In a bold to move to treat its customers this Christmas, Škoda has scrapped VAT on the current Octavia.

Starting immediately and in place until 31 December only, all current Octavias, including the plush L&K, the 4x4 Scout and the sporty vRS, will be sold to customers VAT free.

The offer does not only apply to the vehicle’s list price but also covers the purchase of options and vehicle delivery charge, representing a total saving of up to £3,000 per car.

Robert Hazelwood, Brand Director at Škoda, comments: “The Octavia is our best seller and its popularity is evident in the fact it has found nearly 140,000 happy homes in the UK.

“As car buyers scour the market in search of great deals we are responding to their needs and covering the cost of VAT on any Octavia purchased in December.

“The current Octavia has won a series of car industry top prizes for its driveability, flexibility, spaciousness and the great value it offers, so this is a rare opportunity to buy one of the best brand new hatchbacks on the market at a very attractive price.”

If the deal is to just take 17.5% off the RRP then not sure if this is such a good deal. If the VAT is off any 'deal' you can negotiate at the daler then it is a brilliant deal.

Over at drivethedeal.com, they can do a Octy 1.9 Diesel Elegance for £12,697as at today, which is £2,711.66 off their RRP of £15,462.00

The official Skoda website show an RRP for the same car as £15,795 and 17.5% off that is £2,352 = £13,443 which is £746 dearer than the Skoda deal.

Skoda have announced th list prices for the face lifted Octy and confirmed the release date of January 2009.

If the deal is to just take 17.5% off the RRP then not sure if this is such a good deal. If the VAT is off any 'deal' you can negotiate at the daler then it is a brilliant deal.

Over at drivethedeal.com, they can do a Octy 1.9 Diesel Elegance for £12,697as at today, which is £2,711.66 off their RRP of £15,462.00

The official Skoda website show an RRP for the same car as £15,795 and 17.5% off that is £2,352 = £13,443 which is £746 dearer than the Skoda deal.

Skoda have announced th list prices for the face lifted Octy and confirmed the release date of January 2009.

I'd guess its vat (15% or 17.5% now?!) off the rrp, otherwise it'd be possible to get the 15% vat off plus around the same again from a keen dealer - 30% in all! :eek:

If it turned out that SUK were giving the vat off of, on top of the dealer negotiated discount I think I'd be speccing up a scout

Can anyone confirm what the case is with this one please?

I'll stick my neck on the line and say that SUK have reduced the cost price of the cars which will no doubt leave some margin in them for the dealers. If you can find a dealer willing to give you a slice of his cake to do the deal then you could be ok. I'd suggest that most will initially be playing hard ball as they'll cite that there is already a good discount.

With this new discount in mind, for those of us considering buying nearly new/used how would it best be used to obtain discount off a used car?

Could we demand 15% off used prices and hope to achieve it realistically?

Can I just say that if the 15% VAT rate is taken off the price of something you don't get a 15% discount. On a simply priced product (not a car with no VAT on registration and VED) with VAT added to the price, VAT will account (from Mon 1st) for about 13% of the price.

With this new discount in mind, for those of us considering buying nearly new/used how would it best be used to obtain discount off a used car?

Could we demand 15% off used prices and hope to achieve it realistically?

I doubt that but there is a good argument to say 'I can buy a brand new one for not much more now!'. Depends how hard they want to shift the used one I guess

Brother has a valid quote for an L&K. When I saw this thread, I gave him a bell and he contacted the dealer as soon as they opened.

He asked if he could have the VAT off his quote. Answer - NO.

Asked for the best quote under the 'VAT free' deal - only £58 cheaper.

With this new discount in mind, for those of us considering buying nearly new/used how would it best be used to obtain discount off a used car?

Could we demand 15% off used prices and hope to achieve it realistically?

Wishful thinking I'm afraid. As Lee says, the best you can hope for is to use is as a lever in your negotiation skills.

If you give it some thought, a dealer will normally buy cars as a trade in where the seller will want the best price for his car. The dealer will often give a good 'allowance' on this car to facilitate the sale of the car to that seller. Dealers will work with a finite amount of margin in a used car and if it is one that he's had for a couple months it may well owe him almost as much and in some cases more than he has it on offer for.

I assume as the deal expires at the end of December that this is for the current model not the facelift? That being the case you'll have to be content with whatever is in the dealer network already, factory options I guess, wouldn't be an option (pun intended).

I'm not saying that this isn't a good deal, but clearly the reason is to clear current stocks rather more than giving the customer a great deal in the lead up to Xmas.

This always happens with an outgoing model.