I have been thinking about a comment which the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, made on this morning's edition of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - he suggested that the Chancellor of the Exchequer might increase Value Added Tax in the Autumn Statement on Thursday and that prompted this thought: if that happens, what are the chances of Toyota (GB) PLC (TGB) doing the morally decent thing and bearing the cost of any such increase so that all of us with confirmed orders for the GR86 are not of pocket because of the company's delay in delivering the cars?
I should, in view of the above, point out that the relevant provisions in TGB's New Car Buy Online Terms and Conditions of Sale for Toyota Vehicles would appear to be as follows:
"9.1 We make no guarantee or commitment as to any vehicle build or handover/collection dates. Such dates will be provided to you at the earliest opportunity after you place your order and are estimates only, subject to our amendment at any time. If our supply of the vehicle is delayed by an event outside our control then we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and we will take steps to minimise the effect of the delay. Provided we do this we will not be liable for delays caused by the event."
"15.1 If the rate of VAT changes between your order date and the date we supply the vehicle, we will adjust the rate of VAT that you pay, unless you have already paid for the vehicle in full before the change in the rate of VAT takes effect."
I accept that whether or not TGB has either fully or sufficiently complied with Clause 9.1 above would ultimately be a matter for judicial interpretation on the particular facts. However, based on the evidence recorded on this forum, an at least arguable case could probably be made for the assertion that TGB has not provided us with "any vehicle build or handover/collection dates [...] at the earliest opportunity after you place your order..." Clause 9.1 implies that TGB will engage in regular communication about build and/or handover/collection dates with the company's online customers so surely where there is, as in this instance, a longer delay than TGB originally anticipated, there is a greater need for more frequent communication on the part of the company...
Finally, on a practical level, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer postpones any increase in VAT until, say, the 1st December 2022, will TGB's Buy Online Team have a system in place to enable any of us who wish to pay for our GR86s before that date to do so?