Putting driveaway pricing front and centre at Chasing Cars

In the coming weeks, you’ll start to notice some changes to the way Chasing Cars presents vehicle pricing.

Wherever possible, a vehicle’s list price will be presented directly alongside a driveaway price that is more indicative of the amount of money a person actually pays before they can drive a new car away from a dealership.

In Australia, the price of a new car that is usually represented in marketing is the price before on-road costs. In most cases, this price is at least a couple of thousand dollars short of the realistic, ‘drive away, no more to pay’ price.

An unrealistic ‘before on road costs’ price is presented because there are some differences in the charges that Australian states and territories levy for things like registration, insurance, and stamp duty. Additionally, dealers charge some money for their time and effort in delivering the vehicle.

For example, a BMW 320i is nationally priced at $63,400 before on-road costs. Driveaway pricing is ‘cheapest’ in the Australian Capital Territory, where the BMW would cost an average driver $68,318 before leaving the dealership. In the Northern Territory, it’s $68,625. In Queensland, $68,635. In South Australia, $69,059. In Tasmania, $69,101. In New South Wales, $69,388. Victoria is the priciest, where the 320i is delivered for $70,819.

While there are some state variations, Chasing Cars believes the most transparent outcome for consumers is to present a driveaway pricing figure that will be a much closer guideline price for actually purchasing the vehicle, even if the final figure for your location, age and driving profile may vary to a degree.

Going forward, references to car pricing on Chasing Cars will include a driveaway price that, in the first instance, will be based on the profile of a 35 year old male driver with a good insurance record, living in the 2065 post code on Sydney’s lower north shore.

Where we are unable to specify a profile, an average driveaway price for a New South Wales buyer will be presented.

In the longer term, we are working on a system to present dynamic driveaway pricing based on your specific location. For now, though, we believe that a move to present driveaway pricing in the form outlined above represents an improvement in the current, opaque pricing presentation of the retail car industry.