"Admin Fee" when buying a car

[Andy86GT]

I heard somewhere it's to cover the risk of a rejected car, i.e the car's refunded but not the admin fee. As others have said, it's a scumbag practice.

[Cotty]

Jonno02 said:

Really should be illegal.

I don’t go to Tesco and buy a £1.50 loaf of bread but the total comes to £1.99 to cover their gas/electricity bill in store.

Mostly seems to be one industry that tries it, scummy practice.

What I find funny is lots of people do exactly that in a restaurant. Say the price of a meal on the menu is £20, they will happily pay a service charge on top and/or leave a tip. Its the same thing, if they want the extra money then it should be included in the original price.

[a340driver]

Idiotic and I wouldn't buy in that case

[Mojooo]

Jonno02 said:

Really should be illegal.

It is illegal to offer something for sale and not give the full price
It is also illegal to hide pricing information

[Hub]

I noticed that Autotrader include these in the overall car price now, so if they haven't listed an admin fee in the Autotrader ad, tell them to do one!

[ScoobyChris]

Hub said:

I noticed that Autotrader include these in the overall car price now, so if they haven't listed an admin fee in the Autotrader ad, tell them to do one!

Easily dodged by showing the admin fee as the last photo so price on the ad is still shown low for search results but they can argue they’ve technically told you about it.

Chris

[Jimjimhim]

I've never been sure why people get so angry about these admin fees (not that I've ever bought a car from a garage that charges them). Garages obviously have admin fees that needs paying for so all cars from dealers will have an admin fee, it's just that most hide it in the price of the car.

[hidetheelephants]

ScoobyChris said:

We bought a £1500 runabout and when we came to pay were told there was a £300 admin charge (to cover warranty, etc). Said we weren’t paying it as it made the car uncompetitive compared to others around and we had gone to them as it was the best priced example. The “sales manager” told us he could drop it but it would mean it was a “spares or repairs” sale, even though we would drive the car home.

Left a review of them saying it was a bit of a shady practice not to advertise this cost upfront on autotrader and got a reply saying that it was par for the course in the industry.

Chris

It's arrant horsest, even if you wanted to you cannot sign away your statutory rights as a consumer, dealers cannot sell on a "spares or repair" basis to consumers; the salesperson is a bellend and so is the dealer principal or whoever set up this snide 'random extra fee' bullst.

[ScoobyChris]

hidetheelephants said:

It's arrant horsest, even if you wanted to you cannot sign away your statutory rights as a consumer, dealers cannot sell on a "spares or repair" basis to consumers; the salesperson is a bellend and so is the dealer principal or whoever set up this snide 'random extra fee' bullst.

Exactly - that’s why we went through with the sale (sans admin fee)

Chris

[WonkeyDonkey]

Jimjimhim said:

I've never been sure why people get so angry about these admin fees (not that I've ever bought a car from a garage that charges them). Garages obviously have admin fees that needs paying for so all cars from dealers will have an admin fee, it's just that most hide it in the price of the car.

Tesco have even bigger admin fees, do you expect them to load an additional £99 to your bill everytime you go through the checkout?

[Jimjimhim]

WonkeyDonkey said:

Jimjimhim said:

I've never been sure why people get so angry about these admin fees (not that I've ever bought a car from a garage that charges them). Garages obviously have admin fees that needs paying for so all cars from dealers will have an admin fee, it's just that most hide it in the price of the car.

Tesco have even bigger admin fees, do you expect them to load an additional £99 to your bill everytime you go through the checkout?

If it's advertised as it should be then yes if they want to.

Tesco do what most car dealers do and hide the admin fees within the cost of the product.

Edited by Jimjimhim on Monday 6th May 22:09

[Jag_NE]

Yeah it’s a bit sneaky so just go to main dealer and get a new one at screen price is my recommendation

[blue al]

Every business has overheads or cost of sale, most are clearly clever enough to build into the price.

Try this…

I’d be happy to pay this in exchange for 50% of the kickback or commissions you get from the finance company….both as a business and as a salesperson

Seems a balanced approach ….watch those piggies squeal

[Cotty]

Jimjimhim said:

I've never been sure why people get so angry about these admin fees (not that I've ever bought a car from a garage that charges them). Garages obviously have admin fees that needs paying for so all cars from dealers will have an admin fee, it's just that most hide it in the price of the car.

For a garage to include all their costs involved in selling a car in the listed price is not hiding it. To list a car then add an additional cost on top that is trying to deceive the buyer.

Other industries do this. Just looked at cinema tickes in Vue, Recliner Saver seat is £10.99, but then they add a 90p booking fee. Why is the 90p there, im doing the booking, no one else is involved as its automated. Just list the ticket as £11.89 if you want the extra 90p

[vikingaero]

Cotty said:

Jimjimhim said:

I've never been sure why people get so angry about these admin fees (not that I've ever bought a car from a garage that charges them). Garages obviously have admin fees that needs paying for so all cars from dealers will have an admin fee, it's just that most hide it in the price of the car.

For a garage to include all their costs involved in selling a car in the listed price is not hiding it. To list a car then add an additional cost on top that is trying to deceive the buyer.

Other industries do this. Just looked at cinema tickes in Vue, Recliner Saver seat is £10.99, but then they add a 90p booking fee. Why is the 90p there, im doing the booking, no one else is involved as its automated. Just list the ticket as £11.89 if you want the extra 90p

Eggsactly that.

There is a disreputable car dealership in my town that has been forced by Trading Standards to change their sales practices:

CAR £13,999

"£615 of optional extras on this car" - that'll be metallic paint chump.

Total price of vehicle is £15,597 OTE, inclusive of £199 admin fee and £1,399 year Platinum Plus Warranty.

So the headline is £1399 and buried in the small print is the compulsory charges including a compulsory warranty. Thankfully snipped by Trading Standards, but i have not doubt they still try it on.

[Hoofy]

Charge a collection fee.

I don't see why they don't put the price £99 higher. When I see these ads, I skip past them because nobody wants to deal with deceitful people. How else are they being deceitful re the car you're about to buy?

[vikingaero]

Hoofy said:

Charge a collection fee.

I don't see why they don't put the price £99 higher. When I see these ads, I skip past them because nobody wants to deal with deceitful people. How else are they being deceitful re the car you're about to buy?

This in a nutshell.

Although saying that I do buy cars from Car Giant who have a £199 admin fee, which is waived on any subsequent purchases in the following year, and the cars are much cheaper and more honest than tarted up examples on dealer forecourts.

[Jimjimhim]

Cotty said:

Jimjimhim said:

I've never been sure why people get so angry about these admin fees (not that I've ever bought a car from a garage that charges them). Garages obviously have admin fees that needs paying for so all cars from dealers will have an admin fee, it's just that most hide it in the price of the car.

For a garage to include all their costs involved in selling a car in the listed price is not hiding it. To list a car then add an additional cost on top that is trying to deceive the buyer.

Other industries do this. Just looked at cinema tickes in Vue, Recliner Saver seat is £10.99, but then they add a 90p booking fee. Why is the 90p there, im doing the booking, no one else is involved as its automated. Just list the ticket as £11.89 if you want the extra 90p

How deceived the buyer is depends on how clear the price is with the dealer, if the 1st time you find out about an admin fee is when you're just about to buy the car then that is wrong and deceitful, but if it's clearly signed then it isn't.

[Cotty]

The problem is our definition of clearly signed and the garages definition of clearly signed differ greatly.
If its "£15,000 + admin fee" fine. if its £15,000 then three pages down hidden in the terms and conditions then no.

[Agent57]

My view is that unavoidable fees should be included in the headline price.

If you don't want to pay for metallic paint then don't tick that option.

But one can't buy a car without doing some 'admin' therefore it should be included in the price.