AN investigation by FNN sister publication, Fleet News, has uncovered hundreds of V-registered cars for sale, just two weeks after the September new car sales figures were released amid allegations of false sales and pre-registration. The majority of the V-reg models have fewer than 10 recorded miles on the clock, and are available at major discounts on official list prices.

Significantly, the V-reg cars are available for most marques, although not across entire model ranges. This week the Motorpoint car supermarket in Derby was advertising 86 V-reg Renault Clios, six 'V' reg Espaces, 57 'V' Lagunas, and 91 'V' Meganes; three 'V' Peugeot 106, 28 'V' Peugeot 306s, and 21 'V' 406s; four 'V' Vauxhall Corsas, six 'V' Astras, one 'V' Frontera, and 13 'V' Vectras; six 'V' Ford Kas, 15 'V' Fiestas, 9 'V' Mondeos, and 21 'V' Pumas; and 20 'V'

Volkswagen Boras, and five 'V' Golfs. But it's not only mainstream manufacturers whose cars appear on the forecourt, with two 'V' Mercedes A-class for sale, one 'V' CLK and four 'V' SLKs. Not all the cars are current model year stock - many of the Peugeot 406s, for instance, are 1.9 turbodiesels which have now been replaced by 2.0 HDI common rail diesels.

But the prices of current cars are also substantially below official list prices, with a VW Bora 1.9 TDI SE offered for £13,999, compared to an official on-the-road price of £17,030; and Renault Laguna Alize 1.6 hatchbacks available for £10,999 compared to an official price of £14,925. A Motorpoint salesman said some of the cars were parallel imports from Europe, but that many had been sourced through UK dealers. He added that the firm was selling about 1,000 cars a month.