Should the 'luxury car tax' threshold be raised?

[Dis86]

It's amazing how unaware of this/possibly dumb some people are.
Remember being in a bmw dealership a few years back and overheard a guy speccing a new 3 series.
He went for an upgraded alloy option which knocked it over the 40k threshold. I kind of nosied in and pointed out that if he bought the wheels as a separate order it would end up cheaper because of the tax threshold. Both him and the sales guy were just goggle eyed. Sales manager that I was dealing with had to explain it to them.

 

[Nasher]

It's amazing how unaware of this/possibly dumb some people are.
Remember being in a bmw dealership a few years back and overheard a guy speccing a new 3 series.
He went for an upgraded alloy option which knocked it over the 40k threshold. I kind of nosied in and pointed out that if he bought the wheels as a separate order it would end up cheaper because of the tax threshold. Both him and the sales guy were just goggle eyed. Sales manager that I was dealing with had to explain it to them.

I'm surprised manufacturers haven't started gaming it yet. Sell a bare bones car, register it to the buyer before it leaves the factory, then install everything as a "different order".

 

[[TW]Fox]

It's amazing how unaware of this/possibly dumb some people are.
Remember being in a bmw dealership a few years back and overheard a guy speccing a new 3 series.
He went for an upgraded alloy option which knocked it over the 40k threshold. I kind of nosied in and pointed out that if he bought the wheels as a separate order it would end up cheaper because of the tax threshold. Both him and the sales guy were just goggle eyed. Sales manager that I was dealing with had to explain it to them.

This made me think a bit because there is usually a considerable difference in price between alloy wheels optioned when the car is ordered new and wheels purchased separately and very few 3 Series were available, even before the recent price rises, for under £40k.

Assuming it was something like a 320d M Sport, which without options was just under £40k, then the upgraded wheel option to 19" would have pushed the car over the £40k but would have added £750 to the price of the vehicle. To buy those wheels separately would have been well over £3000. Obviously you then end up with 2 sets of wheels and can sell the standard ones, but who can be bothered for a saving of £750 on the extra tax over the 3 years most people would keep the car? I think at best if you kept the car for the entire duration of the extra tax and then sold the old wheels you might break even, but it's no guarantee and why bother?

It certainly isn't the obvious answer enough to interrupt someone elses sale process

 

[Dis86]

This made me think a bit because there is usually a considerable difference in price between alloy wheels optioned when the car is ordered new and wheels purchased separately and very few 3 Series were available, even before the recent price rises, for under £40k.

Assuming it was something like a 320d M Sport, which without options was just under £40k, then the upgraded wheel option to 19" would have pushed the car over the £40k but would have added £750 to the price of the vehicle. To buy those wheels separately would have been well over £3000. Obviously you then end up with 2 sets of wheels and can sell the standard ones, but who can be bothered for a saving of £750 on the extra tax over the 3 years most people would keep the car? I think at best if you kept the car for the entire duration of the extra tax and then sold the old wheels you might break even, but it's no guarantee and why bother?

It certainly isn't the obvious answer enough to interrupt someone elses sale process

The price separately was £1500.

 

[[TW]Fox]

The price separately was £1500.

Which optional wheel on the 3 series was only £1500 for the entire set ordered separately? Even the winter wheels in the smallest size cost more than that at the dealer

The tyres on a 19 inch wheel would cost at least £1000, BMW are not selling people wheels for £125 each are they.

 

[Dis86]

Which optional wheel on the 3 series was only £1500 for the entire set ordered separately? Even the winter wheels in the smallest size cost more than that at the dealer

The tyres on a 19 inch wheel would cost at least £1000, BMW are not selling people wheels for £125 each are they.

No clue, I didn't listen up for those details. Don't think it was 19s though, think they were 18s and fairly sure bmw don't pay £250 a corner for tyres!

 

[[TW]Fox]

I'm sure they don't either but they are sold as complete sets from the factory and whilst the retailers do get a discount on accessories it's not huge.

You must already have known the list price of the accessory to know with enough certainty that you should interrupt the sales process of some random person though which is very impressive, I had to check first