500 New car purchased!!

[Amoscmum]

Hi there Fiat people!! I have just purchased my first Fiat. I have been coveting the gorgeous 500 ever since our first holiday to Italy some years ago. I am now due to be the proud owner if a 500C!! Managed to buy a pre reg for a good deal - amazed to find it with the spec that I wanted. Red with ivory roof 1.2 lounge. So, I know I should have asked here first, but are there any disadvantages to buying a pre reg car (aside from the spec issue) ? Thanks for answering ?

 

[The Twins]

Welcome!
The only disadvantage (apart from not bring able to spec it yourself) I can think of when buying pre reg is a slightly reduced warranty period left - depending on how long it's been reg'd.
Mine was 8 months old but only 4 miles in the clock. Saved £2700 though.

 

[jrkitching]

...are there any disadvantages to buying a pre reg car (aside from the spec issue)?

They can often be excellent value but you need to be a little more vigilant before committing yourself.

The main things to consider:

1. Trade in value - the car may already have some age & will have an additional owner recorded in the logbook, so it will be worth less at trade in time.

2. Insurance - most insurance companies will replace new cars for old if written off in the first year; prereg and second owner cars are normally specifically excluded from this scheme. You can buy GAP insurance to cover this if it concerns you.

3. Warranty - you will have the balance of the manufacturers warranty rather than the full term. You need to make sure any conditions for transferring the warranty to the second owner have been complied with.

4. Minor blemishes/faults - technically you are buying a used car, and may not have the same rights if you find a minor dent or similar when you go to collect it. Make very certain you get all the keys when you pick up the car.

5. Accident history - new cars damaged in transit or at the dealership (it does happen) are often repaired, registered & sold as prereg cars. You need to be particularly vigilant in checking carefully for signs of repaired accident damage before signing any contract - again you will not have the same right of rejection as if you'd discovered this had happened on a new car.

Try to find out why the car has been pre registered. If the dealer has a batch of, say, 20 identical cars prereg'd to make a quarter's quota, I'd have fewer misgivings than if it were a one-off with a bunch of uncommon options.

As a rule of thumb, a prereg car should be at least £500 cheaper (£1000 if more than a month old or after a number plate change point) than the best available first owner deal to be worth considering.

I've bought one in the past (but not from Fiat). Saved just over £2000 & ran it for 10 years, so there was effectively no difference in value when I finally got rid of it & I got the full benefit of the £2k saving.

 

[Murano16v]

And don't forget the MOT and servicing schedule. It all starts from the day of registration. My old Panda 100hp was registered in July 2007, but not used until bought by me in November of that year. So you gain and lose.
The car may also have had a few more not so good dealer washes and picked up quite a few swirls along the way.