One word can cost tens of thousands

Most car sellers use the Norwegian Automobile Industry Federation (NBF) standard contract when they sell you a new car. Now they have changed the contract.

Previously, the contract was clear that the car buyer may not be charged any tax increases that come after the agreed upon delivery date.

Now the word agreed has been deleted, so it says in the contract before delivery. This means you could risk paying any tax increases if the car is late.

There was a recent surprise tax increase on electric cars last year, when the government suddenly imposed a 25 percent value-added tax on part of the purchase price exceeding NOK 500,000. In addition, electric cars received a weight tax. For an electric car with a new price of NOK 800,000, the VAT bill was NOK 75,000. The weight tax also increased prices by another NOK 20,000-30,000.

Warns of brazen car scams

-No drama

Egil Steensland, head of communications at National Bank of Fujairah, sees no drama in such a change:

– The fact that changes in fees are excluded from the contract is not considered, from our point of view, a radical change. It is more in line with what is the case for other goods sold in Norway. In the old contract, there was also a clause stating that the customer had to bear a price increase of up to six percent before terminating the contract. Now this has been reduced to three percent. It's good news for new car buyers, Stensland tells Deanside.

Nave agrees that the latter option could be a good thing for car buyers, but any tax increases should now not be excluded from the contract.

You will receive a tax invoice

– New contracts can pay a hefty additional bill for anyone buying a new car, if car taxes increase before the car is delivered. Previously, you were protected against price increases of more than six percent of the purchase price, also including taxes. Now the threshold has been lowered to three percent, which is good. But when taxes are excluded, and you're also responsible for price increases until the car is actually delivered, your risk in the event of a delay increases, says Vigdis Svenungsen, senior lawyer at Naf.

– nightmare

Therefore, car buyers are advised to take the necessary precautions against price increases after the agreed upon delivery before signing the contract.

– Not sure how much the car costs

– This must be done in writing, either by signing the contract or by email. We believe it is unreasonable for the buyer to bear full responsibility if the price or tax increases, even after agreed delivery. We could quickly end up in a new situation where new electric cars are particularly delayed, says Svenungsen.

Thomas Iversen, chief legal advisor at the Norwegian Consumer Council, agrees that the standard contract as it stands puts too much of the risk of price changes on car buyers:

– Price is an important part of the evaluation when buying a car. This change in the standard contract means that there is a lot of uncertainty about what the car will actually cost in the end. When taxes are taken out of the calculations, we will be as much better off as we were before the changes, Iversen tells DinSide.

We disagree on most things

New tax increase on electric cars?

However, he stresses the importance of drafting a written contract when purchasing a car, which includes all the agreements that the buyer makes with the seller.

This year, about 110,000 Norwegians will buy a new car. About 90% of them choose an electric car. We will not know whether there will be new changes in the amount of VAT and weight tax that electric cars must pay from the turn of the year until the adoption of the 2025 state budget. The budget will be presented on October 7, and will finally be approved closer to Christmas.

In any case, Nave encourages the authorities to drop the tax increases if they want to reach the target of electric-only passenger car sales in 2025.