Re: EU To Fine Volkswagen, Audi $112M

["Ian J Haseltine" <jim_haseltine@email.msn.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: WARATAP <WARATAP@aol.com>

> At its weekly meeting, officials said, the Commission was considering
charges
>VW prevented its Italian dealers from selling to clients from outside Italy
>who were shopping for cheaper cars than those on sale in their homelands.
Its not just VW, every single car maker does the same thing. You want to buy
a RHD car in (say) Belgium and bring it to the UK, saving some 3000GBP on
the purchase price? The dealers either cant get the car in RHD, or there's a
lead-time approaching 12 months and there's a sky-high surcharge for
delivery of a RHD model in a LHD country.

> Under EU rules, consumers have the right to shop for the best buy anywhere
>in the 15-nation EU.
Sure, we've got the RIGHT, but the obstacles are such that we just cant do
it.

> Under EU competition rules, the Commission has powers to fine a company
>the size of VW up to 10 percent of its global sales.
But in the end they probably wont.

This is all a bit like the 'Price Fixing' ruckus that we've currently got in
the UK. All the manufacturers are saying that they dont fix prices, but as
soon as a dealer trys discounting he loses his franchise. Volvo UK denied it
even though there was an ex-Volvo dealer waving around a letter from them
telling him not to discount. The only way that dealers can get around this
problem is to register the cars themselves and then sell them as
second-hand - albeit with zero miles and full warranty.


Jim Haseltine
88 Ur quattro






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