Dealer listed as Car Owner for 3 Years - Rental?

Atlantis50

Hi guys,

I've just got a Motorcheck car history report on a car that I'm interested in and it says that a "Dealer" owned the car for just over three years from new.

I'm assuming this means it was a rental or lease car but are there any other reasonable explanations?

Renegade Mechanic

Atlantis50 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've just got a Motorcheck car history report on a car that I'm interested in and it says that a "Dealer" owned the car for just over three years from new.

I'm assuming this means it was a rental or lease car but are there any other reasonable explanations?

What's the mileage? If it's low, they may have bought and registered it but never managed to sell. If high, then perhaps a loan/rental.

Atlantis50

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

What's the mileage? If it's low, they may have bought and registered it but never managed to sell. If high, then perhaps a loan/rental.

It's just under 40k miles on an 08 car.

I've also just noticed it had no tax for it's first (almost) two years which would match your suggestion of it not selling.

It was then taxed in 3 month intervals until a second owner bought it.

bazz26

What make/model is it?

That car is too old to be a rental at this stage as is the mileage.

Renegade Mechanic

bazz26 wrote: »

What make/model is it?

That car is too old to be a rental at this stage as is the mileage.

Yeah, I'd be expecting it to be an expensive to tax vehicle. Or one that was registered before the emissions based tax came into effect.

Atlantis50

It's a 1.6 Nissan Note Automatic which I understand would be a fairly popular choice for rental companies.

It was registered in April 2008 so is about €500 tax

bazz26

I cannot see how the larger rental companies would have a 7 year old car on their books unless it was something exotic. They tend to buy/lease their fleet from new as they get a VRT or some other tax rebate on them. Very unlikely they would buy 4 year old examples and rent them out for 3 years.

What did the dealer say? Is he running a small rental business on the side maybe?

Renegade Mechanic

Atlantis50 wrote: »

It's a 1.6 Nissan Note Automatic which I understand would be a fairly popular choice for rental companies.

It was registered in April 2008 so is about €500 tax

A 1.6 petrol auto with that tax would be a surprisingly difficult sale alright. A 2.0 petrol manual would nearly the same on fuel efficiency.
I'd imagine they just couldn't shift it and decided to confine it to loan car duty. Generally, what happens there if you're lucky, is that someone who has an old car in for something is so impressed by the car they're given, that they buy it. It can be a good deal because you have a very young car with low mileage and a very low comparative price tag. As it stands now, it's just a 7 year car with pretty low mileage. In the interests of checking for signs of clocking, you should find the odometer readings on its NCT sheets if the owner has them.

Victor

Atlantis50 wrote: »

It's just under 40k miles on an 08 car.

Not 140,000?

Atlantis50

bazz26 wrote: »

I cannot see how the larger rental companies would have a 7 year old car on their books unless it was something exotic. They tend to buy/lease their fleet from new as they get a VRT or some other tax rebate on them. Very unlikely they would buy 4 year old examples and rent them out for 3 years.

What did the dealer say? Is he running a small rental business on the side maybe?

It was owned by a dealer for the first 3 years since it was registered.

It was then transferred to a private owner.

I don't know who the original dealer was but it is not the current dealer.

Atlantis50

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

A 1.6 petrol auto with that tax would be a surprisingly difficult sale alright. A 2.0 petrol manual would nearly the same on fuel efficiency.
I'd imagine they just couldn't shift it and decided to confine it to loan car duty. Generally, what happens there if you're lucky, is that someone who has an old car in for something is so impressed by the car they're given, that they buy it. It can be a good deal because you have a very young car with low mileage and a very low comparative price tag. As it stands now, it's just a 7 year car with pretty low mileage. In the interests of checking for signs of clocking, you should find the odometer readings on its NCT sheets if the owner has them.

Will do thanks.

Atlantis50

Victor wrote: »

Not 140,000?

Hopefully not!