What are pre-registered ex-demo and nearly new cars?

Date Posted 28th February 2019
Read Time 4 min read

When buying or leasing a brand new car, you obviously pay a premium to be the first one who drives it on the road. While some drivers don’t want a used car, they would consider buying a pre-registered, ex-demo or a nearly new car in the knowledge that, whilst the car is not brand new, there are serious cost and value advantages to considering cars that still have that new car smell but not the new car price tag. Let’s have a look at what the terms actually mean:

Pre-registered cars

Pre-registered cars are new in all but name. These cars usually have been bought by a dealership and registered in the dealership’s name.

Dealerships sometimes do this to meet sale quotas or to get their sales volume bonus by meeting or exceeding sales targets from manufactures. They reason that the extra bonus or commission will offset any drop in price they would have when selling it to you. Pre-reg cars will have done very little, if any mileage at all – think dozens of miles rather than hundreds.

Pre-reg cars are an ideal choice for drivers looking to save on a car that is in stock at your dealership and that meets your specifications, so there’s no need to wait for delivery from the factory. Hippo Leasing sources many of its new cars from a network of dealerships, so if you don’t fancy waiting for the car to arrive from the factory, you can lease one of these pretty much brand new cars.

Ex-demo cars

Ex-demo cars are traditionally cars that have been used by dealerships to demonstrate the cars to potential buyers. These showroom cars generally spend a fair amount of time in-doors under cover (but not always) and they are often high or reasonable spec cars so the dealership can demonstrate what the car can do and also sell add-ons on the back of it.

The term ex-demo often has a wider use, however. For example, manufacturers often give new cars to their employees to drive for 6 or so months and then swap these out and sell them to dealerships. Why would they do this? For one, it’s a good perk for employees, for another they can test new models and get feedback and, more importantly, they use these cars to prop up re-sale values as they control the price that these vehicles go to the dealerships for.

Ex demo cars have generally between 2,000 and 5,000 miles on the clock, a mileage you’d struggle to find on the second-hand market. They often have minor scratches and you can see some wear if you look very closely but they generally represent great value and you can often still haggle the price down and benefit from a high spec car.

If you’re looking for a high spec model with significant savings and very little mileage on the clock, then an ex-demonstration car is the right choice for you. Even better at Hippo, you can save more on these cars through an ex-demo car lease.

Nearly new cars

The term ‘nearly new’ is often hard to pin down as to its exact meaning. Some retailers view it as cars with less than 20,000 miles on the clock or less than two years old whilst others apply a much stricter definition of say less than one year or 5,000 miles. Generally, you’d expect a nearly new car to be low mileage and one previous owner.

The truth is that the term nearly new is actually what it means to you. If you think that the term nearly new should be used when the car looks, smells and drives like a new car and it’s very difficult to tell that it’s not new (unless you are a car assessor or in the trade) then in some way it’s immaterial and if you are comfortable with this definition then these cars will also include ex-fleet and rental company cars that have been well looked after and cared for. The point here is when you see the term nearly new, you should apply your own definition and filter to judge if the car is indeed nearly new to you.

Hippo Leasing has a wide selection of brand new, ex-demo and nearly new cars available to lease. Browse our thousands of lease deals to find the perfect car that meets your needs. Simply call us on 01254 956 666 or email us at info@hippoleasing.co.uk for personal service and a great value deal.


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