Admin charges on buying a secondhand car.

Admin charges on buying a secondhand car.

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Discussion

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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hollydog said:

We go for a test drive after we sit down to discuss a deal. Most are just not interested in any discounts and what makes it worst some want £100 on top for admin costs and to prep the car.
Never heard of any thing so ridiculous in my life. Surely that should be in with the screen asking price.
At what point are they telling you about the admin fee?

They're not allowed* to just spring it on you at the end of deal.


*Trying to get anyone to enforce that would be a thankless task.

R1 Indy

4,381 posts

182 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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Surely the total cost is all that matters? As long as it's not sprung onto you after a deal is done, does it matter?

mike9009

6,918 posts

242 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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Can't you just invoice them for a £200 admin charge on your part ex??

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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I have heard of this happening more recently, never happened to me though.

I wonder, is this possibly a way of not paying VAT on a small amount of the cost of the car?

From what I remember, the dealer pays VAT on the profit made, so take this £100 out of it, and it is roughly £20 ish...

Multiply that by XXXX cars they sell, and can be a few extra quid.

May be utter bks though smile

TankRizzo

7,247 posts

192 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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KTF said:
From the local shed near me:
Their FAQ said:
What is the £125 +VAT admin fee for?

The administration fee covers the RAC vehicle inspection and HPI inspection. The minimum you would pay for the lowest level Essential RAC Inspection, if you booked this direct with the RAC as an RAC member, would be £135 – the maximum you would pay as a non-member for a 4 x 4 over 2500cc would be £346.00. The price for an HPI check, which checks if a car has finance owing, is stolen, cloned, written off or clocked, is £19.99. Our administration fee is not only great value but also provides you with peace of mind.
Not that I would pay for an inspection in the first place, but when you read the RAC inspections that are available on their site, they arent worth whatever made up cost they are anyway.

HPI will cost them peanuts given the volume they process.

The fee is (almost) pure profit, just like all the other crap they try to sell you. It would be OK if you could opt out as per the Ryanair model but you cant for many of them so why not include it in the cost of the car in the first place.

Whats that you say, you want the day drive home insurance as well?

Their FAQ said:
We can provide you with drive away insurance valid for 5 days (this incurs a £12.50 + VAT administration fee) ensuring you are covered for the journey home.
Dont forget the VAT because as we all know, Joe Public never pays VAT normally... FFS!

Edited by KTF on Friday 19th September 17:22
Trying to claim £19.99 for HPI is a joke. For volume-discount checks in the industry, it's a matter of pence.

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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TankRizzo said:
Trying to claim £19.99 for HPI is a joke. For volume-discount checks in the industry, it's a matter of pence.
Yep, but this is the perceived value to the customer I suppose.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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750turbo said:
TankRizzo said:
Trying to claim £19.99 for HPI is a joke. For volume-discount checks in the industry, it's a matter of pence.
Yep, but this is the perceived value to the customer I suppose.
There is no value to the customer per se. Its up to the dealer to HPI the car and ensure its as described, not the customer.

If it turns out later to be written off or to have outstanding finance, its the dealers problem anyway.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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vikingaero said:
Cars are the mechanism by which finance/G(cr)AP/Warranties are sold. If they could drop the cars and sell the guff then most dealers would do so! biggrin
+1

Theres no decent profit in car sales anymore for the humdrum stuff so they try to make their money up elsewhere with all the add ons.

750turbo

6,164 posts

223 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all
daemon said:
There is no value to the customer per se. Its up to the dealer to HPI the car and ensure its as described, not the customer.

If it turns out later to be written off or to have outstanding finance, its the dealers problem anyway.
Totally agree, but tell the cust it costs £xxx for peace of mind, and I am sure quite a few will accept this.

Utter tosh of course.

Martin4x4

6,506 posts

131 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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£100 on top of the screen price! FFS you should negotiating a discount from the posted price or walking away.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all
Martin4x4 said:
£100 on top of the screen price! FFS you should negotiating a discount from the posted price or walking away.
This is what bugs me about these big car supermarkets - they give the perception that their cheaper, but they dont negotiate on price and there are "essential add ons" you must take that add £££'s. And their cars tend to be a bit scruffy.




KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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Martin4x4 said:
£100 on top of the screen price! FFS you should negotiating a discount from the posted price or walking away.
+vat wink

Its the principle more than the cost. This practice needs to be stamped down on and only by telling them what they can do with their admin fee will they (maybe) get the message.

Toltec

7,159 posts

222 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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mike9009 said:
Can't you just invoice them for a £200 admin charge on your part ex??
Exactly what I thought after reading the OP.

KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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xRIEx said:
They can't charge vat on an insurance premium anyway.
I image they do though otherwise why advertise it. The buyer won't know.

The stuff they sell is ex-fleet stuff (of which there is no shortage) so plenty of other options available without having to cross their threshold anyway.

Devil2575

13,400 posts

187 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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KTF said:
Martin4x4 said:
£100 on top of the screen price! FFS you should negotiating a discount from the posted price or walking away.
+vat wink

Its the principle more than the cost. This practice needs to be stamped down on and only by telling them what they can do with their admin fee will they (maybe) get the message.
To be honest what matters is if the deal is good or not. Getting bent out of shape about principles seems silly to me. It's a business and if the price is good quite how it's arrived at is fairly meaningless.

KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all
That's true. Its the overall price/cost to change that matters. How they cook the books is their issue.

Its still annoying how you have to listen to them pushing the 'extras' then sit there checking Facebook on your phone whilst they dissapear to give you a few minutes to think about it even though you have said no.

And they wonder why people rate them slightly above estate agents on the people to pee on if they were on fire chart...

tomic

720 posts

144 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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romeogolf said:
It's the "car-supermarket" format. Sticker price, no negotiation at all, and a £99 (plus vat, usually) "admin" fee. Some (Cargiant) won't even let you test drive the car beyond taking it up the car park and back.
Cars at Cargiant all have exactly the right amount of fuel in them to get you to the Petrol Station up the road, so they're probably worried about them running out of fuel (although I think the test drive around the car park only applies on the non-prestige side of the road).

I can only imagine that they must literally drain the fuel out of them when they come in. I've been going there for 20 odd years and have bought numerous cars from them, (which have been fine), but every car I've sat in is running on vapour. The margins must be really tight.

andymc

7,334 posts

206 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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If the car is priced well enough to get you through the door why would they discount, admin fee is pure profit howver and no VAT fiddle

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Friday 19th September 2014
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andymc said:
If the car is priced well enough to get you through the door why would they discount, admin fee is pure profit howver and no VAT fiddle
+1

If someone has turned up to view the car, then they know its well priced so why discount further?

Adding money is, as you say, taking the P though.


TankRizzo

7,247 posts

192 months

Friday 19th September 2014
quotequote all
daemon said:
There is no value to the customer per se. Its up to the dealer to HPI the car and ensure its as described, not the customer.

If it turns out later to be written off or to have outstanding finance, its the dealers problem anyway.
True, that. They'd be best off leaving the HPI figure off at any rate, it seems to serve no purpose.