Will new cars be more expensive after 1 Jan 2021?

[SoTiredNeedHoliday]

Will there be extra tariffs placed on them? I guess from anywhere in the world as we were being treated like Europe.

Never mind tariffs, wait until the manufacturers are free to charge extra for RHD cars again.

would they do that? There are loads of countries world wide that are RHS not just UK

Cars will be more expensive because tariffs will be applied every time parts cross borders

No other country within 1500 miles of the UK drives on the left.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic
No other LHD country has the same road safety spec as the UK

I suspect we'll end up with 2nd hand Japanese cars, same as the Sri Lankans and West Indians do

It's the manufacturers' control over prices which is the issue.

The reason RHD and LHD cars are (almost) the same price now is because the EU brought in rules to stop manufacturers from blocking (and/or inflating the cost of) sales of RHD cars through non-UK (EU) dealers.

Once they could legally source cars through EU dealers middle-men started selling brand new imported UK-spec cars much cheaper than the same car from a UK dealer, and with the same Europe-wide warranty. That undermined the UK dealer networks and manufacturers were forced to drop UK prices to just above EU prices, making it much less viable to import either privately or through a dealer.

Last year I could walk into a French dealer and order a UK spec RHD car at French prices. The manufacturers can't force the dealer to charge me any more than for a LHD drive car and the dealer gets the same discounts etc.

The rules are there to prevent discrimination against UK and ROI consumers, and they were quite effective. There's nothing in those rules which provide any protection for someone based in a third country though. The EU aren't going to insist any more that Mercedes doesn't block sales of cheap RHD cars from its NL dealer network to the UK - so they will block them. That leaves Mercedes (and every other manufacturer) free to set their UK prices much higher than the rest of Europe, as they did previously.

No other country within 1500 miles of the UK drives on the left

Ireland?

@FishesaPlenty

No other country within 1500 miles of the UK drives on the left

Ireland?

I'm a twonk. I was looking at the map on a small screen and had my brain switched off BUT The Irish car market is VERY tightly aligned with the UK and the land bridge www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54967496 and the republic has a population half that of London .....

It's not really a supply issue, it's a competition issue. We're currently protected from by the EU and without that protection we're a captive market for the manufacturers.

'''currently protected from anti-competitive practices by the EU'''

No other country within 1500 miles of the UK drives on the left.

Malta drives on the left.

And Ireland

JaJa
Malta is 1560 miles from the UK
I checked

Approx 10% increase is what we should prepare for

The short answer : NO.

The short answer : NO.
why do you say that ?

@ListeningQuietly

JaJa Malta is 1560 miles from the UK I checked

Pyewhacket I'd love to hear more

@Pyewhacket

The short answer : NO.

And the long answer...?

Yes they will. Prices will increase due to economic hits of Brexit and Covid making trade with EU more expensive and the £ being worth less versus the euro and dollar than it usually is.

Interestingly, it's mostly ex -British colonial territories which drive on the left, with the big exceptions being Indonesia and Japan - both island nations. Hong Kong still drives on the left.

I can remember when Sweden changed over to driving on the right.

So will there be a lot of trade with people nipping over to Ireland to buy a top of the range car? Could be a nice little earner for Irish car showrooms.

I thought cars were a lot more expensive in Ireland?

The UK can choose not to apply tariffs to cars in the event of a no-deal. In reality it will probably apply the same tariffs as the EU place on on cars exported from the UK. However if the government really wanted to they could allow all imports to be tariff free.

@ReturntoSpamfritters

I thought cars were a lot more expensive in Ireland?

Because of internal tax rather than anything else.

@anniegun

The UK can choose not to apply tariffs to cars in the event of a no-deal. In reality it will probably apply the same tariffs as the EU place on on cars exported from the UK. However if the government really wanted to they could allow all imports to be tariff free.

No it can't. Not without also withdrawing from the WTO.

@ListeningQuietly

Cars will be more expensive because tariffs will be applied every time parts cross borders

No other country within 1500 miles of the UK drives on the left.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic
No other LHD country has the same road safety spec as the UK

I suspect we'll end up with 2nd hand Japanese cars, same as the Sri Lankans and West Indians do

I think Ireland is closer than 1500 miles to the UK. It's millimetres away, in fact.