Car lease price increase - after delivery?

mcpenguin

Hi all

I've taken delivery this week of an electric car on a lease agreement. Just had a phone call that as the car was allocated to me prior to the change in list price (which brought it under the new cap for government grant) they can't in fact claim the grant so would need to revert to higher pricing. I had signed a previous lease agreement prior to the change in list price, however now that the vehicle price is significantly lower, am not happy to pay over the odds. 

Real question is, can they increase the price now, after I have signed contract AND taken delivery of the vehicle? Can they force me to hand it back if I don't agree to the new terms? Seems very dodgy ground to me?

Thanks

AdrianC

It's a change brought about by an external factor which has removed the government grant which you were relying on to part-pay the up-front portion of the deal.

Nothing's changed about the deal itself - except for who pays part of it.

If you pay the same amount as the grant would have been, up-front, then the monthlies will remain the same. Or you can effectively reduce the up-front by the amount of the grant, and pay more in monthlies.

mcpenguin

Thanks for your reply.

In this case the difference in price caused by removal of the grant would be around £5,500 which is 50% of the entire contract sum over 3 years so there's absolutely no way that would happen and is not what the lease company is suggesting either. 

To my mind, once the contract has been signed and delivery has been taken, this is not an external factor which is affecting the current cost of the vehicle (like say a change in road tax). They should have cancelled the previous order and re-ordered the vehicle based on the new list price to take advantage of the grant, and it would have only been in that situation that they could offer the contract price which I subsequently signed up to. This is a !!!!!!-up brought about by their internal process, not by a change in external factors at any point between me agreeing to the contract and today. 

Grumpy_chap

I understood that eligibility for Government grants were based upon the list price of the vehicle the day before the vehicle first registration.  At least that is how I understand the tax works for BIK (P11D value) so I assume it is similar in this case.

When did you take delivery and when did the list price change?

Where do you get the grant being £5.5k?  I thought it was capped at £2.5k?
https://www.gov.uk/plug-in-car-van-grants
(Looks like a higher grant for some vans.)

[Deleted User]

delete 123

mcpenguin

said:

I understood that eligibility for Government grants were based upon the list price of the vehicle the day before the vehicle first registration.  At least that is how I understand the tax works for BIK (P11D value) so I assume it is similar in this case.

When did you take delivery and when did the list price change?

Where do you get the grant being £5.5k?  I thought it was capped at £2.5k?

(Looks like a higher grant for some vans.)

I received the contract after the list price change, and took delivery this week. Sorry the £5.5k is the difference between current list price including the grant and previous list price which doesn’t now attract the grant. Grants itself is £2.5k yes

Tell them they can take it back. Then it's their problem that they have an over-priced car they can't shift. That might encourage them to offer you a deal.

This is effectively what I have said, although have also suggested they should be honouring the contract as I don’t want to lose the car. 

Thanks both

Herzlos

Just to clarify, the deal was done with the old (higher) list price, which wasn't eligible for the grant? And the car price changed later to a lower price which was eligible and now £5.5k cheaper? If so, wasn't the price you negotiated initially factoring in the higher price with no grant?

Or has the grant threshold changed down at the same time and the old price car is no longer eligible for the grant?

Keep_pedalling

Having looked at leasing an EV recently I have notice the pricing change considerable week by week, but the monthly payments are usually set at the price you signed for. Most of the leasing companies also seem to provide pre registered cars as well so if the price list changes between signing up and getting the car it is not going to effect your leasing costs.

If this was a factory order then things might be a little different, but you now seem to be complaining after you have taken delivery of a car at a cost you previously were happy with so I think you are stuck with it for the next few years.

it is just as dammed annoying if you have just payed outright for something like an VW ID3 family spec, which is now several thousand pounds cheaper than it was 3 weeks ago. Luckily I ordered mine 2 weeks ago.

sheramber

As I understand it

Grant was available for cars under £50,000 but changed in March to cars under £35,000

So the car was eligible for under £50000 but is now not eligible as it is over £35,000

e.g car cost £36,000 so eligible before change but not now eligible

New cars now priced £34,500 so eligible  for grant.

mcpenguin

Herzlos said:

Just to clarify, the deal was done with the old (higher) list price, which wasn't eligible for the grant? And the car price changed later to a lower price which was eligible and now £5.5k cheaper? If so, wasn't the price you negotiated initially factoring in the higher price with no grant?

Or has the grant threshold changed down at the same time and the old price car is no longer eligible for the grant?

I initially confirmed a deal which was based on old price with no grant, correct, although no contract was signed yet. Subsequent to this, the list price was reduced to bring it under the new grant cap. I advised the lease company (phone and email) that I wanted to cancel, pending a revised quote based on the new pricing. They subsequently provided this competitive quote so I confirmed to proceed on this basis.

Keep_pedalling said:

Having looked at leasing an EV recently I have notice the pricing change considerable week by week, but the monthly payments are usually set at the price you signed for. Most of the leasing companies also seem to provide pre registered cars as well so if the price list changes between signing up and getting the car it is not going to effect your leasing costs.

If this was a factory order then things might be a little different, but you now seem to be complaining after you have taken delivery of a car at a cost you previously were happy with so I think you are stuck with it for the next few years.

it is just as dammed annoying if you have just payed outright for something like an VW ID3 family spec, which is now several thousand pounds cheaper than it was 3 weeks ago. Luckily I ordered mine 2 weeks ago.

I understand what you’re saying, however I’m not just complaining about a change that has annoyed me - the contract that I signed up to was on the lower pricing, and I made it clear that I didn’t wish to proceed with the previous agreeement. Had it been communicated that the car wouldn’t now be grant eligible prior to delivery I would have just cancelled the whole thing - and possibly even just reordered with the same company straight away. 

[Deleted User]

delete 123