Car buyers willing to shop around Europe for bargains and then export their cars home can still make colossal savings, the six-monthly survey of pre-tax car prices from the European Commission shows. But it also records a significant convergence in prices.
The survey, whose purpose is to highlight wide discrepancies in producers' prices and create a genuine single market in cars, finds the UK is still by far the most expensive place to buy a car. In the cases of 57 of the 76 best-selling models examined, the pre-tax price in the UK exceeds all others, in many cases by as much as a third and in two by 45 per cent.
And the Commission reports continued complaints from British consumers who try to buy abroad. Yesterday it reminded producers that under EU competition law they must make right-hand drive cars available to retailers who want to sell them.
The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Sweden come out as the best places to buy. Irish pre-tax prices were the cheapest for four of the 63 models for which an Irish price was available - for the Audi A3, the Fiat Marea, the Opel Corsa, and the Rover MGF - and dearest also in four - the Mercedes C180, the Suzuki Swift, the Toyota Starlet, and the Volvo S80.
More than half of the Irish models (37) had a price differential of less than 10 per cent on the cheapest country, making the hassle of shopping around scarcely worthwhile.
But in some 24 cases the differential ranged between 10 and 25 per cent, and in two, the Mazda Demio and the Suzuki Swift, it was over 25 per cent.
It is also worth noting that manufacturers may vary significantly the value they offer between models in different sectors of the market - while the Irish VW Passat is only 1 per cent above the cheapest in Europe, the VW Polo in Ireland costs 16 per cent more than it does in Sweden.
The variation in pre-tax prices across the EU is largely a function of the different rates of taxation in the member-states and different living standards. Manufacturers have charged differentially because each market will bear a different price.
The Commission notes that more manufacturers are now keeping their differential prices down within a 20 per cent band, with dramatic improvements even within the last year (partly attributable to a decline in the value of sterling). Thus, for example, the gap between the cheapest and dearest Peugeot 106 has fallen from 36 per cent to 14 per cent. In all but two models, the gap has closed.
The survey admits, however, that some of the improvement results from a policy by manufacturers of increasing prices in cheaper countries - scarcely a benefit to consumers. And there are fears that the Commission's decision to include Denmark, Finland and Greece in the next survey for the first time will also lead to price increases there.
The survey is based on the recommended retail prices supplied by the manufacturers to the Commission which notes that actual prices may be different as retailers are free to set their own prices.
