New Car Registration by Dealer

squidley

Good evening,

We ordered a new Kia in early December last year. Estimated delivery date was end Feb. Production delays meant it didn't reach the UK port of entry until 31 March. There have been further delays in the PDI process and transportation to the dealer. I was advised it would reach the dealer last week. The dealer registered the car with the DVLA on 30 April. However, the car did not arrive. Kia advised it was to a "parts upgrade" issue. I have now been advised that the car should arrive middle of next week. 

I am concerned about the dealer registering the car so far in advance. Is that normal practice? I will expect recompense for the lost month, but are there any other issues I should be aware of. 

I really am 50/50 on this now. We got a decent deal on it so it would be a shame to lose it. But I'm starting to have doubts. The parts upgrade bit sounds a bit fishy. 

As a supplementary question, if I decided to cancel the car would I be likely to get our deposit back? Especially bearing in mind the long delay. 

Thanks. 

Grey_Critic

The dealer should have made sure the car was available for delivery before registering but I suspect that the reason he registered is more prosaic.

To be blunt it was likely likely financial - to claim a Registration Bonus Payment.

Goudy

Have they actually registered it or just given you a reg number?

It's common for dealers to have lists of reg numbers pre assigned to them from DVLA and will sometimes tell you before hand what it is before they have actually registered it with DVLA.

DVLA only take around a week to send a V5C out these days as it's all electronic, so if it had been registered on the 30th, you would likely have the log book by now. 

I have in the past been shown a list of reg numbers by the dealer and asked if I wanted to choose one a few weeks before delivery.

If they have registered it, you've not really lost out.
OK it's a couple of weeks older according to the log book but it's still new and hasn't done any miles in that time.

Some manufacturers and importers sit cars at the docks for month on end until someone buys them, then registered it. So you could buy a new car that's already a year or so old.

Fiat tend to do this, they have stopped production of the Panda but say they have enough stock for over a years worth of sales, so somewhere there are thousands sitting there waiting to be bought and registered.

Grumpy_chap

Has the car been registered to the OP as first registered keeper, or registered to the dealer?

squidley

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, I've no doubt they wanted to bump up their April registration figures. Although you would have thought their bonus would depend on the actual final payment date. 

I have already received the V5 form. I am the first owner. We have generally bought pre reg cars in the past. Seems to be less of them about now. This is our first "new" new car. Its a cash purchase, with no trade in. However it's turning out to be a bit of a pfaff. I am starting to get a little but concerned by the "parts upgrade" excuse. It seems odd that the car had been assessed as ready for delivery to the dealer. Only then to be held back for an upgrade. I wonder if it may have been damaged?

A warning though to potential new Kia buyers. Delivery timescales seem to be a problem with them. You may have a far longer wait than you are originally advised. 

Car_54

squidley said:

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, I've no doubt they wanted to bump up their April registration figures. Although you would have thought their bonus would depend on the actual final payment date. 

I have already received the V5 form. 

So you now need either to SORN it, or tax and insure it, ASAP.

If you SORN it, let the dealer know in case they want to take it for a spin.

flaneurs_lobster

Can someone tell me what a "parts upgrade" is? I thought that the point of ordering a new car was that you specify all the extra and optional bits so that they are included during manufacture/assembly?

Kim_13

On the flip side, if the car had arrived on schedule, you would have had a 74 plate by a matter of days but now have a 25. 75 doesn’t come out until September so the car isn’t on an older plate as a result of the early registration.

I think I would only be wanting to cancel if the car were an EV with a list price of over £40,000 (as the April registration rather than the original delivery date triggers the expensive car supplement,) or any other car that was under the trigger point list when you ordered it but has now gone over. A vehicle registered on the date you take possession of it can be a pain to insure as comparison sites won’t recognise it.

facade

When asking for compensation, don't forget that if you have bought it on PCP and intend to hand it back after 3 years, you will have to pay for a 3rd year service and MOT unless you hand it back even earlier, and lose another 20 odd days use of the car. (Normally you'd try and hand it back with a couple of weeks to go to avoid MOT & service)

I wouldn't cancel now unless you have seen a car that has come out in the last 6 months that you would rather have instead.

chrisw

flaneurs_lobster said:

Can someone tell me what a "parts upgrade" is? I thought that the point of ordering a new car was that you specify all the extra and optional bits so that they are included during manufacture/assembly?

Some options are dealer fit, sometimes software etc needs updating. Parts upgrade is feasible, as is accident repair and financial juggling, but it's irrelevant really, the car will be delivered when it's delivered and you'll probably never know the real reason.

Goudy

Car_54 said:

squidley said:

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, I've no doubt they wanted to bump up their April registration figures. Although you would have thought their bonus would depend on the actual final payment date. 

I have already received the V5 form. 

So you now need either to SORN it, or tax and insure it, ASAP.

If you SORN it, let the dealer know in case they want to take it for a spin.

The dealer would have had to tax it at the time of registration.
The tax rate is variable the first year based on Co2 and that payment is paid at the point of registration.
After that it reverts to the flat rate.

As for insurance, it's not actually on the road yet, so chances are it won't be picked up uninsured.
The registered keeper isn't liable for someone else driving it on the road uninsured and as it hasn't been paid for fully or handed over, if they write it off it's nothing to do with the OP.

Kia dealers do seem to quote around 20 weeks for factory builds, but there maybe something extra needing doing at the PDI, like a software update. (I believe there's an "April 2025" update for some models)

I think their facility at Immingham handles something like 15,000 cars at once, so an extra step in a PDI is going to have an effect on delivery times.