Discounts gone 'mad'

Dealers are fearing another bout of forced registrations as 20-day figures revealed February down 11.27% on last year, at 57,301 units.

One industry insider believed preregistering was already rife, with cars available at “mad” discounts to fleets. The sector has taken 56.6% of the February market to date, as opposed to 53.1% on the year.

“They are artificially distorting the figures, giving the impression that the fleet sector is performing strongly,” he said. He claimed several manufacturers were using the UK as a “dumping ground” to off-load surplus volume caused by overproduction.

Fleets have been urged to take advantage of the widespread availability of cheap preregistered cars, rather than succumbing to cut-price deals from the continent. Experts warn that parallel import residual values would take a “battering” at auction.