Motorpoint has imported 100 pre-registered Volkswagen Golfs in a bid to allow its customers beat the incoming VED road tax changes.
The top ID50 used car supermarket group, which is set to open its twelfth site in Sheffield next month, is offering the 1.2 TSI S 5dr version of the popular family hatchback for £11,999, a saving of £6,226 off UK list price as a result of the transaction which sees the vehicles arrive with Motorpoint unregistered and sporting only a delivery mileage.
A spokesman for Motorpoint told AM that the aim was to save "savvy customers" up to £110 a year in Vehicle Excise Duty, adding that pre-registering cars imported from overseas was something the business would do “when the opportunity presents itself”.
He said: “I cannot divulge who we bought the cars from, but these are UK-spec, UK registered cars. We do not deal directly with manufacturers and that is certainly not the case here.”
The Government’s recently-announced changes to VED come into force from April 1.
Cars previously classified as low emission will be liable for a £100 charge in their first year, costing car buyers more than £400 million in 2017 alone, according to NFDA Trusted Dealers.
To avoid this happening Motorpoint has pre-registered its entire stock of new delivery-mileage Golf’s to ensure anyone buying one of its models only pays £30 a year – instead of the standard £140 a year.
Mark Carpenter, managing director of Motorpoint, said: “As the Car Buyers Champion Motorpoint has decided to pre-register its stock of delivery mileage VW Golf’s to save its customers the additional costs associated with the planned changes to Vehicle Excise Duty next month.
“This equates to a saving of £110 a year for the time that the customers owns that particular vehicle.”
Volkswagen UK declined to comment.
9000up - 17/03/2017 14:30
If these vehicles are un-registered as Motorpoint say, why are VW allowing it to happen. The supplying dealer/s are acting against their Dealer Agreement conditions, so come on VW find the culprits and stop them supporting these large used car outlets.