A tip to always check a used cars history.

[RonYarisX]

Many years ago, you had to be careful buying nearly new cars from non-franchised dealer as often it would turn out they were non-UK sourced i.e. imports. ( Motorpoint used to be guilty of this when they first started ).  The following advert might well be a UK sourced car but it did get me thinking. My advice to anyone in the market for such a car is to ask or check for yourself it's history.

Yaris Cross registered 30th Dec 2022

The car is overpriced for what it is but what brought it to my attention was the registration - SD72ZFS which means it was registered in West of Scotland ( Glasgow office ) in the last days of 2022. Over the past months Arnold Clark has been selling many similar cars to this. Thing is Arnold Clark lost their Toyota franchise some time ago so it's very unlikely they registered the cars. Chances are they were purchased either via Macklin Motors in Glasgow / Hamilton, or over in Helensburgh if they were bought new from a UK franchised dealer Or they could be re-registered imports!  Unlikely they're ex-Toyota management lease vehicles as those would have a Derby reg prefix.

So the question is if they were registered by a West of Scotland franchise, why are 5mth old cars with only 500 odd miles on the clock now for sale thru Arnold Clark?

My sixth sense is saying there's something not quite right so if anyone is actually interested in a similar nearly new car from any non-franchised dealer ( they shouldn't be at that price !  🤣 ) then it's defo worth checking the vehicle history.

 

[flash22]

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/arnold-clark-loses-toyota-franchise-in-western-scotland-to-vertu-motors/254916

https://www.am-online.com/news/dealer-news/2023/03/02/vertu-motors-asserts-scale-is-a-key-success-factor-in-five-month-trading-update

[flash22]

Quote

Asked about the changes, an Arnold Clark spokesman said: “We are in conversation with lots of new and existing manufacturers at the minute, but at this moment we are not in a position to comment further.”

UPDATE: Since this story was first published on 13 February, Vertu and Toyota have confirmed they will be working together in Scotland.

https://www.auto-retail.co.uk/agenda/arnold-clark-to-lose-toyota-franchises/

it looks like Vertu owns the franchise but trades under the Arnold Clark's brand ?

https://www.macklinmotors.co.uk/news/macklin-motors-awarded-toyota-franchise-in-west-of-scotland/

[flash22]

It was first registered in 2022 but it may have been a floor plan car, what they can not sell or register for a set period of time