How Old Is Your Car?

[sad old git]

I recently bought a used car first registered 2010 as new. Having checked the cars VIN number it appeares to have been manufactured in 2004!.Does this mean that it has been stuck in a warehouse or worse in a field for six years prior to some unsuspecting customer thinking he is getting a product in pristine condition when it has six years inbuilt deterioration already? Tyres, drive belts,are supposed to be changed at a recommended time as decided by the manufacturers but does this time include the number of " Dead Years"? All comments greatly appreciated.....Cheers.

[kjn2]

Six years, surely there would have been a few new models since then?

[jeffa]

About 18 months old. Can't imagine ever buying a used car.

[NoMercy]

2005. It may not be new but at least it's all bought and paid for.

[Svejk]

I don't know but I doubt car makers are allowed to sell 6 year old cars as new. Wouldn't seem to make any business sense either, to have 'stock on the shelf' for 6 years.
It sounds to me as if you've been had, I'm afraid. I'd be worried you have a stolen or ringed car of some sort. Hope I'm wrong and more knowledgeable people will come along with a better explanation.

[treetops68]

I agree with Svejk, if that were me alarm bells would be ringing. I would suggest some further enquiries to try and establish it's history.

[Maydup]

I can only guess your fears are correct. It could have been in a compound as part of slow selling stock which was eventually registered and sold at a later date. But 6years sounds unusual. Are you quite sure about your VN date?

https://www.carproof.com/resources/tools/free-vin-decoder

[chas2008]

out of interest what vehicle is it ??,
warranty start date is usually from the day the vehicle is registered to be sold..
i have known vehicles sitting around for up to 2 years, but 6 ?, sure its not an import ?

[TWR]

Just tried my Car's ID " No joy???

[kvalidir]

I remember my Dad having an Austin Maestro come into one of his car lots with plates on it about 5 years after they stopped building them an he said then that they often sit for years before they are registered which is why it's pointless buying a new car- because not many of them actually are only a few months old. I'm not sure how common it is though as I think he only noticed it because of it's late registration plate because he knew when they stopped making them.

[TWR]

I often travelled the M11 not sure of the name place, but along side the Motorway there was a field full to the brim with Beemers ( BMW) Baldric, you might have of them!

[SeaJayPea]

I wonder if it was actually built in 2004 for export to Ireland or somewhere then imported to the UK and registered in 2010? A main dealer should be able to tell you where it went after it left the factory.

[Graham-W]

I was in Ashdod, Israel late last year and there is acre upon acre of cars in storage on the docks. I tried to estimate how many and gave up when I reached 50,000, all of Japanese manufacture.
I suppose it's possible for the odd one to miss being sent to the retailer and hanging about for a while, but, as others have said, 6 years does sound a little excessive.

[sad old git]

Thank you all for your prompt replies. I am still trying to find more info but so far have not had much success. The car in question is a Renault Clio Extreme registered in this country in May 2010 as new and sold to a person as new who after a couple of years traded it in to a used car dealer from whom I bought it. I have to admit the car is in excellent condition and I can't find any signs of idle deterioration anywhere but it still makes me think that " new" could be a very ambiguous word. Thank you all once again for your help.

[SpikeyBush]

A 2004 Clio is a completely different shape to a 2010 Clio, the model changed in around 2005 or 2006. The earlier model had the windscreen wipers on the wrong way round for RHD and was very ugly, whereas the later model was just ugly. Both suffered from terrible build quality.

[sad old git]

Spikeybush. Many thanks for your answer.Will have to dig deeper into the confidence tricks of car sales of "new" cars. Thanks again for your help...

[Purple_Popple]

Hi, I've just put my car's VIN number in and although it says on the V5 doc that it was first registered in 2000 - it's saying year of manufacture is 2002 ?