Replacement for Nissan Almera

AdrianC

1christopher wrote: »

Ex rental start with D on the number plate, ex Vauxhall fleet demo cars start with V or B.

D means it was new in the Deeside area (Chester or Shrewsbury)
V means it was new in the Severn Valley area (Worcester)
B means it was new in the Birmingham area.

GM UK's head office is Luton, which comes under K registrations.

No more than that. There may be a correlation to the original keeper, but it's certainly no guarantee.

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

That depends on which hire firm registers them. And of course you're missing out the fact that hundreds of non-rental cars are also registered with 'D' prefix plates.

Derbyshire is a big place, you know.

Your logic's right, but D isn't Derbyshire. Cars new in Derbyshire are likely to be Y (Yorkshire), F (Forest and Fens, Nottingham) or M (Manchester/Merseyside), depending on the dealer.

The letter started off depending on which DVLA local office the dealer dealt with, but since the local offices closed, it's more of a postcode lottery.

BeenThroughItAll

AdrianC wrote: »

D means it was new in the Deeside area (Chester or Shrewsbury)
V means it was new in the Severn Valley area (Worcester)
B means it was new in the Birmingham area.

GM UK's head office is Luton, which comes under K registrations.

No more than that. There may be a correlation to the original keeper, but it's certainly no guarantee.



Your logic's right, but D isn't Derbyshire. Cars new in Derbyshire are likely to be Y (Yorkshire), F (Forest and Fens, Nottingham) or M (Manchester/Merseyside), depending on the dealer.

The letter started off depending on which DVLA local office the dealer dealt with, but since the local offices closed, it's more of a postcode lottery.

You're quite right, of course. I always get the Derbyshire/Deeside thing wrong - two of my colleagues, both from Derby (well, one from Buxton) have DE registered cars and it just sticks in my mind it's Derbyshire. Should have checked before I posted.


Anyway, the point was the same - Deeside's a big (ish) place too.

Crabman

Mercdriver wrote: »

It's no kind of policy. The first two letters are to do with where the car was first registered. Nothing more, nothing less.

Agreed - which is why it isn't a blanket policy (see my post above) yet is still a useful indicator as to a vehicle's history in case you come across a rare example of a less than truthful car salesperson...

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. :T Just a few comments ...

I hadn't counted the Astra as a friend has had nothing but trouble with his (but maybe he just got a dud?)

We did have a try out in a Honda Jazz as I thought it might be better for us as we're getting older (as it was higher) but found the seats uncomfortable (bit hard).

Have had a look at the new shape Nissan Note - and it looks very like the Almera, so that's gone to the top of the list. (Don't care that it's about to be discontinued - so was the Almera when we bought it and it hasn't been a problem).

And I'm now wondering why we're thinking of replacing it at all just yet. It still runs, it's still economical, it does the job. Maybe we'll stick with it a few more years!

1christopher

AdrianC wrote: »

D means it was new in the Deeside area (Chester or Shrewsbury)
V means it was new in the Severn Valley area (Worcester)
B means it was new in the Birmingham area.

GM UK's head office is Luton, which comes under K registrations.

No more than that. There may be a correlation to the original keeper, but it's certainly no guarantee.

Apologies to the pedants for not being entirely clear.

On a 6 month old *Vauxhall* vehicle, it's a fairly good indicator - at the very minimum all I was implying is likely ownership.

Many rental Vx's are supplied through Greenhaus Vauxhall near Telford on D plates.

Vauxhall business demos are usually registered in fleet sites in Birmingham and Worcester, hence V and B.

Apologies if I suggested this was blanket - was only trying to be helpful.

AndyMc.....

1christopher wrote: »

Apologies to the pedants for not being entirely clear.

On a 6 month old *Vauxhall* vehicle, it's a fairly good indicator - at the very minimum all I was implying is likely ownership.

Many rental Vx's are supplied through Greenhaus Vauxhall near Telford on D plates.

Vauxhall business demos are usually registered in fleet sites in Birmingham and Worcester, hence V and B.

Apologies if I suggested this was blanket - was only trying to be helpful.

But any 6 month old vehicle with around 12000 miles on it is likely to be ex rental so make and plate make no difference.