Misled on car tax by dealer

tldkid

I signed up to buy an ex-demo car at a dealer and he wrote that the car tax was £140. When I turned up to collect it, he told me he made a mistake and it should have been £450 because of the original car price. I coughed up saying it was just the first year and he didn't disagree. I now found that it is £450 for 5 years. Can I return the car or ask him to compensate me?

Cetshwayo

You do of course have that in writing?

forgotmyname

Misled? You said he made a mistake on the figure.

He probably wont have checked any further than this years tax cost.

AdrianC

He made a mistake on whether the original list was <£40k or over. That's a very easy one to make, for many cars around the break point, depending on the precise spec. He put his hand up to that before you agreed to go ahead with the sale.



The £310 premium applies for the five years. That's not up to him to agree or disagree - and it doesn't vary by car - it's quite simply the way the tax has worked for everything first registered since last April.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-vehicle-tax-rates-from-1-april-2017

foxy-stoat

Would you not of bought the car if the VED was going to cost you an extra £26 a month for the first 5 years?

FlameCloud

Doesn't the supplement only apply to year 2 onwards as well?

AdrianC

FlameCloud wrote: »

Doesn't the supplement only apply to year 2 onwards as well?

Tax payment when first registered is CO2-based (+ £310 if £40k+).
But since the keeper's changing, it's immediately onto "subsequent tax payment" - £140 (+ £310) until 60mo from first reg. Then it's just £140.

forgotmyname

It had to happem with all the emissions dropping and dropping whether genuine or a pack of lies

Nice to know my tax is less than a slightly newer small hatchback.

Systems gone mad.

Herzlos

Will the tax make any material difference to the car - would you have chosen something else because of it?
If yes, then can you prove he told you the tax was only the first year?

if yes, then *maybe* you've got a case.


But realistically, you'd be able to confirm how the tax works (it's been effect for a year and a half, and was all over the news for a while), and your only real chance at rejecting it would have been before you paid for the car.


We're talking at most a £1550 difference on a £40k+ car (assuming the worst case, that's it's not even a month old and you keep it until it's at least 5 years old).



I can understand the frustration if it was a car under £40k new but with some optional extras that pushed it over, or you paid a lot less for it.


Never trust a (car) salesman (or woman) unless you can verify it elsewhere or they've put it in writing.

AdrianC

forgotmyname wrote: »

It had to happem with all the emissions dropping and dropping whether genuine or a pack of lies

Nice to know my tax is less than a slightly newer small hatchback.

Systems gone mad.

Yes, it did go mad. The average new car in 2016 was £30/yr VED.

The last time VED was £30 was 1974...


The problem was that the CO2 focus led to other emissions going up - notably NOx. Same things going in, same things going out. You can change the combinations they come out in, though...

forgotmyname

My 2L diesel estate is only £30. That was a bonus and i didnt ask how much the tax was when buying.

But i noticed a while back that something like a KA will go from £20 or £30? tax to £120 odd. Just because its built after a certain date.

Same car i week older = £100 less to tax. But thats just a small part in the actual running costs for most people.