[mister.t]

Well, its gotta be the first one for sale...

Autotrader - MINI COOPER 1600 cc D 3dr [Chili Pack]

What a very nice spec it is too

[R99]

Yeh it is a nice spec. I was told that all the demonstrators that the dealers recieved for launch were of identical spec.

It certainly looks identical, spec wise, to the one I drove at my local dealer the other week (Bateman MINI)

It will make a good buy, considering there seems to be a considerable wait for the Cooper D at the moment. I was told by the salesman after I test drove it that even if I wanted one he couldnt get one earlier than late Sept / early Oct due to their waiting lists...

James.

[Scrogg]

I notice it doesn't mention that cars registered to dealerships have to be kept for 3 months after registration before they can be sold.

Anyone fancy buying a demonstrator now and taking delivery in July, when a new one would be quicker?

[R99]

Oh dear, that is quite an omission to make in such an advert!

Just out of interest, is there any reason why they have to keep them for three months?

I quess then in 3months or so we shall start seeing some VERY highly specc'd demo Cooper D's arriving on the dealer forecourts. My local dealer now has two Cooper S demos, and they both have a monster spec.

James.

[Scrogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by R99 (original)

Just out of interest, is there any reason why they have to keep them for three months?

There was a rule imposed a few years ago to try and stop the car manufacturers (Renault being the main culprits) from offering their dealers thousands of pounds per car to pre-register loads of cars to artificially boost their sales figures.

Now, if a dealer registers a car to itself and sells it within 3 months they can be fined to the value of any bonus they were paid by the manufacturer for registering it, which is why you don't see as many "brand new delivery mileage" cars at franchised dealerships as you used to.

The manufacturers found a way round this new rule though, as all they do now is sell the cars they want to register to car supermarkets, at the same massively discounted price. By registering them to the supermarket, rather than the dealers, they have found a loop-hole.

[R99]

Interesting stuff. But like you say manufactures who cant shift their cars as quickly as brands such as BMW and MINI were bound to find a loophole.

[Scrogg]

BMW dealers actually pre-register a lot more cars than you might think, as their targets are huge now, but it's still almost unheard of for MINI.