[tommytwotanks]

have you noticed that cars look old quite quickly now, i spotted a nice looking car in a car park, as i walked up to it, i looked at the reg and it was a "56" which i thought was fairly new, then i thought no its 3 years old,
not that i can afford to buy a new car, but it must be quite annoying knowing that with-in 6 months or less, you will have last years model, and no longer a new car, and also do cars have three values depending on when they were new ie,

Jan 09 58 reg,
Apr 09 09 reg,
Sep 09 10 reg

its just making second hand values more confusing

tommy :D

[mills705]

I have a 58plate car and find that it isnt looking old quite yet.
I know someone that ordered a car on the provision he got the later reg, they registered it before the date and so he had a new car, but with the older date...! He refused the car initially. But the dealership knocked several grand off and he took it!

[smudger]

Well here in Scotland its 09 if the car is registered in January, and 59 if its registered in September.

My one is 58, and believe it or not, still looks OK, I think that is because I wash it regularly and clean the alloys with a bottle brush, as I think if the wheels look good, so does the car;)
Cheers, Smudger.

[tommytwotanks]

sorry smudger i got my facts wrong doh, you're right about 59 reg in September, what i was trying to say was that if you played your cards right in the olden days, you could reg a new car on jan 1 and it was 8 months before your car looked not new,
now if you reg on the 1 of Jan, by the 1 of April the new regd's come out, and 6 months after that another lot of new reg's hit the streets,
which i guess means the a 2008 car will have three value's depending on when it was first registered in that year

tommy :D

[MrDanno]

January? I thought the 0x ones were on the 1st day of March ?

[mills705]

yh its march/sept!
When were the A, B, C plates changed? Could this be what he is on about?

[tommytwotanks]

sorry march 01, this year a car reg'd on jan 01 would be an 58 reg, in march/april they changed again to 09 reg, and in september they will cange again to a 59 reg, so a 2009 car will have 3 value's when on the used car market, not taking mileage into account :D

[Snowball]

If you are looking at a car which you thought looked new, and then found it to be 3 years old, surely that means cars are ageing more slowly?

I bought my last car in Feb 2005 (54 plate), and my latest car (same model) on March 1st, 2009 (09 plate).

The cars look identical except for trim changes, and alloy wheels now standard.

The value variations depending on plate are only a starting point; haggling over the "free" extras can sometimes make the plate irrelevant.
I went to my dealership in Nov 2008, and said I was changing for a similar model, and they gave me a figure.

I then haggled with them over the extras and, because I was ordering a 5-seater instead of a 7-seater, a special order had to be raised with the car makers; taking planned delivery to late Jan. 2009.
Towards the end of Jan 2009, I found a buyer for my current car, but he could not collect it before the beginning of March. I said I didn't want two cars around my neck, so the salesman ageed to arrange the delivery for March 1st, and on an 09 plate.
After agreeing the order for the car in Nov 2008, the VAT rate dropped. On final payment for the new vehicle, I managed to get the VAT dropped to 15%, saving me another £330.
The agreement for trade-in had been set on the basis of either bringing in the old car, or the trade-in figure.
And that figure had been set based on the Nov 2008 value.

With the extras I achieved, plus the manufacturer's discount, plus the reduced VAT, I reckoned up a "gain" of around £4,500. That, added to the trade-in offer, came to more than the retail value of the car in Parker's Guide by around £2,000

[MrDanno]

I think really what we are discussing here is number snobs.

A member of my family got another family member to drive about 20+ miles a day to collect her children from school because her new car was not at the dealers yet. A swift phone call after a week of the other family member running around on her behalf found out that the car had been sitting at the dealers for a few weeks - Apparently Mrs NumberplateSnob had requested to wait until the first day of the month to get the latest number! It did not go down well. :D

To be honest, I'd rather have an 04 than a 54 if the 04 was in better condition and/or lower mileage.

[Snowball]

I understand what you mean by numberplate snobs, mrDanno.
In my case, getting the new number on the first day of the month developed out of coincidence. When originally ordering the car, it would have been a 58-plate in Jan. 2009.
But the planned trade-in changed to my nephew deciding to buy the car. He lives in France, and could not come over to collect it before the beginning of March (although he paid for it in Dec 2008). So the salesman at the dealership suggested March 1st delivery in order for me to avoid having two cars on on my property (space problem) for longer than necessary. Unless anyone is prepared to buy a new car every 6 months, being at the front with a new plate soon recedes into history.
I agree with you; the plate is a poor second to more important factors.

[Rolebama]

Number plate snobbery is alive and well in my area. Generally I own the oldest car in the street, and have seen the looks of disdain some of my neighbours have given my cars, even though they have always been kept clean and polished. Over the last few years though, things have changed, with a lot of their 'second' cars being replaced with older, smaller, cheaper-to-run cars. These cars though, are no longer parked outside their houses, but are parked either at the top of the road, or in the lock-ups area.

[MrDanno]

With one of my cars being 36years old, I probably do own the oldest car in the street but, It is probably one of the fastest cars in the street too with a power to weight ratio of 200bhp per ton :D

[Rolebama]

Back on topic: My current car is very 'nice and shiny', and I have so far had a couple of people pass comment about it being a new model as it is 'different'. They lose interest when I tell them.
**OK, MrDanno, you've piqued my curiousity. What have you got? Judging by the year (1973?) I think it is either a custom-build (maybe Caterham) or Japanese.**

[MrDanno]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

**OK, MrDanno, you've piqued my curiousity. What have you got? Judging by the year (1973?) I think it is either a custom-build (maybe Caterham) or Japanese.**

Davrian :D

[tommytwotanks]

"mrdanno" that's got me thinking that someone is a big fan of hawaii-five-0, as in "book him danno" :D

back to the topic, 1973 and 200 bhp per tonne, must be a dolomite sprint :D