just bought a brand new C3 from https://www.Broadspeed.com for less than I could have bought a second hand one for.

Going through Broadspeed/DrivetheDeal etc is certainly worth looking at (so long as you ensure it's a UK sourced car rather than import). If nothing else, it's worth getting a price from them and waving in front of your local dealer as their pricing can miraculously drop when presented with it.

There is one possible caveat, however. With Peugeot (so I'm guessing also with Citreon), the warranty tends to be 2 year manufacturer, 1 year dealer. I'm assuming - possibly incorrectly - that if something goes wrong in year 3 it's the supplying dealer who's responsible, which would be less than ideal if they weren't local. As a concrete example related to this, I had our Peugeot in for a 2 year service recently, and the locking wheel nut key was missing (probably never been there, we haven't had a need for it). Immediate question from dealer was "did we supply the car new?"...because the answer was yes they picked up the cost of busting them off and fitting new lockers. I used the "leverage dealer with Broadspeed pricing" approach when I bought the car - dealer couldn't match but could get down to within £200 - I figured it was worth it to have the one-stop-shop.

dnc1781

bunking_off wrote: »

Going through Broadspeed/DrivetheDeal etc is certainly worth looking at (so long as you ensure it's a UK sourced car rather than import).

Imports? - none here:
http://www.broadspeed.com/
http://www.drivethedeal.com/faqs.asp

dnc1781

MORPH3US wrote: »

I hope you checked Drive The Deal first!

Just had a quick look (so it may well vary) but Broadspeed seems expensive compared to DTD.

- This beats both!:
http://www.perrys.co.uk/special-offer/8241/1323//atnew

MORPH3US

bunking_off wrote: »

There is one possible caveat, however.

You are of course correct that people should be very careful of buying cars online and do their homework... as they should when buying from a dealer also...

Stories I have heard about Drive The Deal are all very good... most people report that they end up picking their cars up from their local dealers anyway so shouldn't cause any warranty problems at all.

Esentially, I see DTD and possibly the others mentioned as doing a job like Quidco, they just referr you to the dealer but get you a better deal because they cut down on their comission!

M

zappahey

DealDrivers wrote: »

...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.

Just interested but is that a legal requirement or is it more to do with the dealer's contractual arrangements with the manufacturer? If the latter then why would DVLA care?

DealDrivers wrote: »

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.

This makes me think it's contractual rather than a legal requirement but I'd be interested to know the reasoning behind it.

DealDrivers_company_representative

Manufacturers can trigger pre-registration when they need to move some stock quickly into the marketplace ( a glut of unsold models, over production, facelift due out etc), in these cases they support the dealer financially to take the hit on a batch of cars being registered to help figures along a bit, and the dealer can onward sell the units immediately (meaning no logbook retention..these are the only deals we touch other than normal brand new 1st owner).

However, if a dealer takes the decision to pre-register himself, without the manuf'r feeling there is a need to, then under the bounds of his franchise contract to represent that manufacturer as a franchised dealership, he is expected to run the car as a demo' for 3-6 months (the no' months depends on the brand -they have different minimum periods). It is these cars that find their way onto many online reseller/broker sites where - once you ask the right questions - you find you'll have the logbook witheld from you for some months...as this is the only way the dealer and broker can stop you changing paperwork ownership at the DVLA too early i.e. before the minimum period is up that the dealer was supposed to adhere to before re-sale.

The 'What Car?' article in July's edition is key to understanding this and the implications for you as a buyer, not least your insurer (if you've ticked the box to say you're the registered owner/keeper on your insurance application..but you're not for some months). Their 2-page article explains clearly the hazards and why the OFT should be looking at dealers and brokers who do this.

As our own website says...if a seller doesn't shout from the rooftops that you are first and only registered owner on a deal, don't assume you will be (don't fall for the 'brand new' straplines...ask what the conditions of sale are!)..and don't assume you'll get your name on the V5 document for some time.

The long term effect is something all buyers should consider, in terms of the people running these schemes actually being negative for the consumer over time...buyers all herald the the 'too good to be true' car prices as being wonderful but then complain when their used car value is lower than hoped for.

Manufacturers have the 3-6months wait rule with their dealers there for a reason...to stop cars hitting the market too cheap too soon...and therefore driving used ('residual') prices down on that brand/model at the same proportionate rate. Once this happens, no-one's happy with their used car value!

One good rule of thumb is sually this: if you have to ahnd money to a thrid party (i.e. the broekr) it usually means you're buying an already-registered car, if you only ever hand money to a normal main dealer but get the broker to arrange the price for you, then you've got a standard safe deal and you're 1st owner and still dealing direct with a main franchised dealer...so the best of both worlds!

DealDrivers_company_representative

sorry for the typo's in that final paragraph..not had my coffee yet this morning!