Cross-border shopping in the EU - Caveat Emptor!

[tombal]

You may recall that Audi had its knuckles wrapped by the European Union (EU) a few years ago for prohibiting cross-border shopping; they stopped buyers from one EU country buying in another. Audi Germany have a new approach. Today they don't stop you from buying, but they sure give you grief, both financial and emotional...

We are residents of France. On 25 September we bought a new car from a German Audi dealer. We saved around €6000 on the price in France. The EU would applaud us for being canny buyers; getting the best deal in the EU. We paid German value-added tax (VAT) at 19%.

To register the car in France we needed a release from the French tax authorities. We anticipated paying the difference between the German VAT and the French VAT; 19% vs. 19.6%. The release was refused. We were required to pay the full French VAT to get the release.

A quick Google search led us to the EU law on this matter:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/consumers/buying_motor_vehicles/index_en.htm

Note "you do not pay VAT in the country of sale". The German dealer broke EU law by requiring us to pay German VAT. And, yes, the car is on German export plates so there is no question that the dealer thought it was for use in Germany.

By subsequent dialogue with an Audi HQ representative we found that Audi itself condones this travesty.

In order to recover the German VAT we must provide to the dealer:

1. A copy of every page of my passport (uh???)
2. Proof that the French VAT has been paid
3. Proof that the car is insured in France
4. Proof that the car is registered in France.

Re. 4., we cannot register the car in France until we pay French VAT, so we have now paid VAT twice!! That is not what EU law requires.

This has been a traumatic experience. I will report on our EU case submission in due course. In the meantime, buyer beware!!

Tom