See all Motoring AdviceOf course you should, is the short answer. Pre-registering, the process by which a car maker, importer or dealer registers cars to themselves in order to inflate their overall sales figures, is perhaps less prevalent now than it was a couple of years ago. Back during the depths of the recession, it was suggested that as many as a third of new car registrations at certain times of the year were pre-registered and plonked on dealer forecourts as ‘nearly new.’ Anything to keep the sales numbers buoyant.
The upside to all of that is that you can bag yourself a bargain new car. Pre-reg cars are essentially brand new, usually come with barely any more than delivery mileage and can often be discounted by as much as €5,000, depending on the car in question. In many ways, it’s a no-brainer, but you do still need to follow a few careful rules to make sure you’re getting the right car.
1. Inspect the specification
It’s a temptation for a dealer, in particular, to pre-register a totally basic model, as that’s going to be the least expensive one for them to register and pay the VRT and VAT on, so check any ‘nearly-new’ car carefully to make sure that it has the sort of equipment that you want. It’s probably OK to compromise on a couple of items to save some money, but you need to weigh that decision up carefully, as don’t forget, you’re going to be living with this car for a good while.
2. Check it like it’s a used car
Don’t assume that a ‘dealer demo’ or ‘nearly-new’ car has simply been sitting in the corner of the forecourt gathering dust. Anything with a reg plate on it is liable to be used by the dealer in question either as a test car for potential customers or as an office dogsbody for running errands. So make sure you go through the car with a fine-tooth comb looking for any potential damage or defects.
3. Get your timing right
Pre-registering takes place in three waves – towards the end of the month, towards the end of the quarter and towards the end of the year. Those are the times when the greatest amount of cars are going to be pre-registered, so if you get your timing just right, you’ll be able to snap up a proper bargain. To get the most amount of choice, go shopping on the first day after the end of the month or the quarter (especially March in Ireland, when the all-important first quarter registrations are totted up). If it’s more of a bargain you want, you need to box a little cleverer. Leave it until about a month after the end of the first quarter and then pounce – it’s a higher-risk strategy in terms of there being available cars, but you might catch a dealer who’s sick of the sight of a specific car and they might be willing to do a sharper deal to get shot of it.
4. Don’t be talked round
Incidentally, we’re talking here about someone being determined to get themselves a bargain by buying a pre-reg car. Don’t, if your intention was to buy new or second hand, allow yourself to be talked into buying a pre-reg that you just don’t want. It can be very easy to get tempted into a car that you actually didn't require nor need, simply because of the apparent bargain on offer.
5. Watch the depreciation
Depreciation is a fickle thing, especially in Ireland with our highly-visible vehicle ages stamped on our number plates. It is true that a car registered on the 30th of June with a 161 plate will be worth fractionally less than one registered the day after with a 162 plate, but the difference should be pretty tiny as long as you’re keeping the car for more than just a few months. Overall though, pre-registering can drive down second hand values of all cars, as if there’s a glut of one particular model or make, it can push prices down even for those who didn’t buy pre-reg versions. Just remember that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and that by getting the discount for buying a pre-reg car, you’re deeper into the depreciation curve already, if for no other reason than that technically you’re now the second owner.
6. Make sure that the dealership is up front
If a car is advertised as ‘nearly-new’ or ‘dealer demo’ just be brazen and ask if the car was a pre-reg. If the dealer admits it, then (a) you’re onto a potentially better bargain as you know for a fact that the quicker the dealer offloads the car the better it is for him and (b) you’ll know that they’re honest. If they harrumph and spin tales, then you know that they’re not.
7. Make sure the warranty is solid
Of course, a pre-reg car should have no issues with its warranty, as it’s effectively still a new car and three years is generally the minimum warranty anyone offers. Make sure you check before driving away that all the terms and conditions have been satisfied though. With some car companies’ warranties, it’s the car that’s covered regardless of who’s name is on the registration document. With others, the warranty is initially activated against the owner’s name, so make sure, in that case, that the warranty transfers to you.