<< ... it's important to use the model year - not the year it was built and not the year first registered - in your example 2024 - also use that when selling as that should get a better price! >>

Sadly that is unlikely to work without possible accusations of sharp practice. A car's registration fairly clearly shows the half-year the car hit the road !

I recently bought a car which was first registered in January 2024 but it was manufactured in Sep 2023. Basically came of the production in Sep. When I checked DVLA, it is also showing year of manufacture as 2024. Is this normal for cars purchased in January? Any problems if HPI checks are run down the line.

All manufacturers use a "model year" - it can vary but usually starts/ends with the summer shutdown so a 2024 model year is often September 2023 to August 2024.

I suspect that DVLA's "year of manufacture" simply uses the model year so quite normal for a car built in September 2023 to be quoted as year of manufacture 2024.

When buying spares for the car it's important to use the model year - not the year it was built and not the year first registered - in your example 2024 - also use that when selling as that should get a better price!

Surely DVLA only become aware of the car when the supplying dealer or manufacturer first registers it? I shouldn’t imagine they have an interest in when it was manufactured.

That's correct - but DVLA is also interested in recording the Type Approval reference and the Euro emissions status, both of which are tied to model year and manufacturing date.

I once viewed a '6 month old' car at a local car supermarket due to the keen price.

I'd done my homework on specs and as soon as I saw it knew it wasn't the latest model. It was actually 18 months old, but had only been registered 6 months previously.

This really should read 'year of assembly.' Unlike a cup or a coat, the various components of a car can be made at different times in different places. There are usually date stamps on the inside of plastic items and the wheels.

Both the Skoda and the Citroen have those.

Given the 'just in time' nature of modern manufacturing logistics it's likely to give a good indication.

As someone whose car was built in one year, registered in another here's my take.

In June 2020 at the end of lockdown we bought a new Mini Cooper S which was registered on a private plate from new.

In June 2021, a service warning light appears, car wants an oil change. Given it had only done 2900 miles, it was a WTF moment. Investigations showed the car was manufactured in June 2019, and this was shown on a sticker in the engine compartment, Further enquiries showed the car was very high spec (£7ks worth of extras) but then the order cancelled and it sat in a dealer compound until we bought it through another Mini dealer via CarWow.

Mini told me that as regards the fluids, the clock starts ticking from the day the car rolls off the production line even if it sits in a dealer compound as ours did. Unfair I felt, but the situation has now normalised. and as via CarWow we saved £3600 on what my local dealer wanted for the same car, not really complaining. Local dealer was stupid enough to give me the configuration code so I could pass it to the CarWow dealer and play one against the other and get a much better deal.

As for DVLA, a check shows June 2020 as date of first registration and 2020 as year of manufacture, which obviously is not correct, but nothing can be done. It's a minor niggle on what has been a brilliant car.