Priced "plus VAT"

[Claudia Skies]

Well it all looked so promising with the Ariel Nomad with hints of pricing sub-£30,000

But what do we get? "From £27,500 plus VAT". So that's "From £33,000" which looks like a lot of cash for the engine/transmission of a Honda Civic tangled up in some steel tubes.

Are there any other car companies out there daft enough to pull this "plus VAT" trick?

[Durzel]

To be fair they're obliged to show the VAT-inclusive price, and not all of their customers will necessarily be retail...

[vtecyo]

Don't buy one then.

I would if I could.

[Butter Face]

It's not a trick really is it?

I imagine they'll sell a lot of them to agricultural users to whom the VAT is an irrelevance really so a +VAT price is justified.

[soad]

Claudia Skies said:

Are there any other car companies out there daft enough to pull this "plus VAT" trick?

Yes, Ginetta: http://www.ginetta.com/grdc

There will be others too.

[Claudia Skies]

Durzel said:

To be fair they're obliged to show the VAT-inclusive price.

Exactly, so that's what IMO should be on the headline level.

[Claudia Skies]

Butter Face said:

I imagine they'll sell a lot of them to agricultural users to whom the VAT is an irrelevance really so a +VAT price is justified.

Farmers buy a lot more Land/Range Rovers. Perhaps you can illustrate your point by showing us some "plus VAT" LR advertisements?

[marshalla]

Claudia Skies said:

Farmers buy a lot more Land/Range Rovers. Perhaps you can illustrate your point by showing us some "plus VAT" LR advertisements?

Like these ? http://www.winston-pincombe.co.uk/manufacturer/lan...

[Butter Face]

Claudia Skies said:

Butter Face said:

I imagine they'll sell a lot of them to agricultural users to whom the VAT is an irrelevance really so a +VAT price is justified.

Farmers buy a lot more Land/Range Rovers. Perhaps you can illustrate your point by showing us some "plus VAT" LR advertisements?

Why? They may buy them, but they likely can't claim back all of the VAT like they could a commercial/pure off road vehicle. Different vehicles for different purposes.

The same reason that vans are sold +VAT and cars aren't.

[McSam]

Claudia Skies said:

Butter Face said:

I imagine they'll sell a lot of them to agricultural users to whom the VAT is an irrelevance really so a +VAT price is justified.

Farmers buy a lot more Land/Range Rovers. Perhaps you can illustrate your point by showing us some "plus VAT" LR advertisements?

That's besides the point, the question for the company is what percentage of their buyers will be paying VAT. I would expect that percentage to be very high for Land Rover, with a huge majority of retail customers, and much lower for Ariel with such a specialist product.

Ginetta probably sell most of their cars to race teams rather than individuals, hence their pricing plus VAT.

[NRS]

Claudia Skies said:

Well it all looked so promising with the Ariel Nomad with hints of pricing sub-£30,000

But what do we get? "From £27,500 plus VAT". So that's "From £33,000" which looks like a lot of cash for the engine/transmission of a Honda Civic tangled up in some steel tubes.

Are there any other car companies out there daft enough to pull this "plus VAT" trick?

I would imagine they have quite a lot of customers abroad, where the tax will vary. So yes, it does make sense. For the larger car companies they will have separate websites for those countries, so will make the price relevant for that one. For Atom they won't, so it's the easiest way for most customers to check quickly.

[Marcellus]

Might it be that very few will be sold to "joe public" as the majority will be sold to some form of business?

[Troubleatmill]

Marcellus said:

Might it be that very few will be sold to "joe public" as the majority will be sold to some form of business?

^ This.
Most of them will likely be sold to track day companies.

[GetCarter]

All my stuff is sold 'plus VAT' as those who are VAT registered will get the VAT back. The rest get stuffed, unfortunately. Nout' I can do about that.

I need to show how much I charge, not how much I charge and the Gov add on.

Speak to HM Gov. Not me.