Car Dealer Extras

CinderKona

If you do not mind, I'd rather not go into the specifics of the dealer, but they are very large and have branches all over the country. The car was ex-mobility, as was my old one.

Grumpy_chap

CinderKona said:

Actually, yes I did. It drove beautifully and they let me go out on my own.
They did not force the extras on me and reduced below the original price and threw in the warranty for nothing. Its low mileage and when I compare to similar on Autotrader, a bargain. Trying to find the catch, but just cannot.

Glad you are happy with the deal and hope you love the car when it is actually yours.

At one point you were considering an Octavia Estate, but now say you chose a SEAT, so was that the Leon Estate?

CinderKona

actually I always preferred the Leon. 

Grumpy_chap

CinderKona said:

actually I always preferred the Leon. 

Sounds like it all worked out really well with a good deal on the car you liked.  The Leon is the more sporty option versus the Octavia.

Did you find this using a car finding service or your own efforts?

CinderKona

My own methods - just used a combination of Autotrader and a few others I found. I knew the exact model down to the trim I wanted. And also to future-proof as much as you can nowadays.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Goudy said:

This sort of thing is quite common now particularly at car supermarkets, though the fuel charge is a new one on me.
Are they shipping the car in from another site?

Audi franchised dealer last week: £139 admin fee, which of course you can't resign from and £30 fuel charge. I said: "but the car has more than half a tank of fuel." Answer: "because we topped it up". Somehow, I don't believe they topped it up before having customer buying it. Usually, cars at dealers have minimum amount of fuel, just enough for test drive. Probably previous owner left some fuel in it. I left half a tank in last car I returned to Audi.

And dealer started talking about benefits of admin fee. What benefits if it's not optional? 

Grumpy_chap

CinderKona said:

I was just sent this morning a purchase form stating the pricing, which is now 1600 above the advertised price. It now includes:
Diamondbrite 300
Fuel Charge 300
Motor Assured Warranty 600
Insrauce 300
there are also a few other items under the heading "Dealer Fitted Items 

Penelopa.Pitstop said:

Audi franchised dealer last week: £139 admin fee, which of course you can't resign from and £30 fuel charge.

Many years ago, the pricing of new cars would have a sticker price with the much higher "On The Road" price in very small print.  Eventually, it resulted in law being passed that all cars had to be advertised for retail sale with the sticker price being the full "On The Road" price.  It ended a sharp practice.

The same needs to happen with used cars - all these "compulsory extras" are a swindle and should not be permitted.  It does not happen with any other products.  Can you imagine getting to the check-out in the Supermarket and they add a "check-out" charge?

The "optional" extras are a bit more complex as it is obvious why the garage does not include them in the sticker price.  For those items, at least the customer does have a choice even if there is hard sell.

AdrianC

Who cares how they arrive to the final price... If they want to play games with Ryanairing all the non-optional options, let 'em. Just look at the bottom line.