Lease car (new): production date vs registration date

daveyjp

If you want to know when a car was built look for the tags at the base of the seatbelts.  It should be stamped with the date the belt was fitted.

Mildly_Miffed

DocQuincy said:

This is my first lease: I got the car in April 25, 12 miles on the clock. It was registered on the day I picked it up. 

3.2k miles in and it is telling me I need an oil change. I queried this with the dealship as I assumed it was an error and they have said the car was actually produced in October 24 and that this is set based on when it comes out of the factory and that this is causing the car to tell me I need an oil change soon.

When you look the car up on gov.uk it says it was manufactured in 2025, not 2024, although the registration date is correct.

DVLA don't record - or even know - manufacturing date. They simply populate that field with the year of registration, unless there is evidence produced to support a much earlier date. This might be relevant with historic vehicles or used imports.

As far as Oct 24 manufacture, April 25 registration...

Bear in mind this car was assembled in Japan. Let's say two months of that time for the logistics and shipping.
You ordered a car that was in stock, not a factory order.

It is a 2025 car. It was first registered new in 2025, on a 25 plate, and is a 2025 model year car - the model year usually changes around August/September, when factories return after the summer break.

It is far from unusual for a car to have been sat in compounds before or after shipping, and between arrival in the country and delivery to a dealer. And that's before any rectification work before delivery.

There is no issue here at all.

XRS200

DocQuincy said:

He said the same as you: servicing is from the production date and MOT is from the reg date. Still not sure whether to tell the insurers. Seems like if the gov.uk is saying 2025 and only Mazda knows the actual build date they shouldn't need to know. I'm hardly gaining from withholding that info (e.g. it's not like withholding points on your license).

Insurers normally ask when first registered.  Are they asking when the car was built?

Mildly_Miffed

XRS200 said:

DocQuincy said:

He said the same as you: servicing is from the production date and MOT is from the reg date. Still not sure whether to tell the insurers. Seems like if the gov.uk is saying 2025 and only Mazda knows the actual build date they shouldn't need to know. I'm hardly gaining from withholding that info (e.g. it's not like withholding points on your license).

Insurers normally ask when first registered.  Are they asking when the car was built?

Not only would the answer to that be utterly irrelevant - but the vast, VAST majority of owners would have no clue as to the answer.

DocQuincy

My insurer does actually have the year manufactured on the paperwork but I think you're right @Mildly_Miffed My previous cars were probably made the year before the reg and I had absolutely no idea. I'm guess t's only if there's a big discrepency they're interested.

Since most cars are made outside of the UK and aren't registered immediately on entering the country I would guess a large chunk are like this.

shera12

That does sound a bit confusing, but it’s fairly common for cars to be built months before registration. The service reminder is usually based on factory date, not when you collected it. I’d ask the dealer to confirm in writing that following the car’s service indicator won’t affect your lease or warranty, and whether they’ll cover the early oil change as goodwill. As for insurance, if all your official docs say 2025, I wouldn’t worry unless they specifically ask  but no harm mentioning it for peace of mind.

Rorycar

Just a thought but is it a Mazda Diesel and do you do lots of short journeys

Failed DPF regens will cause unused diesel to mix with the oil, diluting it and causing the level to rise. The car will then advise that an oil change is required

DocQuincy

It does need doing for the warranty so I've booked it in.

No, not a diesel. I do a lot of short journys though.

sheramber

Grey_Critic said:

When Ford replaced the original Granada with the Scorpio sales were not what was expected. A technician came into the office having put the vehicle through the system to check for updates - The car was in for its First Free Service and he found the system said it had been manufactured THREE years prior. I checked with Ford and they confirmed it was correct. When we got it up on the ramp it was obvious it had been parked up (unsold) in a field for a long time.

There was a compound near where Ilived where new, unregistered cars were stored, subject to all weathers.

My cousin was a car mechanic and told us he could find rust underneath any new  car that had benn stored outside for months or  longer  before being purchased.