[Dottore]

So three days after we bought my wife's new ML 320 CDI I get a call from the dealer who says that when they wrote the bill of sale they accidently forgot to charge me luxury tax. (Apparently they ticked a box for cars on which no luxury tax is payable.) Now the taxman is out $900.-

I said well it's an honest mistake, and I doubt very much the taxman will notice it - so why don't we just pretend we didn't spot the error.

The dealer says, well that is tax fraud, and we're a public company and cannot get involved in this sort of thing etc.

I say it wasn't fraud. It was an honest mistake. And here's what I'll do: I give you my undertaking that if the taxman notices the mistake and sends you an invoice for the $900, I will pay this. And the dealer knows I'm good for this.

I didn't dicker much on the price, and took no more than an hour of the salesman's time. We knew what we wanted, and bought a few options etc - so I'm sure they made a pretty penny on the deal. And they are not out of pocket. And they're covered in the highly unlikely event the error ever sees the light of day.

The dealer tried to get hard-nosed with me in the end, and I told him I would drop by on Monday for a coffee. But I think my position is fair.

What do you think?