A number of car manufacturers have announced they will continue to offer cars at the lower 15 per cent VAT rate right up to the end of the year.

The price of a car is usually determined by the delivery date. This means that anyone who orders a new car this year, but doesn’t take delivery until after the rate changes at the end of the year, will be subject to the higher price.

The manufacturers altering their prices to counter the VAT rise are:

• Nissan
• Vauxhall
• Skoda
• Suzuki

The offer is valid across all of Nissan’s range, and may provide a boost to the company’s plants based in Sunderland.

Nissan’s UK MD, Paul Willcox said: “The transition from one  VAT rate to another has the potential to leave car buyers paying more than they expect when they take delivery.

“To avoid any such problems with a new Nissan, we have decided to take the VAT increase out of the equation.”

Vauxhall has gone a bit further, offering to cover the full cost of the VAT on a new car, providing it is ordered by the end of November.

The offer will only stand if the car ordered arrives before the end of the year, though, and is valid at most, but not all, of Vauxhall’s dealerships.

However, Vauxhall’s sales director Rory Harvey says there are savings of up to £4,000 to be had on the brand’s range.

Skoda is only offering the deal on three of its models – the Fabia, Roomster and Octavia – but is extending the offer to orders made up to the end of January 2010.

Suzuki is offering the reduction to customers that choose to defer their first monthly payment for three months, but this then means customers cannot take up the 0 per cent finance offer that is available on much of its range.

Customers would instead pay 4.6 per cent on the deferred payments, cancelling out the benefit of the 2.5 per cent VAT-related reduction.