BMW 650GT USA price

[smeghead]

A quick look at BMW Motorrad USA tells me that a 650 GT is $9990 inc ABS that works out to £6546 in UK Sterling, as ever we are having the piss taken out of us.

[StephenC]

"MSRP does not include tax, license and registration and excludes $495 freight/destination charge that BMW of North America adds to every new motorcycle they sell in the United States. For detailed pricing including 'out the door' figures please contact our sales department. "

http://www.bmwmotorcycle.com/2013_bmw_c650gt_info.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would expect that by the time you add all that lot on you would be getting fairly close to the European prices (which we are mostly aligned to). I think California currently charges 8.2% for sales tax so that adds about $800 or so just for that.

[smeghead]

I never gave that a thought mate.

[StephenC]

I never gave that a thought mate.

Part of my job involves comparing what UK gov spends/charges on certain things against what other countries do, so I'm sort of tuned into this stuff. And of course, being a civil servant means that I am well versed in quoting selective numbers when it suits - helps me spot when others do it......

I love reading UK papers with my civil servant head on, especially when they rant on about how much worse the UK is than somewhere else. Inevitably they selectively quote like mad and ignore inconvenient truths. Like for example when Heathrow shuts down due to snow there is always a story about an airport in Sweden/Switzerland/Canda or wherever that is working just fine. They just fail to mention all the airports in France/Germany/Italy etc that are even worse

Saying all that, I wouldn't be surprised if the US OTR price is eventually a bit less than the UK OTR. Market factors, after-sales support, etc probably play a part in the whole package.

[VOZZA]

Oops, must get my eyes to work as quick as my fingers.

[SOOTYGULL]

Last year my American father in law bought his new top of the range Honda CRV - full leather, sat nav the works just under £20,000 on the road.

I checked the UK price £30,000.

I have been in the USA, many many times with family and I am allways astounded that the BMWs, AUDIs, Mercedez etc are cheaper than the UK - they have to compete with each other and other US marques.

I bet I could buy a BMW 650GT in the US for two thirds the price I would pay here.

[R1K SU]

I agree Sooty, look at the price of mustangs, only about 20K over there, almost double here, and dont get me started on the price of TV's compared to ours. And I used to be a civil servant to !
I think it will be almost 2K less than UK price

[StephenC]

The price people actually pay for stuff in the USA is a bit of a mystery and list (MSRP) prices are really just the top line of the invoice. Here's a reply to a question on this subject on Yahoo: "when I bought my bike it was around 4000 when everything was said and done i ended up spending 5200" So that's about 20% on top of the quoted price to get to the On-The-Road price.

On the vehicles mentioned -
The MSRP of the 2013 Honda CRV is $30k, which comes out at £20k. But the official US website says "excluding tax, license, registration, $830.00 destination charge and options. Dealer prices may vary." So the guy who got it for £20k on the road is either full of it or drove a very hard bargain. The UK On-The-Road price (quoting OTR is the norm in the UK) for the equivalent top spec petrol auto is £24k. Doesn't sound much different to me. Maybe Honda UK has dramatically dropped its prices recently?

A 2013 Mustang GT coupe has "Starting MSRP" (Starting MSRP excludes destination/delivery charge, taxes, title and registration) of $30,750 = £20,155. To get the same car in the UK, via Kent Cars (a specialist Mustang importer) you'll pay £31,500. Because the Mustang is not an official import you'll have to wait 2 months for it to be shipped (cost not mentioned, but included in the price) as are all the modifications needed to make it UK legal. You can get an idea from here: http://www.kc-imports.com/mustangukmod.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . And don't forget that Kent Cars will need to buy whatever tools are required and train up technicians to support the car once sold. So paying £10k on top of the USA list price sounds like a reasonable amount, actually, given the volumes involved.

[Bluebottle]

Even normal shopping is confusing in the US. The price on clothes and goods doesn't include tax, it gets added at the till according to strange formlas that Ive never understood

[MrGrumpy]

Even normal shopping is confusing in the US. The price on clothes and goods doesn't include tax, it gets added at the till according to strange formlas that Ive never understood

Presumably the sales tax (our VAT) varies by state, or even by city, so that American manufacturers / importers can't include it in their advertised prices, unlike our VAT which is the same across the country.