Are Honda CR-V promotions a way of clearing old stock?

During the last few months Honda has been running a promotion on the CR-V. My dealer has a whole wedge of pre-reg 62 plate CR-V SE+ priced to go at £19,995, or chuck in the sat nav and T-spec for £20,995. Apparently, this knocks £5,999 off the list price.

Well there's no such thing as a free lunch. So what about the poor sods who paid top dollar 12 months ago or even six months ago? Honda UK seems to do this every time it introduces a new vehicle. They call it marketing, I call it desperation.

Asked on 10 October 2012 by JJ, via email

Answered by Honest John

Every manufacturer does this when they introduce a new model yet still have stocks of the old one. Motorpoint, too, has had £6000 off CR-Vs for months. About six weeks ago a reader wrote to tell me she had put £1000 down on one on a £3000 discount, then found she could get £6000 off elsewhere. She cut her losses, breached her contract, went elsewhere, and lost the £1000 deposit.

Tags: discounts buying a new car

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