When Is A New Car A New Car?

Sunday, 6. September 2009

a few people have been asking about new cars and when a new car is a new car. I have explained this in detail in my book, An Insider Guide To Car Finance, which can be bought and downloaded online. But to summarise, the car must not have been registered to anyone else before you receive it, not even to the dealer and it must not have an ‘unreasonable’ mileage on the clock, expressed in one court case to be no more than 500 although I find this excessive. The strange rule is that if the car has been damaged and repaired prior to delivery and the repair is of a high standard the car can still be sold by the dealer as new. And yet if the dealer pre-registers the car without even starting it, the car must be considered to be used as it has a registered owner and number plates have been fitted, even though the car may still be showing the same mileage as an unregistered car. All very bizarre but that’s English law for you. By Graham Hill