I ordered a defender 130 in November and it is scheduled to be delivered in April, will the tariffs affect my pricing?

 

Tariffs wont affect 2025 deliveries - they should only start to take effect for 2026.

 

why would that be if the tariffs take affect 4/2

 

My understanding is that tariffs take effect on the mandated effective date and is assessed at point of entry on date of entry. Trump is aiming for April for Europe issues and others. Question, is the defender EU (Slovakian) or UK? Will JLR pickup all or some of the cost especially if previously ordered? This could be a big number. My dealer is silent on the issue, but could be they really don’t have answers. In any case, mine supposedly arrived Baltimore this week. I hope there is a tax/import lawyer that likes Defenders and is in the forum and can put some meat on this.

 

It seems the purchase agreement I signed when I put the deposit to order the defender would hold some sort of weight, at least they should have to honor the agreed price on that purchase agreement.

 

That's should increase the resale of used defenders

 

Contracts and other items that are pre-established should not be affected. Even when the US instituted massive sanctions on Russian trade, existing contracts were allowed to be executed until complete. So Russian imports were still allowed in and exports to them were allowed. I know this is different, but the same logic should apply.

 

It depends on the contract. I was looking to buy a new german car when Trump started to spout on about imposing tariffs (so before the elections). I spoke with 4 of dealers across the country about this. One said that they would guarantee the price at signing. The other 3 said that the price would fluctuate if additional charges such as tariffs were imposted. So, there was no real consistency in how they viewed the contracts. I think it depended a bit on the risk tolerance of the specific dealership. I ended up buying one off the lot instead of ordering one because if this uncertainty (it turns out it was the exact spec I wanted anyway). The deposit contract that I signed did not guarantee the price in terms of additional costs such as tariffs (and interestingly, Port Added accessories), but since the closing date of the contract was to be no later than December 31, there was not risk of Trump tariffs on that purchase, so I wasn't concerned.

My point is that it depends on the specific language on the contract you've signed.

 

Not to worry anyone, but I have been concerned with this issue for months. See comments on the 525 v8 line. My OCTA is in port and should be at dealer Feb 28, so I think I can relax. But since I ordered in July, well before tariffs became an issue, I have asked many times about how the impact could affect me. Never got an answer I could trust. All I do know is if a tariff goes into effect, as seems likely, someone is on the hook for paying. Good luck with any dealer chipping in. JLR probably has a lot on the line with shipping costs and maybe market reputation. To repeat previous issues above - where is the source of the vehicle, EU (Slovakia) or UK. What is the legality of the order in regards to price. Is it a binding contract even with a down payment? Etc. I would hope someone in the forum could provide some sound guidance. I know what we want to hear but what are the facts.

 

It was my understanding all defenders were built in Slovakia which is in the EU.

We ordered a 130 V8 in november that shows a delivery date of 4/11. Tariffs are expected to hit 4/2. In order for it to be ordered we had to put a deposit and sign a purchase agreement that states the price, taxes, and fees. Hopefully that will be enough to bind the dealership to the price. I definitely will not pay 25% over the current price