Latvian new car dealers' organizations are currently trying to convince the country's parliament to raise the value threshold at which the buyer of a representation car will not receive a VAT refund. They say that Latvia will lose 3.6 million lats (EUR 5 mln) annually if amendments to the VAT law come into force on Jan. 1, 2014, with a bigger part of the money going to neighboring Lithuania and Estonia.
Grazvydas Davidavicius, the CEO of Data Center, a company that researches the automotive market in all Baltic countries, agrees with Latvian experts that several-years-old cars cost much less in Lithuania than in Latvia.
„They (cars) are coming to us directly from Western Europe and Latvians and nationals of other surrounding countries can purchase them, we can say, first-hand. In Latvia and Estonia, the same cars are more expensive because they are most often sold via intermediaries,“ he said.
Stasys Kropas, the president of the Lithuanian Banks' Association, says that Lithuanian leasing companies have much more freedom in providing their services to nationals of other EU countries than banks have in extending loans to foreigners.
(EUR 1 = LVL 0.7028)
