Avoid Pre-Registered Cars

Why?

Years ago, dealers used to register some cars to themselves at the end of the month to hit their targets. This does still happen, quite rarely nowadays. But brokers offering pre-registered deals are not usually offering these cars.

What is going on?

Unscrupulous brokers will offer to find a dealer who will pre-register any car to order. So you name the specification you want and they will arrange for a dealer to order it in and pre-register it for you. But, these brokers do not spell out the very significant risks that you will be taking.

The way it works is simple. Car manufacturers often offer rent-a-car companies, and leasing companies, substantial kickbacks / bonuses for buying their brand of cars. This is because these companies aren't bothered which make they buy, they just need cars in particular categories which they could buy from any manufacturer. To obtain these kickbacks, they are issued with a fleet code. And sometimes, a dealer & broker will conspire to use a rent-a-car company's fleet code to make cars they are selling to their customers even cheaper. The car would then be registered to the rent-a-car company and you would pay for it.

What are the risks?

• The DVLA will send your V5 (registration document) for your car to the company it is registered to, say the rent-a-car company. If they go out of business in the 4-6 months that you have to wait for your V5 to be sent to you, you may never obtain your V5. Without a V5, you will be unlikely ever to be able to sell your car.
  
  
• If this rent-a-car company ever falls out with the dealer, they could refuse to forward your V5 and you would become the victim of their falling out. Remarkably, this happens quite often, because there are large sums of money involved in these arrangements.
  
  
• Your car will be worth less when you come to sell it because it has two registered keepers on the V5 (assuming you have it). This may mean you lose the money you initially saved.
  
  
• If your car is not registered to you, you will possibly have given your car insurance company an excuse not to pay out on a valid claim.
  
  
• Many insurers do require their policyholder's car to be registered to themselves and not to a third party, which would limit the number of insurers you could shop around to pay the lowest policy premium.
  
  
• Sometimes the rent-a-car company, or leasing company, gets caught by the manufacturer (which happens quite frequently), the fleet code is cancelled and the money withheld. In which case you could wait weeks for your car to be built only to find that the dealer cannot honour the agreed price and your car never materialises.
  
  
• The reason that the whole arrangement is fraudulent, illegal and dishonest, is because the manufacturer is tricked into paying out money towards a car sale that falls outside of their agreement with the rent-a-car company.
  
  

Do you think these risks are worth taking for as little as £300?

How much money is involved?

Vast sums, actually. But the amount you receive may only be as little as £300 when you compare these pre-registered deals to our prices. Manufacturers can often payout as much as £2,500 which the rent-a-car company splits with the dealer and broker. They all make a lot of money out of your custom using this scam, but you end up with very little of it, and all of the risk.

What is our advice?

Don't buy a pre-registered car unless it is registered to the dealer you are buying it from. If you ignore our advice, you become a party to a fraudulent transaction and you could be the victim if you do not receive your V5 because the company that has possession of your V5 no longer exists 4-6 months later. Explaining to the DVLA why you need them to re-register a car to you when, according to their records it belongs to a bankrupt company, will be virtually impossible and they may want to know why you entered into such an agreement in the first instance.

If a broker advertises that they do business dishonestly, then avoid them, otherwise you could be their next victim.

Why should you listen to us?

We were the first internet car broker in the UK. We set up 14 years ago and have always worked to be very professional in our approach. We are also the biggest internet car broker, in fact we place very substantially more orders than any other internet car broker. Over the years, we have seen new brokers, and their scams, come and go, and watched them seduce customers with their scams dressed up as bargains. The problem is that we place so many customer orders that other brokers cannot match the discounts we can negotiate legitimately. So they cross the line and cheat the system, leaving their customers as victims along the way.

We want you to be delighted with your deal, your car and your experience. We are here for the long term. We want brokers to work to the highest standards so that our customers recommend their friends and family to this method of buying a new car. We are on your side. We are your broker. And this information is provided free of charge to assist you in making the best decision.