VAT on 'used' cars in Germany

[GarageQueen]

I've been looking at the cars at Auto Singen Germany http://www.auto-salon-singen.de/en and found lots of examples listed with sales tax at 19% where their mileage is below 6K, like this one: http://www.auto-salon-singen.de/en/vehicle/detail/... Now if I export this car I won't pay this sales tax but will pay VAT when imported to the UK. But what is confusing me is the price with sales tax isn't really competitive on some cars and seems too high, so why is this happening? Surely if I sell my car with them on SOR it won't be subject to sales tax? We don't see this in the UK with very few cars listed with VAT shown.

cheers

Edited by GarageQueen on Thursday 23 November 15:27

[Magic919]

We don't, as a rule, have VAT on used cars in that sense. Most trade under the VAT Margin Scheme and don't attract VAT in the normal way (and no reclaim). There are a very few 'VAT Qualifying' cars sold here and they are the exception.

[TooMany2cvs]

GarageQueen said:

I've been looking at the cars at Auto Singen Germany http://www.auto-salon-singen.de/en and found lots of examples listed with sales tax at 19% where their mileage is below 6K, like this one: http://www.auto-salon-singen.de/en/vehicle/detail/...

We don't see this in the UK with very few cars listed with VAT shown.

No, we don't - but I'll bet that those you do are in the exact same situation. Bought from new by VAT-reg company, VAT reclaimed, so VAT payable on sale.

[jamiebae]

GarageQueen said:

I've been looking at the cars at Auto Singen Germany http://www.auto-salon-singen.de/en and found lots of examples listed with sales tax at 19% where their mileage is below 6K, like this one: http://www.auto-salon-singen.de/en/vehicle/detail/... Now if I export this car I won't pay this sales tax but will pay VAT when imported to the UK. But what is confusing me is the price with sales tax isn't really competitive on some cars and seems too high, so why is this happening? Surely if I sell my car with them on SOR it won't be subject to sales tax? We don't see this in the UK with very few cars listed with VAT shown.

cheers

Edited by GarageQueen on Thursday 23 November 15:27

A lot of cars from Germany which are VAT qualifying end up in Switzerland - they can be exported at the pre tax price and then Swiss VAT at 8% is paid instead (plus registration charges and taxes). Equally on stuff like a GT3 there are a lot of other markets outside the EU where they can export it tax free so I guess that's the market they're aiming at here.

[GarageQueen]

that makes sense cheers