THE Treasury Minister is calling on garages to explain why Islanders do not appear to be getting credit crisis bargains on the forecourt.
Senator Philip Ozouf (pictured) said that he wanted to know why Islanders did not seem to be benefiting from falling car prices in the UK. And he wants proof that the scrapping of VRD last summer has resulted in any savings being passed on to buyers. VRD was charged on vehicles according to engine size when they were first registered in the Island.
The minister explained that cuts in duty on goods such as petrol, cigarettes and alcohol had often not resulted in a corresponding drop in prices at the till. However, he said that he had no evidence that was happening in the car trade, but wanted to be reassured that retailers were not simply pocketing any savings.
‘I am signalling that I don’t understand, when looking at the latest RPI figures, why car purchase prices did not appear to have declined as much as they had in the UK,’ said Senator Ozouf. ‘I have simply posed the question of what is going on.’
