Consumer Watchdog Fights Price Fix

Its no secret that the price of new cars in this country is well above what buyers pay in mainland Europe. Already this year the Consumer’s Association (consumer watchdog and publishers of Which? Magazine) has started a campaign to boycott new cars and hold off any purchasers in a bid to force car manufacturers in the UK to bring prices in line with Europe. Now the CA have gone one step further.

The association will offer a car searching service through 24 dealers throughout Europe, open to its 800,000 members the service is operated both over the telephone and via the Internet. The CA will broker a deal with the dealer in Europe and offer help to the buyer filling out the plethora of forms needed to import the car into this country. Although the whole deal will take up to six to eight weeks it can save the car buyer up to 40%.

This service is only open to members (membership of the CA costs £59 per year and includes Which? Magazine), but is really an effort to highlight "rip-off Britain" and to force prices down in this country. Chris Peters of the CA states "if prices drop then this type of service will become redundant".

See links

June 2000 Wheelpin: Net Shopping

Carbusters.com (the Consumers Association site): www.carbusters.com