Electric Vehicle Grant Reduction

2Skylark

I placed an order, paid a £500 deposit  for a brand new electric VW e-UP up on March 9th 2021 and paid the outstanding balance, in full, yesterday morning March 23rd. I received a call from the dealer in the afternoon, saying l had to pay an extra £500 as the government had reduced the grant from £3000 to £2500 on March 18th. Should the dealer honour our agreement? l am due to collect the car on Friday. Many thanks for advice.

MattMattMattUK

2Skylark said:

I placed an order, paid a £500 deposit  for a brand new electric VW e-UP up on March 9th 2021 and paid the outstanding balance, in full, yesterday morning March 23rd. I received a call from the dealer in the afternoon, saying l had to pay an extra £500 as the government had reduced the grant from £3000 to £2500 on March 18th. Should the dealer honour our agreement? l am due to collect the car on Friday. Many thanks for advice.

It depends what your agreement is, what does the contract you sign say about the grant, payment etc.

2Skylark

Hi MattMattMatt
The grant is noted as " OLEV Grant ' £3000  on the order form and shows my deposit, extras etc. I signed this at the dealership and then signed a new form after l added wheel and tyre insurance. There was no change to grant on that form either.

MattMattMattUK

2Skylark said:

Hi MattMattMatt
The grant is noted as " OLEV Grant ' £3000  on the order form and shows my deposit, extras etc. I signed this at the dealership and then signed a new form after l added wheel and tyre insurance. There was no change to grant on that form either.

Do the Terms and Conditions mention anything about the grant though? What I suspect is that you have agreed a purchase price for the vehicle, payment which will partially be made by you, partially by the grant, however if the grant is reduced or withdrawn you would still be liable for the whole amount as you agreed a purchase price, payment of that is secondary. The exact detail however will likely be buried in the many pages of the terms and conditions. 

2Skylark

Just looked through all the correspondence and there no T&C regarding the grant. Any T&C attached are about car financing agreements but l am a cash buyer and there are no others T&C attached to the emails and l was not given a hard copy at the dealership.  I am guessing the grant is repaid to the dealer by HM gov. I just checked on Autotrader and the reduction in the grant was completely unexpected. Thanks for your help