A Finnish car dealer accidentally knocked 100,000 kroner off the price of several brand new electric cars. Now customers are struggling to get the cars at that price.
A car dealership in Finland recently came under scrutiny when a technical error on their website resulted in electric cars being sold at a significant discount.
The error occurred at Auto Bassadone, one of Finland's largest car dealers, and meant that for a short period of time customers could order new Peugeot electric cars with a discount of up to 104,000 kroner.
The error was discovered on January 3, but by then information about the big discounts had already spread online. Several customers managed to order electric cars at the advantageous price before the error was fixed.
In a Facebook group for electric cars, several members tell stories about how they managed to buy electric cars at a big discount.
– I don't know if the car will be delivered, but I will try to fight for it. I ordered it at the price that was listed online. The order went through, and I have received a confirmation, a motorist who managed to order a cheap electric car tells the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat .
Auto Bassadone has subsequently contacted the customers who managed to order the electric cars and is now trying to find a solution. It is still unknown how the negotiations will end and whether the customers will be allowed to keep the electric cars at the originally ordered price.
This is not the first time that the Finnish Peugeot importer has experienced problems with orders. In March 2022, they experienced a similar situation where demand for an electric car offering exceeded supply. This resulted in several years of negotiations with customers.
The case illustrates the challenges car dealers can face in a digital age, where errors in pricing systems can quickly have major consequences.
It will be interesting to see how the situation develops and whether customers will ultimately be allowed to keep their electric cars at the incorrect price. But this is not the first time a car dealer has made a fool of himself.
According to the Danish Auto Industry, the rules here are so complicated that a car dealer cannot simply avoid responsibility for errors in a car advertisement. Not even if the text states 'errors excepted'.
