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Seat Leon import price hike ? - Andy Whitworth
A little while ago HJ posted stating that there was an imminent price hike on EU Seat Leon's on the way. Does anyone have any further details (%age increase, effective from date, models affected etc) ? As someone who has a Leon on order in the Netherlands I have a vested interest ;-)

Thanks.
Re: Seat Leon import price hike ? - Honest John
I was in the Netherlands at the weekend. Everyone there seems to think that the promnised rationalisation of pre-tax car prices by manufacturers such as VAG could happen quite soon. It would put the pre-tax price of your car up to the German pre-tax level rather than the UK level and actually makes total sense. If you were a manufacturer who cut prices to the extent you made a loss in order to make your cars affordable in high tax countries and were then told by the EC that you had to sell them to anyone from other EU countries at those same loss-making prices then obviously sooner or later you would have to raise prices in that particular country even if it meant losing sales there.

HJ
Re: Seat Leon import price hike ? - Andy Whitworth
Thanks HJ, my Leon was supposed to have been built last week so hopefully I can complete the transaction before any price hike comes into play.

Question is, if the price does rise before I pay my final balance then can the increase be passed on to me or would it only apply to new orders ?
Re: Seat Leon import price hike ? - Confused
They have just reduced them in Germany as the new model is about to be released
Re: Seat Leon import price hike ? - Steve G
Surely the price is fixed once you paid the deposit ?
Its the currency fluctuations that can catch people out.
Re: Seat Leon import price hike ? - Andy Whitworth
Well you would think so wouldn't you...

but! I saw a posting on uk.rec.cars.imports that states that Dutch law allows for the price to be increased *if* there is a model change (for example 2002 spec changing to 2003 spec). The post also mentioned that the 2003 spec Golf TDi starts rolling off the production lines in the first week of May. So, it could be possible that the 2003 spec Leon appears fairly soon with a price increase to boot. However, my (2002 spec) car should have been built now so it would be a bit rich to bump the price up on that.

Oh what fun.
Re: Seat Leon import price hike ? - Keithb
You pay the price which applies at delivery whether you're buying in the UK or abroad. That has always been written into the contract although I seem to remember that 1 or 2 makers (Vauxhall?) introduced a price guarantee if the car is delivered within 'n' months. You are more vulnerable to price rises on imports (apart from currency movements) due to makers' attempts to make importing less attractive.