On Trucksalot, the price in the advert is the seller’s figure excluding VAT, unless that seller has written otherwise in the description. A headline of £54,950 is not a promise that £54,950 is the amount that will leave your account. VAT, a deposit, outstanding finance and anything the seller is keeping off the lorry can all change the number.
This is not tax advice. VAT treatment depends on the seller, the buyer and the vehicle. Confirm it with the seller and, if you need to, with your accountant before you agree a deal.
Read the description for the exceptions
Some sellers state that VAT is included, or that the vehicle is being sold on a margin scheme, or that no VAT will be charged. If the description is silent, assume the figure on the card is plus VAT and ask the question in the enquiry. Do not assume from the make, the year or the mileage.
Write the question so the answer is usable: “Is VAT charged on top of the advertised price, and will I receive a VAT invoice?” A yes or no is more useful than “price as advertised”.
Compare like with like
A finance conversation and a used-truck advert are easy to mix up. A monthly figure that assumes a deposit, or that folds VAT into the amount financed, cannot be set next to an advert priced excluding VAT and treated as a discount. Keep four numbers apart: the advertised price, whether VAT is extra, the deposit, and what is included in the sale (body, crane, trailer, spare wheel, sheeting).
Direct Commercial Finance is a broker, not a lender. Any funding is optional and subject to status and lender approval. Nothing on Trucksalot is a quote. If you want to talk about funding a lorry you have found, use the finance option on that advert so the vehicle goes with the enquiry. The general explanation is on the truck finance page.
What else the price may not include
Ask whether the lorry is on finance, and whether the price is for a clear title. Ask what is removed before collection: beacons, cameras, tacho rolls, fire extinguishers, and any equipment that was in the photographs but is not part of the sale. A grab without the grab, or a tipper without the sheet, is a different lorry from the one in the pictures.
Then look at the specification you are actually comparing. Two prices for tippers or tractor units are only comparable when the axle layout, the body and the VAT treatment are the same kind of thing. The notes on reading a tipper advert and tractor unit axle layouts are there so the cheaper figure is not the only thing you remember.
