Dealer selling privately

[the_engineer]

Hello all,

I wanted to run the following by the collective to check my understanding:

I've basically found a car I'd like to buy with the right spec and trim. Now, it had been advertised on Autotrader on what wasn't clear whether it was a private sale or a dealer. A few days later the Autotrader ad dissapeared.
The Autotrader ad mentioned a dealers website so I did a quick google and found the same car advertised on the website, albeit £7k higher.

I enquired about it's availability and also the difference in price and heres the bit I'm not too comfortable with:

- the respondee from the dealer said the MD of the dealership had bought it but kept it in the trade whilst he used it for a period of about 3 months.
- he said he would sell it as a dealer as the higher price, or
- knock the £7k off as per the Autotrader ad but sell it as a private sale.

Am I right to think the latter is a bit odd and contrary to proper practice?

He says he has a full v5 but my understanding would be that it would be in the name of the person he bought it from still?

As I said, I'm very keen on the car and spec and of course would like to save £7k, but just thought the above didn't quite feel right.

Any advice or input would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!