Prices in UK

Your example struggles partly because of VAT status on used cars so no-one will pay fully ex-vat - another aspect is the UK (& Europe generally) does not associate kudos with both minimal mileage AND the amount of premium paid as a result - this ultimately yields benefits when you are looking for 25 year rule cars to import !

 

Maybe you should start an export / import business.

But source them from Europe, or you may find your passenger doing the driving.

Seriously, I haven't a clue. I never realised there was such a differential. I guess there will be a bigger one if DJT introduces tariffs on US imports from the EU.

 

I don't understand why you take VAT out and even if you do deduct VAT you're deducting far too much. VAT is not on the full price of a used car anyway. But the difference ebbs and flows between countries and it is down to the usual things: supply and demand, the state of the economy and the exchange rate.

 

VAT for dealers is generally on the difference between the buying in price and the selling price. I'm not sure how it works when the dealer does not own the car.

As stated, the difference is down to the relative strength of the US economy, the relative strength of the dollar and supply and demand (which also ties into the first). There are quite a few ex-US Ferraris in the UK imported when things were the other way round.

 

the only time vat becomes a factor here is if you import/export from Uk or by it from a business.

for purely private use all our prices include whatever tax is required to be paid; we dont see/care what tax is as its irrelevant.

that said; still a good difference between us and uk prices; and uk to eu now as well.

I have a US import 355 and when I sell it i might ship it back to the states to sell!

(i disagree on the mileage comment above, prices include the uk are hugely mileage sensitive; but there isnt an issue selling high mileage cars as long as they are priced accordingly)

 

I saw an analysis two weeks ago. It compared U.S., UK and EU prices. The UK was the cheapest by a margin. RHD cars have limited other markets to go to. Also, how many UK customers were not British and have left the country the last few years for various reasons.

 

In the UK, VAT on used cars is only paid upon the dealer's profit margin i.e. the difference between the price they pay for the car (the trade value) versus the price they sell it for (retail value). On SOR (sale or return) the VAT is paid on the spread between what the car sells for and what value the dealer returns to the owner. As a rough rule of thumb a Ferrari main dealer will be looking for a profit margin of around £15 -20k which includes any preparation and warranty costs they incur to sell the car. They will therefore be liable to pay VAT at 20% on this £15k making the tax payable £3k. Specialist and non-franchise dealers will usually work on lower profit margins.

The UK market is presently in a bad way due to our political/economic situation. A lot of high net worth residents have left the country and that is going to have an impact upon new car sales, especially the regular production models. Used buyers generally finance their purchase and a combination of high interest rates, gloomy economic outlook, and over supply is causing values to drop across the board. The boom period of quantative easing during Covid created a bubble market where used buyers found they could easily get cheap finance for used cars and this created strong demand and kept values up. Ferrari boosted sales and increased the number of dealerships here - as did many other brands such as Porsche/Aston Martin/Lamborghini. As that cheap finance tap was turned off and the market returned to normal levels of depreciation in the 20% plus range in year one followed by steady falls in years 2 - 5, the number of people able and/or willing to absorb those levels of cost has rapidly dwindled. This is hardly surprising when you look at average earnings data in the UK.

 

private sellers dont pay tax on sale of cars. the above relates to business, so part of the story.

 

I think the issue is Ferrari sell too many new cars to the UK, therefore saturating the market, If they sold less here there would be more demand so the price would go up.

It just seems to be the UK that has this problem, in Europe cars like the Purosangue are still over list. One sold last week in the UK at 100k under list, if you can believe a You-Tuber who bought it.

 

Maybe Ferrari should then increase their prices in the UK to reduce the number of cars sold.

 

they are doing both, increasing price and reducing numbers. but that will only affect part of the market.