A question about the gap between build date and register date.

[abcdefg]

Hi everyone, I just have a question. I bought a brand new car last Summer. I recently found that my car was actually manufactured in January 2020 by checking vin code. It is nearly six months before I bought it. Is it common? At that time, when I ordered it, my dealer told me that the car has just left the factory and it is in transit. Does it make sense?

 

[Blobcat]

There’s usually date stamps on all the bits of plastic in the car, take one out and have a look. A few months before build is not uncommon.
what is the “first registered“ date on the V5?

Did you order it or bought one from stock? The dealer or wider dealer network could have ordered it in as part of the stock they have to agree to take.

 

[00slk]

Lots of cars don't get registered straight away and can sit about for a long time. It's been going on for years so nothing new

 

[abcdefg]

There’s usually date stamps on all the bits of plastic in the car, take one out and have a look. A few months before build is not uncommon.
what is the “first registered“ date on the V5?

Did you order it or bought one from stock? The dealer or wider dealer network could have ordered it in as part of the stock they have to agree to take.

I bought a stock one because dealer told me there was a stock one . I am the first keeper and I bought it in July 2020, the car was born in January 2020, I checked the VIN code. I just wonder whether it is a usual situation.

 

[grahamwoodward]

My W211 E-class has the build date on the VIN plate inside the driver's door - Jul/2003. I don't know if this is still the case with newer cars?

 

[Blobcat]

I bought a stock one because dealer told me there was a stock one . I am the first keeper and I bought it in July 2020, the car was born in January 2020, I checked the VIN code. I just wonder whether it is a usual situation.

Then as per above, it’s a car a dealer bought in as part of their stock requirements. It will have been sat in a few showrooms. No issue with it not being registered

 

[Monday]

Hi everyone, I just have a question. I bought a brand new car last Summer. I recently found that my car was actually manufactured in January 2020 by checking vin code. It is nearly six months before I bought it. Is it common? At that time, when I ordered it, my dealer told me that the car has just left the factory and it is in transit. Does it make sense?

Very common at the moment as cars imported just before lockdown have been sitting around. The dealer will normally give you the build sheet if you ask and that will give you date of build/ date left factory/ date of arrival in UK etc. I have just bought a new car which has been sitting somewhere near Immingham Docks since last April (2020). Nothing wrong provided no-one pretends it’s factory fresh and the price is adjusted accordingly! Sounds like your dealer was being a bit economical with the verite though?

 

[LostKiwi]

If you have a custom order the build date and registration date will be close together.
If you buy from stock it could be over a year apart.
For example Smart Roadsters were made up until 2005 but the last UK spec registered one was 2008.

 

[Srdl]

I bought a stock one because dealer told me there was a stock one . I am the first keeper and I bought it in July 2020, the car was born in January 2020, I checked the VIN code. I just wonder whether it is a usual situation.

Probably a bit longer than usual but don’t forget what happened between January and July last year!

 

[abcdefg]

My W211 E-class has the build date on the VIN plate inside the driver's door - Jul/2003. I don't know if this is still the case with newer cars?

New Mercedes don’t have build date. I have experienced three Mercedes cars, Stamp near driver’s door only shows the VIN code and several information but not build date.

 

[Mr Greedy]

It's not unheard of to find quite long gaps in the dates around the 2009 financial crisis time (at least, that was my guess when I was looking at E classes of that vintage). I could imagine there was a lot of belt tightening back then in the new car market.

 

[abcdefg]

Very common at the moment as cars imported just before lockdown have been sitting around. The dealer will normally give you the build sheet if you ask and that will give you date of build/ date left factory/ date of arrival in UK etc. I have just bought a new car which has been sitting somewhere near Immingham Docks since last April (2020). Nothing wrong provided no-one pretends it’s factory fresh and the price is adjusted accordingly! Sounds like your dealer was being a bit economical with the verite though?

Yes, I didn’t ask so they didn’t give me build sheet. My handover process was also very simple, because of the pandemic, even didn’t have instruction step, I only received a YouTube video link to learn the car.

 

[MBDevotee]

January 2020 to July 2020? Absolutely normal.

Some cars can be a year old by the time they get registered!

I have sold 1 car that was 3 years old but was "brand new" as in it hadn't been registered. The customer knew in that case - we had one left in stock and they had a big discount. It's not a problem - the warranty starts on the date of registration not when it was built.

It would only be an issue if the car had changed at some point, and you didn't know it had changed, and bought one with a lower or out of date spec without being told.

In some cases it's better - I had a car that was "re-priced" (so the price dropped by £500) - but the new spec had £2000 less kit on it!! Customers actually asked if we had the previous model as it was better specified than the new one.

 

[Chrishazle]

Been going on for years/decades - my 968 cab had a build completion date of August 1992 but first registration date of July 1993, all Porsche UK offered in explanation was that there was a recession in UK at that time and cars were not selling! Gave me a problem changing the fuel lines as Porsche changed the design for MY93< whereas despite being 93 registered my car was MY92 - and a few parts were NLA so it cost me a lot to convert her to MY93 parts!

 

[Monday]

Interested to see on the PDI record that “cars in stock >6 months: Replace brake fluid” and “cars in stock >12 months: Replace AdBlue where applicable”.

 

[JBell]

Was probably stored at Avonmouth Docks for 6 months

 

[rf065]

New Mercedes don’t have build date. I have experienced three Mercedes cars, Stamp near driver’s door only shows the VIN code and several information but not build date.

Yes they do.

 

[Monday]

Was probably stored at Avonmouth Docks for 6 months

No, Immingham!

 

[Monday]

Yes they do.

It's not on the car, it’s on a print out called the ‘build sheet’. Dealers are sometimes reluctant to produce them ( for the very reason we are discussing) but they are the most reliable source of info on the car.

 

[00slk]

All car have to have a build date in the Vin number, most are coded, otherwise how do we order new parts for the car.