Why do Lotus in the UK over charge us??????????

[piooly]

Just saw an add for Lotus in the USA. You can buy a new Exige S for less than £29,700 !!!!! The fact the car is made in england and they have to ship it across the world and its still cheaper is a joke !

Even the extras are cheaper:

Touring pack - £670

Metallic paint - £297

Track Pack - £1238

[Chris49]

I know its out rageous isn't it.

Oh by the way, is yours back up and running now?

[toxic frog]

from a business point of view, surely any company will want to charge as much as they can get away for their product... in the UK, this equates to a certain figure for the Lotus and in the states (where domestic cars like the vette etc. are cheap as chips), this figure might be slightly less... no point in pricing it out of the market.

[RobM77]

How much of this is tax? I don't know much about the American equivalent of VAT.

[21TonyK]

And don;t forget the dollar is very weak at the moment. I am a fairly regular visitor to CA and am constantly amazed at how cheap cars are. Especially the performance end of the market. You can pick up a new McClaren SLR Roadster for £250K

[RobM77]

21TonyK said:

And don;t forget the dollar is very weak at the moment. I am a fairly regular visitor to CA and am constantly amazed at how cheap cars are. Especially the performance end of the market. You can pick up a new McClaren SLR Roadster for £250K

Is it cheap enough to do what people do in Holland plus container transport costs? i.e. order a right hand drive version and get it shipped over? Or does the fact that Holland is in the EU make the purchase cheaper from a tax point of view? There must be a break even point where this works, how about a new Porsche? Porsche UK want nearly £70k for a new 911 Carrera S.

[21TonyK]

RobM77 said:

21TonyK said:

And don;t forget the dollar is very weak at the moment. I am a fairly regular visitor to CA and am constantly amazed at how cheap cars are. Especially the performance end of the market. You can pick up a new McClaren SLR Roadster for £250K

Is it cheap enough to do what people do in Holland plus container transport costs? i.e. order a right hand drive version and get it shipped over? Or does the fact that Holland is in the EU make the purchase cheaper from a tax point of view? There must be a break even point where this works, how about a new Porsche? Porsche UK want nearly £70k for a new 911 Carrera S.

New '07 C2S "with options" is available for $95K from a dealer in Newport Beach CA.

[bogie]

you can ship a car from the US for about £600

so if a Porker is about £50K + 17.5% + shipping I dont think theres that much to be saved ?

[Beachbum]

bogie said:

you can ship a car from the US for about £600

so if a Porker is about £50K + 17.5% + shipping I dont think theres that much to be saved ?

Overall import taxes equate to 33% of original cost of the car. The taxes are also incurred on the shipping fees. i.e. Total cost of buying the car, plus any other incurred costs for getting here, then the 33% on top of all of that

[Mattt]

RobM77 said:

How much of this is tax? I don't know much about the American equivalent of VAT.

I would guess the price quoted above is exclusive of Sales Tax, which is added on 'at checkout' and varies from county to county, but just under 10% is about right.

[drac]

Guys you dont have it bad. They are much more expensive in NZ.

At current exchange rates my 111R cost over 38,000GBP and its gone up here since i bought mine 2 1/2 years ago.

Even with A/C, touring, ST paint and twin oil coolers etc it would have been under 32,000 in the UK.

I wish i had the choice of cars you guys have in the UK.

[Frik]

They're cheaper in the states because the dollar is weak as hell.

I'd be less concerned about their prices here and more concerned about how they're making any money at all out of selling them to yanks.

[cej]

drac said:

Guys you dont have it bad. They are much more expensive in NZ.

At current exchange rates my 111R cost over 38,000GBP and its gone up here since i bought mine 2 1/2 years ago.

Even with A/C, touring, ST paint and twin oil coolers etc it would have been under 32,000 in the UK.

I wish i had the choice of cars you guys have in the UK.

Don't get me started on prices of cars here , if said car costs 32k GBP in the UK it would end up costing 100k GBP here. We have the world's highest tax on cars
My 98 S1 cost me 25k GBP in total (and the car only cost 9k in the UK) ..

[Mattt]

cej said:

drac said:

Guys you dont have it bad. They are much more expensive in NZ.

At current exchange rates my 111R cost over 38,000GBP and its gone up here since i bought mine 2 1/2 years ago.

Even with A/C, touring, ST paint and twin oil coolers etc it would have been under 32,000 in the UK.

I wish i had the choice of cars you guys have in the UK.

Don't get me started on prices of cars here , if said car costs 32k GBP in the UK it would end up costing 100k GBP here. We have the world's highest tax on cars
My 98 S1 cost me 25k GBP in total (and the car only cost 9k in the UK) ..

How does Denmark compare to Malaysia? I was once told about booze prices over there

[MitchT]

I don't think importing is the bargain it used to be. I looked into acquiring a new RHD BMW from abroad, but once I'd paid the import costs, taxes and fee for upgrading the warranty to the one that UK cars have, it would have worked out about £3k more than my local BMW main dealer would charge me for the same car! Don't know if it's the same for Lotus, but I can see how you are perplexed that you can buy a Lotus cheaper from a country thousands of miles away than you can buy one from the factory a few miles down the road!!

[jondude]

The sales tax is between 4 -6% in the US but this is not the main reason they are cheaper.

Triumph bikes are the same, way, way cheaper in the US than here. Triumph at least were honest and explained it was all about getting the best price in the market you sell in.

The Yanks will just go elsewhere if the prices is silly - British bikers and many car drivers are enthusiasts and enthusiasts are dead easy to rip off.

We are also far more snobby and envious than the Yanks, no matter how we try to portray it as the opposite. Even Lotus drivers - if the price of the Lotus fell so that every Tom, Dick and Harry was buying one and, ye Gods forbid, Chris Chav your idle neighbour, we would go mad.

Lotus know this ( as do BMW, Mercedes etc ) and price accordingly.

Bottom line is we are willing to pay, why wouldn't they hike prices???

[gorrieman]

IIRC, you only pay that 33% if you import a 'new' car. As far as I am aware, if the car is purchased locally and stays over there for 3months or so, there is either no tax or it's less... or something.

Trying to remember as there was someone I know who imported a Mustang and they left it a few months before it came over and I'm sure it was to save money on tax.

If you think Lotus's are cheap in USA, you should check out the home-grown cars. Mustangs are silly cheap, annd I just priced up a 260bhp Pontiac Solstice today with all the toys, adjustable Bilsteins, LSD.... £15K... That kind of explains why Lotus can't get away with charging UK prices over there I guess.

Andy.

Edited by gorrieman on Tuesday 25th September 15:14

[Beachbum]

gorrieman said:

IIRC, you only pay that 33% if you import a 'new' car. As far as I am aware, if the car is purchased locally and stays over there for 3months or so, there is either no tax or it's less... or something.

Trying to remember as there was someone I know who imported a Mustang and they left it a few months before it came over and I'm sure it was to save money on tax.

If you think Lotus's are cheap in USA, you should check out the home-grown cars. Mustangs are silly cheap, annd I just priced up a 260bhp Pontiac Solstice today with all the toys, adjustable Bilsteins, LSD.... £15K... That kind of explains why Lotus can't get away with charging UK prices over there I guess.

Andy.

Edited by gorrieman on Tuesday 25th September 15:14

I think its 6months of ownership and then the Tax rate drops as a result, think you still pay the VAT and the import duty is dreastically lowered, or its the other way round and you pay no VAT.
If you buy the car and then import it straight away, its 33%, no more, no less. There is no getting round it. Well there is one way and that is to import it into an EU country that has lowwe overall import costs, then drive it here, when you then do not have to pay any import costs as its already been paid to an EU country. Very long winded and not sure that the savings are that great either

[Frimley111R]

Ultimately business is business and you, as a business, charge as much as you can because your goal is to maximise profits. Understandable but very frustrating when the same product varies so considerably.

Must mention this too, my Lotus dealer wanted £402 for an annual service on my 111R which meant an oil change and new brake fulid plus some minor buggering about. At Lakeside engineering, a Lotus specialist, they did the service AND fitted new Mintex front pads for £300! How dealers have the front to charge those prices is, and always will be, beyond me!

[S Works]

Frimley111R said:

Ultimately business is business and you, as a business, charge as much as you can because your goal is to maximise profits. Understandable but very frustrating when the same product varies so considerably.

Must mention this too, my Lotus dealer wanted £402 for an annual service on my 111R which meant an oil change and new brake fulid plus some minor buggering about. At Lakeside engineering, a Lotus specialist, they did the service AND fitted new Mintex front pads for £300! How dealers have the front to charge those prices is, and always will be, beyond me!

Ding-a-flipping-ling.