[Martin2C]

Originally Posted by MrPogle

Me too. It's hard to imagine going into a showroom with 50 grand burning a hole in your pocket, sitting in cars whilst trying not to feel like a 14 year-old at The Motor Show, giggling like a idiot over the options list, stroking the leather samples like a fetishist and then calling the whole thing off at the thought of paying £310 in 12 months time.

I'm not sure about the stroking, but other than that you're right!

[silo24]

Originally Posted by MrPogle

Me too. It's hard to imagine going into a showroom with 50 grand burning a hole in your pocket, sitting in cars whilst trying not to feel like a 14 year-old at The Motor Show, giggling like a idiot over the options list, stroking the leather samples like a fetishist and then calling the whole thing off at the thought of paying £310 in 12 months time.

I think the number of people who buy in the manner you describe is much smaller than you think. 85% of cars are bought using some form of finance and the monthly recurring cost is critical.

Adding £25 per month from year 2 will deter some people, but the bigger impact will be the step resistance between £39,999 and, say, £46,000 or so. Hardly anyone is going to be buying cars in this price range (List Price of course) as the increase in monthly cost is going to be quite dramatic due to the effect on residuals for cars above £40,000. Imagine a 3yr PCP on a £41,000 car Vs a £39,000 car. In year 4 &5 you are adding a combined £610 to the running costs.

Will be interesting to see how the pricing policies change to reflect this.

[MrPogle]

Originally Posted by silo24

Will be interesting to see how the pricing policies change to reflect this.

It will. I remember back in 1987 something similar was introduced for company car drivers. The cost threshold was then £19250 and it basically made cars over that price disproportionately unattractive to company users.

The main manufacturers (Rover was one at the time) introduced special editions for £19249 which were loaded with toys to appeal to the user and under-powered to keep costs down and appeal to transport managers.

Let's hope we don't see a return to that sort of thing.

[morellomax]

If BMW are reading, please can they introduce a special edition 530i MSport with HK, rear camera and comfort seats for £39,999 and just squeeze the dealer margin ?

[Piers]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Do you really think many users buying/leasing models in the over £40k bracket will even blink at the extra costs? Particularly once we get used to the figures through the next year or so. Of course some are on a tight budget and will think twice. Perhaps one less option, if the costs are tight.

There are some users where the cost will not be so bad. Even my car with VED at £270 a year at present, (other than the first year) reduces the increase to £180 a year. What is that on a car over £60k? Yes, it looks bad in isolation, but in the total cost of running cars over £40k, is a small part of the costs. £180 on something like £6 - 8k per year (or more) total costs.

I totally agree with Pete, I think after the initial shock, people will just get used to it, why let a little extra VED spoil the car you want to buy, or options you wish to add on a car you will drive daily for say 3-5 years.

Nothing I can do about it, but my brand new 535d with 313hp is £145 per year, and my Supercharged Elise with 250hp, that is 11 years old, still costs me £295 per year, it is not necessarily fair, but it doesn't stop me owning it as it is such a small proportion of the overall cost of ownership.

Although the 535d tax does amuse me somewhat, the irony