Pre registered

[glencrannog]

Has anyone chosen this route of purchase? This is the 4th or 5th time I've taken this route. This time a Yaris Cross registered 1/3/23 with 5 miles on the clock. Obviously not everyone's chosen route, but I've no regrets. Have you experienced any problems/drawbacks?

[anchorman]

24 minutes ago, glencrannog said:

Has anyone chosen this route of purchase? This is the 4th or 5th time I've taken this route. This time a Yaris Cross registered 1/3/23 with 5 miles on the clock. Obviously not everyone's chosen route, but I've no regrets. Have you experienced any problems/drawbacks?

I will in future wherever possible.  The dealer pre registered mine (I’m lead to believe) at the behest of Toyota which irritates me but if it’s pre registered, nobody is trying to deceive me.  You can go and look at it, you know the spec can’t be reduced mid order and there’s no waiting.  Of course the down side is, you might miss a production upgrade.   The dealer might dig in if you are in a hurry because he’s got what you need.  

[Derek.w]

Just make sure you have all the keys and User Guide.

A frend of mine used this route and they did eventually supply a extra key but no user guide'

PS it was for a Citroen but not from the main dealership.

[FROSTYBALLS]

One thing to bear in mind is insurance and new car replacement in the event of a write off.

Some insurers (eg. LV=, and probably others) have changed the conditions for new car replacement, in that they require you to be the first registered owner. In the case of a pre-registered vehicle, the dealer will be the first owner, and the pre-reg will not be eligible to be covered under this clause of the policy.

Check your policy.

[Cyker]

Oooh that is a very good gotcha to be wary of!!

[Rhymes with Paris]

Only by the dealer salesman lying.

I thought I was buying a new car, but was pre reg,so got this ,but didn't choose it.

Lied about road tax being included.

Lied about PDI.

Lied about spec.

Car ok, but dealer ruined the experience completely.

 

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Not Toyota and not recent btw.

 

[glencrannog]

Few years ago I bought a pre reg. Nissan. He said I would get the log book after 6 months! I've mentioned to different dealerships when buying about this. They all asked who the dealer was. When I tell them, they all roll their yes and head and tell me it was illegal. Needless to say, they don't have the dealership now.

I do understand Frostyballs comment about the Insurance, plus when you sell it, it is a 2 owner car. The Toyota dealer I've bought off wasn't bothered by that fact. In the end, you pays your money you takes your chance.

[FROSTYBALLS]

5 minutes ago, glencrannog said:

I do understand Frostyballs comment about the Insurance, plus when you sell it, it is a 2 owner car. The Toyota dealer I've bought off wasn't bothered by that fact

Not something any dealer would be bothered about.

It affects the insured in the unlikely event the car gets written off in the first year, and if it is a pre-reg, it wouldn't qualify under the new car replacement clause in some policies. So one would get market value for the car, rather than a new car.

[Derek.w]

If you warred about the full price you have paid then take out extra cover to cover it look under GAP insurance!.

[Guest]

Yes, I bought a pre-registered Yaris in 2014. 25 miles on it's clock. Massive saving on new price. Also negotiated a spacesaver kit to replace the compressor and goo (absolute deal breaker). Mudflaps, front and rear, set of Toyota mats, unpainted front and rear door protector trim/strips, rear bumper moulding protector and a 1/2 tank of fuel.

Yes, I am the 2nd keeper on the reg. doc. but so what?

For the excellent price reduction, insurance values etc. were of no concern at all.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another pre-reg., if it was an attractive option.

[Roy124]

16 hours ago, Derek.w said:

If you warred about the full price you have paid then take out extra cover to cover it look under GAP insurance!.

If you are implying GAP for a pre registered car make sure the GAP covers year one.  New car GAP usually run from year two. 

[Hybrid21]

Arnold Clark in Scotland usually has loads of preregistered vehicles.

They buy in bulk and sell at a massive discount, very popular 👍

[RonYarisX]

Almost always used to buy pre-registered but since PCP became popular, I've almost always found it an expensive way to purchase a car - whether you be a cash buyer or buying on finance.

As long as you're not paying over the odds then there are no pitfalls whatsoever I can think of going pre-reg - I certainly never experienced any. They used to say things like 'it'll be a 2 owner car so not worth as much when you come to sell" which was always total b0lloks - sales patter by those dealers who didn't have pre-reg cars.

Edit - rather than look at pitfalls, there is one massive advantage of buying a pre-reg - you can usually see the car in fornt of you, you know exactly the spec it has and in some cases you can drive away that day with the car. There are no unknowns buying a pre-reg, and that's worth a lot to some people.

[Derek.w]

I have used GAP insurance on a 6 month old car as second owner & it started from the day I picked the car up.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Last time I bought a pre-reg (2015), I'd popped into the showroom to enquire about the manufacturer's discount scheme for public sector. As I was sitting at the sales person's desk, I received an e-mail from the dealer, advertising a number of pre-reg cars from the manufacturer's model launch.

Showed the e-mail to the sales person, who fetched the sales manager, and I had first pick from 30 listed pre-reg cars. Picked one of three cars with the higher level of trim, larger engine, colour I liked, and the biggest saving.

The car was actually pre-registered the day before I collected it.

[glencrannog]

The previous car I had was 18 days pre registered, compared  to 59 days on the Yaris Cross. Having said that I could have had it over a fortnight earlier, but as I was going on holiday, and with Hybrid being a new style of driving, I was happy to put it back those 2 weeks.

[Cyker]

Y'know, I love that 'pre-registered' is just a fancy term to try and hide that the car is really just technically 'used'   That's proper marketting speak!

The profit margin on those must be huge if they're sold near new prices, as they only pay VAT on the profit and not the whole value of the car!

 

[flash22]

Plenty of pre reg'd cars on the market, usually dealers making up their sales quotas or cancelled orders - its a quota thing they come in 1 or 2 colours and are all the same spec - way back when they used to make them special editions

[anchorman]

11 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Y'know, I love that 'pre-registered' is just a fancy term to try and hide that the car is really just technically 'used'   That's proper marketting speak!

The profit margin on those must be huge if they're sold near new prices, as they only pay VAT on the profit and not the whole value of the car!

 

No they’re not, they just register them on arrival at the dealer.  They’ve never been used in most cases.  

[FROSTYBALLS]

In '93 when we were running Nissans, I was chatting to dealership staff whilst waiting for my sister to finalise buying a pre-reg Primera.  Then Nissan dealers could keep stock for up to 3 months before having to register and actually buy the cars - these pre-registered cars were then sold at discount.

Don't know whether something similar still happens.

[Cyker]

I didn't mean literally used, but for all intents and purposes they count as a 1 owner car and thus 'used' as opposed to 'new', so things like the insurance year 1 total replacement, or Toyota honouring the free extra key for original owners discussed in another thread would no longer apply for instance, or is that not the case and they have some sort of special status?

[anchorman]

18 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I didn't mean literally used, but for all intents and purposes they count as a 1 owner car and thus 'used' as opposed to 'new', so things like the insurance year 1 total replacement, or Toyota honouring the free extra key for original owners discussed in another thread would no longer apply for instance, or is that not the case and they have some sort of special status?

I don’t think it’s that complicated.  I accept there might be anomalies and considerations but for the most part, you are considered the first owner despite the dealer being shown as the first registered.  I consider mine pre registered in so much as they back dated mine to the previous month (and therefore year as it was December) but I’m the first keeper on the log book.  

[Derek.w]

Used (pre reg) just means you the second owner the car may have 6000 miles on the clock or just 6.   but insurance companies take into account the price you payed against ther book price so if its write-off  just after purchase you receve less cash back even if its not your fault.

[Graham47]

57 minutes ago, Derek.w said:

….. insurance companies take into account the price you payed against ther book price so if its write-off  just after purchase you receve less cash back even if its not your fault.

And how do they know that ?