Postponing or cancelling cars ordered for January
With the changes to car prices from July 1st, should consumers wish to hold off on taking delivery of a car that was due to arrive in January, or indeed cancel it altogether, in most cases it will be up to the goodwill of the dealer, according to John Shine, the National Consumer Agency's director of consumer affairs.
"In the case of ordering a car, by paying your deposit you are signing up to a contract and while it does depend on the terms of the agreement, for the most part, this is binding and it would be up to the dealer and the consumer to fashion a deal between them."
This sentiment is echoed by Dermot Jewell of the Consumers Association of Ireland.
"In the majority of cases, when a car has been ordered, it is a working contract and to pull out of this would mean the loss of a deposit, as there are things like transportation costs to consider. It is really down to the dealer and the consumer, to see if there can be an amendment to a deal," he says.
However, many within the industry say there is no evidence that there have been any cancellations or amendments to orders at this stage. "We certainly haven't seen it yet," says Eddie Murphy, chairman and managing director of Ford Ireland. "There are only really very small variations on the prices of our cars and what must be remembered is that if someone was to wait another six months for their car, then their trade-in is a further six months old, so what they might save on their new car they may also lose on their trade-in."
Michael Nugent, sales director with BMW Ireland - among the marques that has had one of the most dramatic reductions in VRT with several thousand euro likely to drop from some diesel models - agreed.
"We have asked our dealers to contact customers with orders and explain the situation to them, but so far we know of only one change to an order. We do have facilities in place to change or amend an order and we are happy to do this if required."
Ciaran Allen, sales manager of Mercedes- Benz Ireland believes few people will want to change their order. "In the case of our range, we will see a shift from petrol to diesel in some cases, but at this stage it is unlikely that many customers will want to amend an order, although it can be done reasonably easily."
James Brooks, managing director with Kia Motors Ireland think there will be a move towards diesel, but this will not happen immediately. "Automatics are not very CO2-friendly and, with the addition of extra VRT and road tax, they will become very expensive. We will be cutting back our orders of automatic models by 60 per cent."