OTR price (on the road)
On the road price
The UK's all-in price for a new car, quoted as a total that adds mandatory charges such as VAT and delivery. What it includes can vary by seller.
The OTR price answers the question every other pricing convention dodges: what does it actually cost to drive this new car off the forecourt, legally, today? UK prices are commonly quoted this way, as a total that adds charges such as delivery and first registration to the car's price. UK competition-authority guidance says a total price should normally include unavoidable charges, including delivery and taxes such as VAT, and DVLA charges a fee to register and tax a vehicle for the first time. What is included can vary by seller, so check the breakdown.
Its advantage is that it puts the total in one figure, but it complicates cross-border comparison. An OTR figure naturally reads higher than a list price that excludes those items, such as a pre-tax US MSRP, without the car necessarily being more expensive. Australia's "drive-away" price is a similar total-price figure.
CarPairly labels whether each price includes tax, so a UK OTR price is not silently lined up against a pre-tax figure from another market.
Differs by market
OTR is a UK pricing convention. In the US, dealers may leave government-required charges such as sales tax out of advertised prices, and Australia has a similar total-price figure called the drive-away price. Check what each market's quoted figure includes.