Used car Admin fees.

smithers1981

I find this really irritating cars advertised for a certain price, then the car dealers add an admin fee, surely any 'admin fee' should be incorporated into the advertised price.

They are all at it, thought it was mainly a car supermarket thing but even my local VW dealer added an admin fee, which the salesman gave some BS trying to justify it.

My point is how can a car be advertised at a price it is not possible to purchase said car for said price are there no laws against this?

vikingaero

One of my local dealers goes even further by adding on a warranty and admin charge and VAT on the admin charge!:


"This vehicle will be sold with the benefit of a 36 month extended warranty, subject to usage, charged at an additional 995 therefore the total invoice price is 33,970. All vehicles will be subject to a £125+VAT admin fee. Part exchange considered and 'Anywhere in the UK' delivery…"


You can tell from this dealers website that cars are an annoyance to them but a means to sell overpriced finance/warranty/GAP/paint/tyre/etc. Needless to say, I've never used them.


I've bought from Car Giant before where the £199 admin charge includes VAT and is very transparent and you get the hard sell on warranty/GAP/paint.

AdrianC

I really couldn't care less if there's a line item on the invoice saying "Admin fee", so long as the bottom line is a price I'm happy with.

It's all about the bottom line. How they get to that bottom line is smoke and mirrors, and only of interest to their internal accounting.


If you think that the bottom line is too much for the car, then don't buy it...

System

I bought my current car from Quicks and they tried to get me to pay their £99 admin fee. Apparently it covered things like a pre delivery check and if the car was stolen. I pointed out that as it was their responsibility to ensure they had the legal right to sell it, if it turned out to be stolen they'd be refunding me what I paid for it and if it went wrong they'd be the ones that'd be fixing it under guarantee under my consumer rights then that was their problem and I wasn't paying it.

vansboy

When I had my sales business, too many years ago, I surprised plenty of customers, by having a fully inclusive, no haggle price, I even included VAT in the price of vans, wheremost dealers would add it to the screen price.


Everything was included, new MOT, full - as in FULL service, not just a check over, timing belt changed, warranty & a very well presented vehicle, high standard of valeting and paintwork reconditioning.


The few customers who wanted to haggle, were happy to pay full price, when reminded that all the above, was done for them. Most were appreciative of NOT needing to try!


I wouldn't want to create an admin charge, though, if I was still in the business.


VB

Mr.Generous

I agree with OP, price advertised should be the price you pay unless you want extras. My daughter recently purchased a £15k used car from Motorpoint and they tried to charge all sorts of add-on extras. A valeting charge of £100 - she said she wasn't buying a car for £15k unless they valeted it. Charge waived. An inspection fee - ditto. She nearly told them to get stuffed by the time they were trying to flog seat protection insurance, paint cover, tyre ins, gap ins etc.

She has a friend who just bought a Nissan Qashqai from them - and they probably made some joke among themselves about it being a Nissan Cashcow because she stupidly paid everything. That's why they do it.

dj1471

Had the same from Hyundai the other day. Loads of extras added on too, £80 for 2 floor mats?! All declined. I agree the admin fee is a rip-off, but I'd also say that nobody walks into a dealership wanting to pay the advertised price. If you can't haggle more than the cost of the admin fee off the price then you're doing it wrong!

AdrianC

vansboy wrote: »

I even included VAT in the price of vans, wheremost dealers would add it to the screen price.

Because most van purchasers are VAT-registered businesses who will reclaim the VAT, so the VAT-inclusive price is irrelevant to them.


By advertising a VAT qualifying used van with a VAT-inclusive price, you're making it look 20% more expensive to the typical buyer - unless you also explicitly state that it is VAT qualifying?

poppasmurf_bewdley

I've never come across a car dealer who didn't drop the Admin Fee the moment they were told "I'm not paying that", which proves to me that it's nothing more than a way of adding a certain amount onto the bills of anyone mug enough to fall for it.

AnotherJoe

Tarambor wrote: »

I bought my current car from Quicks and they tried to get me to pay their £99 admin fee. Apparently it covered things like a pre delivery check and if the car was stolen. I pointed out that as it was their responsibility to ensure they had the legal right to sell it, if it turned out to be stolen they'd be refunding me what I paid for it and if it went wrong they'd be the ones that'd be fixing it under guarantee under my consumer rights then that was their problem and I wasn't paying it.

Just out if interest did they not charge it or did they charge it but knock £99 of the car?

AdrianC

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Just out if interest did they not charge it or did they charge it but knock £99 of the car?

Does it make the slightest difference?