New, pre reg & stock vehicles. What’s the difference?

You may have seen the words “new”, “pre-reg” and “stock” mentioned by car dealerships, which may cause some confusion when knowing which type of new car you should purchase.

We’ve broken down each term to make it clear and concise so you can make an educated decision when choosing your next car. Continue reading to understand the different “new” vehicles you are able to buy!

New

A new car is otherwise known as a factory order car, which is built on your exact personal specification choices. Buying a brand new vehicle means you can tailor it to suit you, including picking the engine, gearbox, colour, trim level, and any optional extras that you would like.

Your order is then sent to the manufacturer to begin build in the factory. The build process can take anywhere between 4 weeks all the way up to a few months, and if your car is a popular model it would be more the latter.

The benefit of ordering a factory car means that it is entirely bespoke to you, so you can build your perfect car. The vehicle will always be the latest version of the car which will have all the up to date technology and updates to it, and you can ensure to cater it to your every need.

You can also order a brand new car while you still have a current agreement on another vehicle, so your new car can be built while you are waiting for your agreement to be over. This will also give you something to look forward to during the last few months of your current agreement!

Stock

If you are after a new car in a hurry, your dealer may suggest that you opt for a car from stock to speed the process up. A “stock” vehicle does not necessarily mean that the car is physically at the dealership, it may even still be at a port waiting to be shipped over, but it is still a brand new car that has already been made, but has never been driven.

These cars are usually held at the dealership or in central stock, such as a holding compound or at the shipping docks. If the dealership does not have the car that you are after, they can check for you if a dealership nearby has the car which can then be transferred. Dealerships are also able to track latest shipments that are held at the docks or at central distribution depots.

The downside to a stock vehicle is that you cannot choose the specifications and you will not be able to modify anything, so the spec may not be exactly what you are after, but it is highly likely that the car can be delivered and registered for you within a week as opposed to months for a brand new model.

Pre reg

Have you eve heard of a friend boasting about a great deal they got when purchasing a pre-registered car? Perhaps you’ve seen advertisements for discounted pre-reg models?

Pre-registered cars are initially bought and owned by the car dealership, so the dealers’ details will appear on the vehicles logbook (or V5) as the registered owner. This means that when a customer purchases the car, they will count as the second owner, essentially making this a “used car”, even if it only has a handful of miles on the clock.

Pre-reg cars are usually used for test drives and will become the dealerships demonstrator, to show off the model and give customers a chance to see in person what is available. This means that these vehicles will be packed with the higher range specification of the model to ensure the vehicle is more desirable to the customer.

The vehicles used for demonstrators at a dealership are likely to come with lots of equipment and even more of a discount than a regular pre-reg model. This is due to the fact that while most pre-reg cars should be on just delivery mileage, ex-demonstrators will have seen more use, thus making the mileage higher on the clock.

Pre-registered cars are ones that have already had a number plate allocated to them and have been road taxed ready for use. All pre-reg vehicles are road-legal and ready to drive away as soon as possible, yet have rarely done much more than their delivery mileage.

The choice is yours to be made, and now you have all the information you need to ensure your decision is well informed when purchasing your next car.