Looking around my car park at work, all the new lease company cars have Scottish prefixes, SA, SG, etc.
Does that mean the cars were transported to Scotland (from Germany) to be prepared, registered and then transported all the way down south again for delivery?
Alternatively, are the cars preped more locally to the incoming port but registered in Scotland as that is where the lease company is based (Activa, part of Arnold Clark)?
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The second one. The registration is (usually) applied for at the nearest DVLA office to the place where the car's paperwork is done; Glasgow in your case.
I often deliver new lease cars from a compound near Coventry. They regularly come out with registrations from somewhere else. An Audi A4 a couple of weeks ago was a good example, the driver lived in Bristol but the leasing company was based in Leeds, so the numberplates began YG12 and had Leeds Audi on the bottom of them, as did the tax disc holder.
It's a silly system really, as it's clearly happening that a car can display a registration letter from an area different to where it lives, and indeed an area it may never even have been to. Can't be helping in the fight against crime, when a glance at a car's registration number gives no clue as to whether it's local or not.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 25 Apr 12 at 19:42
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Thanks for the info Dave. I reckon that will cut upto a week off delivery!!!!!
Car was ordered 16th April and I was advised mid June delivery. This week they are now saying end may/early June.
I'm hoping for a June 1 or earlier delivery as I have a holiday in France from 3rd June.
Fingers crossed.
Last edited by: a900ss on Wed 25 Apr 12 at 19:47
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>> I reckon that will cut up to a week off delivery!!!!!
These fleet prep centres can be massive, churning out dozens of cars every day. They have rows of 4-post lifts with cars on them being unwrapped, waxed, having locking wheelnuts fitted etc. It's done on an industrial scale and your next car's position in the system will have been determined before it's even been built.
Drivers like me will transport them the length of the country in one go, I've taken new cars to Cumbria, Tyneside, Somerset and Surrey from here in the Midlands. The paperwork is very tightly controlled, the date of first registration on the car will be the day the car's driver gets the keys in their hand even if I picked it up the night before. It's a bit strange loading a 12 plate car on the trailer with a date of first reg. of tomorrow...
One of the checks the delivery drivers have to do is make sure the front and back numberplates match! Someone's got to do it I suppose, but I haven't found a mismatch yet.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 25 Apr 12 at 19:54
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Well if you bring a Blue 520d Auto Touring to Wiltshire in the next few weeks, be sure to say hello.
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Brought a manual one of those down to Tidworth last month, so it's a reasonable possiblity!
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Wed 25 Apr 12 at 20:07
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" but I haven't found a mismatch yet."
I have Dave - a couple of times!! Don't forget to check that the tax-disc matches also!
Talking of odd deliveries, I took a nice new 5 series to N Ireland a few weeks ago - guy asked where I had come from and I said Leics and he said "I presume I can take it for service to the big BMW dealer just round the corner from me!!" and then there was the X3 delivered to Inverness from Leics and the.........
Keeps us in a job though!
P
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I remember picking up a new Megane for my partner and noticing that the registration plates on the car didn't match the number I'd been given to insure it. They'd made up the wrong plates for both front and rear - out by one letter!!
The distance some cars travel for delivery is huge though. We bought our old A3 through Drivethedeal in 2007. It was delivered on the back of a lorry (or probably a series of lorries handing over enroute?) from Dundee Audi all the way to the south coast, and registered with an 'ST' prefix. Google maps says that's a 530 mile trip!!
Likewise the A4 was bought through a broker and delivered from Cardiff, and has a 'CA' prefix. It was delivered on standard plates though, rather than the 'euro' plates I wanted - my fault, I forgot to specify. When I bought new 'euro' plates from Worthing Audi they rebranded the rest of the car for me - replacement tax disc holder and key rings :-)
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>> they rebranded the rest of the car for me - replacement tax disc holder and key rings :-)
When I worked at a Mercedes dealer in 1999, a pair of rum fellows arrived in a brand new blue Vito van on unbranded T-registration plates. They asked at the parts department if they could have some plates made up showing the dealer name, as well as a tax disc holder and rear window sticker for it.
I quietly pointed out to the parts guy that the van hadn't been PDI'd as it still had the polythene on the seats and the build sheet in the window. A quick check on the chassis number showed that it should have still been sitting at Hull docks, unregistered...
Plod were called, but the two gentlemen promptly left in the Vito never to be seen again :(
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>> The distance some cars travel for delivery is huge though. We bought our old A3
>> through Drivethedeal in 2007. It was delivered on the back of a lorry (or probably
>> a series of lorries handing over enroute?) from Dundee Audi all the way to the
>> south coast, and registered with an 'ST' prefix. Google maps says that's a 530 mile
>> trip!!
What a coincidence! My A3 came from drive the deal in 2007 from Dundee Audi- ST07 SN*
Came to Bristol on a transporter.
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>> It's a silly system really, as it's clearly happening that a car can display a
>> registration letter from an area different to where it lives, and indeed an area it
>> may never even have been to. Can't be helping in the fight against crime, when
>> a glance at a car's registration number gives no clue as to whether it's local
>> or not.
>>
Most European countries require the car to be re-registered upon change of ownership so that the plates are local to the owner (France, Switzerland, Spain, maybe more). Not sure why we have the system we have?
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Because it was beyond the wit of those in charge when they had a golden opportunity before the "51" change.
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>> Most European countries require the car to be re-registered upon change of ownership so that
>> the plates are local to the owner (France, Switzerland, Spain, maybe more). Not sure why
>> we have the system we have?
Don't think France does any longer. The old system with the Departement number is being phased out and replaced with a national setup using sequential alpha + number registrations.
Such a system was mooted in UK when the old prefix system was being replaced in 2001. Police advice was that the local identifier helped people remember reg numbers and a (wholly new) set of letters were created for that purpose. Many make sense Y=Yorkshire, S=Scotland for example. Others are confusing D=Deeside and Chester, A (Anglia) and E (East) have no rational distinction between one another. At the end they ran out of inspiration altogether and K for some reason is meant to remind people of Northants, Bucks and Beds!!
Lot of VW & Merc cars are K prefixed due the import concessionairres bring in Milton Keynes. In fact perhaps K for Keynes is the missing link!!!
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 26 Apr 12 at 15:35
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It seems to work in Scotland, SA in the South, with the second letter increasing to SY in the North.
The area identifiers are here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom#Local_memory_tags
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>> K for some reason is meant to remind people of Northants, Bucks and Beds!!
>>
Cars in south Bucks are either O (oxford office) or R (reading office)
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Mine is an OX prefix. First registered to a leasing co in.....
Stockport!
It was used in Oxfordshire from new, so presumably first registered at the nearest dealer to the lessee's address
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New Volvo comes tomorrow - from the reg I have deduced that its coming from Exeter. The C5 came down from Yorkshire
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>> Mine is an OX prefix. First registered to a leasing co in.....
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Stockport!
>>
>> It was used in Oxfordshire from new, so presumably first registered at the nearest dealer
>> to the lessee's address
>>
Is that Lex? The new Volvo is coming from Volvo Leasing, but the paperwork refers to Lex so I guess its just a trading name and Lex administer it. Car is coming from Exeter, so nowhere near stockport
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HSBC according to the 6 year old paperwork I found in the manual folder.
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Well I found out today that my car IS going to the dealer in Scotland to be prepared before being brought down to Gloucestershire for me.
I found that out as I was chasing up when delivery will be and the lease company advised that the car has been delayed by a week and that their dealer is only taking delivery of my car next week. They they went on to say that I should get it three WEEKS later. I couldn't believe it could take so long and she explained that it needs to be transported from Glasgow to their Worcestershire depot and then to my Head Office. That takes two to three weeks.
I said that I'd collect it from Glasow and save myself three weeks. They are going to look into it but I am not confident even though it would save them a few quid in transport fees.
I hope I can as this is he only way I'll get my car in time for my French holiday.
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3 weeks sounds an awful long time - when my A3 came from Dundee to Bristol I got the car about a week after it landed at the dealership
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Seems redicilous to me as well and if that's what happens I won't have the car for my French holiday and I'll have to take the smokey old diesel Legacy. Not what I want.
A train trip to Glasgow is much more appealing if possible.
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"transported from Glasgow to their Worcestershire depot and then to my Head Office. That takes two to three weeks"
Ridiculous.
On Tues/Wed, on a transporter limited to 54 mph, I went from Leics to Solihull to deliver a car. Picked up a Lambo in Chorley, then delivered a MB to Blackpool. Drove up to Abington services and stayed the night. Next morning was delivering Lambo to Edinburgh at 8am. Drove down to Grange over Sands to pick up another car, then to Birkenhead Docks to pick up another and then back to Leics. Those 2 cars delivered Thurs morning.
If you wanted your car quickly (on transporter) I could do it well within 48 hours from Midlands, up to Glasgow and back. (Probably within 24 hours if I timed things right). If you didn't mind it driven (and therefore arriving with you with a few hundred miles on clock) it could be done within 24 hours easily. We have drivers going up to Scotland every day who would welcome a car back - in fact I know of 2 going up to Fort William on Monday who would love a car back so you could have it Tuesday! No doubt DaveTDCi would say the same and there are probably dozens of transporter companies who could get your car to you within 24 hours.
Phil
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PS. The car from Grange over Sands (to Cambridge) was only telephoned through to my company on Weds morning at 9am. I picked it up at about 12 and it was in Cambridge at 8 am Thurs.
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>> Well I found out today that my car IS going to the dealer in Scotland
>> to be prepared before being brought down to Gloucestershire for me.
>>
>> I found that out as I was chasing up when delivery will be and the
>> lease company advised that the car has been delayed by a week and that their
>> dealer is only taking delivery of my car next week. They they went on to
>> say that I should get it three WEEKS later. I couldn't believe it could take
>> so long and she explained that it needs to be transported from Glasgow to their
>> Worcestershire depot and then to my Head Office. That takes two to three weeks.
>>
>> I said that I'd collect it from Glasow and save myself three weeks. They are
>> going to look into it but I am not confident even though it would save
>> them a few quid in transport fees.
>>
>> I hope I can as this is he only way I'll get my car in
>> time for my French holiday.
>>
Fairplay to the lease company. They have pulled a few strings and arranged for me to collect the car next week so that I have the car for my French holiday.
Last edited by: a900ss on Mon 21 May 12 at 15:35
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I'm guessing (but only guessing) that they're registered by/through the selling dealer. At one time dealers were allocated blocks of registration numbers, and if they were co-operative you were allowed to choose from those remaining from their current block.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 19 May 12 at 07:51
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The dealer is registering the car. I don't know the last 3 letters but do know that it will start SH12 which is a bit too close to a word I don't really want on my car....
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Be fun if the last 3 are HOT...
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Agreed but knowing my luck more likely to be BMW , CAR, TER, TY*, etc.
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CAN or BOX would be a shame too...
:-)
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My mate has just texted and is hoping I get HED or RAG.
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So I'm not going up be a SH12 after all. Weird because a BMW delivered last week was a SH12 and a car registered at the same time as mine (but doing a 3 week journey down from Scotland on a very slow transporter) is also a SH12. Same cars, same garage but I'm a SB.
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>> I don't know the last 3 letters but do know that it will start SH12 .........
Glasgow. Mine's TOW I E.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 19 May 12 at 14:19
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Not delaying registration until June to massage a sales target are they?
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My lease cars always bore the registration office location of the supplying dealerships: Portsmouth for Audi, London for BMW. Leaseplan (and PHH before them) have a small number of supplying dealers throughout the country. When I lived up-north my (horrid) Vectra came from Leeds.
Interestingly, both times that SWMBO applied to move her cherished (sic) plate the replacement registration was from Swansea, coincidentally (or otherwise) the location of the DVLA. In the second case the supplying dealer who bought the car back from us before we went abroad expressed surprise at this as the car had been registered in Surrey.
Makes a mockery of the regional system for any purpose other than generating additional reg variations I'd suggest ?
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New Volvo came from Exeter, but the lease co was Lex in Stockport. I assumed that they chose this dealership as its only 80 miles away, but the delivery guy was telling me that they supply all over the country including Scotland, so I guess it must be down to allocation or something
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Are new cars registered where they are prepared? - Dave_
