Evening Press leader

Buying a car is an expensive business at the best of times. For most people it is their single biggest purchase after property. So motorists are keen to seek out the best deals on wheels. But that is not as easy as it should be. British bargain buys are too few and far between.

This realisation dawned as travel to the Continent became the norm. To our consternation we noticed that car prices abroad were invariably cheaper than at home. The advent of the Internet allowed us to compare prices across the world, and this only confirmed that the British driver was getting a raw deal.

Motor manufacturers have huffed and puffed about transport costs, exchange rates, the expense of right-hand drive models and so on. But they have yet to come up with a convincing explanation as to why we have to pay sometimes thousands of pounds more than a foreign customer for the same car.

Now the Consumers' Association is taking direct action on behalf of the beleaguered motorist. As part of its campaign to end "the Great British Car Rip-Off", the association today launched a scheme importing cheaper cars via the Internet.

This will hit the trade where it hurts - in the pocket - but it only has itself to blame for keeping prices high even in the teeth of consumer fury.

The best way for dealers to hit back is to lower their own prices. That is how a free and competitive market works. They could probably keep their prices a little higher than the Consumers' Association: many people would happily pay a premium for personal, expert service.

Immediate, voluntary price cuts might spare the motor industry the embarrassment of Government intervention. Ministers appear ready to force manufacturers to drop prices.

One thing is certain: it is the end of the road for outrageous overcharging. And not before time.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.