Car price increase?

Grumpy_chap

MCNAV said:

I received a reply and it was a jump around with words "As of the new year, every vehicle will find themselves with price increases", "you are not alone", with no answer to my actual question. I think you are right, I will just say I will be expecting my vehicle soon with the already agreed contract information.

Before responding to the Dealer, review the T's&C's that were attached to the order paperwork, or in e-mail, about what they say regarding price changes.  

motorguy

MCNAV said:

Jaybee_16 said:

When I've bought new cars, the paperwork has stated that liability for any price increase by the manufacturer would be met by the purchaser.
 

As far as I can see there is nothing of the such in my contract. If both me and the dealership have signed the contract with the price in it, then as mentioned above I would expect them to honour their side and provide the "goods".

Grumpy_chap said:

Wait for the next update back from the Dealer.

Then maybe consider a next route along the lines of "thanks for the update and I look forward to delivery in line with the agreed order price and date."

I received a reply and it was a jump around with words "As of the new year, every vehicle will find themselves with price increases", "you are not alone", with no answer to my actual question. I think you are right, I will just say I will be expecting my vehicle soon with the already agreed contract information.

I think they will point you to the appropriate clause in the paperwork.

I'd be stunned if theres nothing in there to cover them for that.

I'd similar back nigh on 15 years ago when BMW put the price up of the 5 series i'd ordered.  Even then the dealer had wording to cover themselves so this will not be new to any of them.

marlot

If the contract doesn't allow for price rises, the dealer could simply allow the deal to collapse - ie. refuse to supply the new car.

If this happens, the law says the dealer has to restore you to you pre-contract position.  ie. refund your deposit.

You can try playing hardball - I guess it depends on how desperate the dealer is for the sale.

MX5huggy

marlot said:

If the contract doesn't allow for price rises, the dealer could simply allow the deal to collapse - ie. refuse to supply the new car.

If this happens, the law says the dealer has to restore you to you pre-contract position.  ie. refund your deposit.

You can try playing hardball - I guess it depends on how desperate the dealer is for the sale.

No the law does not work like that. If a contract is not executed by one party then the other can bring court action so that they are put in the post contact position, else there would be no point to contracts. 

The dealer knows this hence their attempts to try to get the OP to agree to revised terms. (Ie forgoing the car or agreeing to the price increase). I would reply that you thank them for their kind offer but will be sticking to the original terms and please confirm when I can collect the car for the originally agreed consideration. 

https://www.butterworths-solicitors.co.uk/breach-of-contract-what-is-it-and-how-to-enforce/

What is a breach of contract?

A breach of contract occurs when one or more of the parties fails to perform their duties as stipulated within that contract. This can also be in the form of failing to abide by the ‘terms and conditions’ of a contract.

What are the damages for a breach of contract?

When assessing damages in cases of breach of contract, the intention is to place the injured party back to the position they would have been in, if the breach had not occurred. Alternatively one may seek an order of specific performance. An order of specific performance is when a party is ordered by the court to fulfil their duty as defined within the term or terms of the contract.

wild666

If there is no mention of any increase in price in the paperwork tell them you will sue for breach of contract if they don't honour the purchase price.

Ibrahim5

Write a letter back to say that you will paying 7.5% less because it's Black Friday. You and other customers always pay less around that time of year.

Grumpy_chap

Loving @Ibrahim5's comment.

This whole thing does make a mockery of car pricing.
You choose a car, say £25k list price.
You shop around and place the order at the best discount, say 10%, so £22.5k
Then the Dealer puts the price up by 7.5%, so you are back to paying £24k.  That negotiated discount no longer looks particularly great - possibly no better or worse than the discounts with the finance deals available on the manufacturer's website.

The agreed contract price is the agreed price and does not go up or down.

MCNAV

For anyone wondering how it ended up, after them being confused as well, as it was a new employee I was dealing with, eventually we found a clause under "Delivery" that says something along the lines of, if anything becomes more expensive, including delivery or manufacturing, the purchaser will have the right to reject the vehicle before 21 days, or if not rejected I would be expected to pay the increase.

Sadly, I need the vehicle for work and have already waited since May for the car, I decided to go ahead with a £30 higher PCP per month. Which sucks when you add it all up over 4 years.

Jenni_D

I would have been requesting them to meet me half way, or at least a third of the increase (making your extra burden 5%) ... it might not be their fault that their cost went up, but it certainly wasn't yours, and they'll have probably made decent profit from the vehicle sale plus the finance.

Grumpy_chap

MCNAV said:

For anyone wondering how it ended up, after them being confused as well, as it was a new employee I was dealing with, eventually we found a clause under "Delivery" that says something along the lines of, if anything becomes more expensive, including delivery or manufacturing, the purchaser will have the right to reject the vehicle before 21 days, or if not rejected I would be expected to pay the increase.

Sadly, I need the vehicle for work and have already waited since May for the car, I decided to go ahead with a £30 higher PCP per month. Which sucks when you add it all up over 4 years.

It is certainly worth reading that clause very carefully.

Ultimately, manufacturing is a cost that the manufacturer controls, as is the sales price.  They don't share full open-book details of these breakdowns.  You could ask

Even within the manufacturing costs, there are elements that are outwith the control of the manufacturer:
 - labour costs
 - energy costs
 - materials (steel) costs
 - exchange rates

With the first of those, the manufacturer should have costed in a reasonable allowance for future orders.

With the other three, the manufacturer will have hedged on the costs so the impact to your car cost is reduced.  Further, even if energy costs rise substantially, that is a big rise in a small part of the overall cost of manufacture and should not result in 7.5% overall cost uplift.

Outrageous behaviour by the manufacturer in my book and they should be named and shamed.