The first thing that amazes you is the fact that you are actually asked to pay for the paint! Or less you want it in plain black or white, and who in their right mind would settle for that these days, there's a few hundred pounds more to play! "Fair enough" you mutter, it's still within budget, even though only just. You start to fill the order form in; and then the salesman asks you what sort of alloy wheels you want. Naively, you say you are not particular bothered as long as they are alloy, at which stage you are informed that these are a hugely expensive optional extra, although you can have pressed steel wheels with cheap hubcaps at the list price! Becoming a little bit desperate, you say that you would like to have exactly the same specification as the car which is starting the dealers showroom, at which stage you discover that the price that you were quoted was for a rock bottom standard vehicle with no so-called extras whatsoever, and that the price you will be expected to pay for what you consider to be a fairly minimum standard car is many, many thousands of pounds more than the first price you have been quoted. You have been being caught by a sales stunt which is almost as old as motoring itself - the optional extra.

There is a way out of going through all this which would not only save you a lot of headaches but also a great deal of money as well; by a pre-registered car. This is a vehicle which a dealer will have bought as a demonstration model and it will already have all the necessary bells and whistles fitted; but the joy is that since it has already been purchased it is no longer a new car and so it will have to be sold at a second hand price. Sometimes the difference between a brand new car and a preregistered one with just a feud thousand miles on the clock can be extremely substantial which is hardly surprising when you realise that VAT is payable on the full price of a new car, but only used vehicle it is only payable on the difference between the price that the dealer pays for it and then it receives for it when it is sold. This alone can make a difference of many thousands of pounds, even allowing for any loss of profit that the dealer is prepared to accept in order to shift a vehicle which is not now new.

Bearing this in mind, it could at first be difficult to understand why any private purchaser would buy a brand new vehicle but three points have to be borne in mind; the first is that one day the vehicle is likely to be sold and instead of being sold as a one owner vehicle it would in fact have had two previous owners, the present one plus the car dealer. In addition, the vehicle has probably been driven by a number of drivers whilst it has been used for demonstration purposes and it is difficult if not impossible to say how well it has been treated. The third reason however is probably the most important of all; it is a matter of ego. Many people want to possess a car for the very first time, and be able to brighten their friends and neighbours that they had bought it from new! Let us accept the fact that these no doubt comforting thoughts are all very satisfying, but they come at a huge price when buying a preregistered car can save such a huge sum of money.

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