It's all very well to split out an admin fee but it should IMO be included in the advertised price.

I have bought two used cars ifrom main dealers in the last year, a pre-reg Mitubishi and a 6 month old Mazda. Neither asked for an admin fee.

I'd be inclined to tell them their overheads are their problem, and if it's admin they are doing for me I'll do it myself, thanks.

I'm suprised Trading Standards havn't jumped on this.

Charging an "Admin Fee" on top of the advertised price is a bit like Tesco having Corn Flakes on the shelf with an advertised price of £1.50, and then charging another 10p at the till. I've threatened to walk unless they remove it on at least one occasion, and they've always either not charged it or bumped up the trade-in by the same amount (which I suspect is some accounting fiddle).

The other one to watch out for is dealers demanding payment in full a couple of days before handing over the car for cars not bought on finance. Never do this, because if the dealer goes bankrupt in between you paying and collecting the car you'll never see your money or the car again. The dealer who sold us my wife's current car got quite shirty about this one, and we very nearly did have to walk away. When I relented slightly and offered to pay in a suitcase of £10 notes (car was nearly new, so it would have been quite a few tenners) as a guaranteed instant means of payment, they strangely suddenly decided that payment with a debit card or bank transfer on the day was ok after all....

Seems backroomers agree the fee is just to raise £98 for not much. Just make it a condition of purchase that the fee is removed.

Same here, my current car had it attached (again, main dealer).

However, in was only mentioned after we had agreed the final price. The agent took a deep breath and said it was non-negotiable, had to be included, but she would immediately reduce the agreed price by said amount 9I think it as around £120?). Net result I paid the same as I agreed and I was not bothered.

I think the points about it being a non-VAT charge may be true, as I believe VAT is chargeable on the difference a car is bought vs sold for by a dealer (including trade ins), and deductions for prep etc. are not taken into account.

It's very tempting, although I'm sure ultimately time wasting, to tell these people that you are going to levy your own non-negotiable admin fee for dealing with them.

Competition doesn't operate in favour of the consumer unless prices are transparent. I'm sure the OFT (who I think are still responsible for Trading Standards) should be taking an interest in this development.

PS. If you wish to purchase extra insurance to 'protect your asset' then do it privately. GAP insurance is available cheaply for cars from new to 3 years old. I paid about £100 for 3 years GAP cover on a 32K vehicle from new. Do not buy any extras at the dealership, they are simply inflated commission earners for the salesmen. Concrete

Cheers for the further responses.

I'm clearly not the only one who thinks they have a bliddy cheek charging £98 for work that an admin officer earning ten quid an hour can probably do in 15 or 20 minutes tops. Therefore as exampled above, I will ask for a reduction in the price of the car if they insist on levying the charge.

Otherwise yes, we walk away.

Edited by argybargy on 10/01/2018 at 16:05

In terms of the general experience with this dealer, mixed so far.

We arrived there at the weekend to ask about part ex value and I was quite pleased with the figure quoted. Reduced slightly for a couple of bits of minor paintwork damage, but minimal. It was at this point that the admin fee was mentioned, and where he also informed me, somewhat reluctantly, it seemed, that various extras would need to be discussed because he was under an obligation to offer them to me before sealing the deal.

We'd already seen a car we wanted at another dealership within the same group, so asked for that to be moved and this was arranged. Or so we thought. That evening I received an email from their customer services informing me that the vehicle was no longer available, but I assumed this was merely a case of our request to have the vehicle moved "crossing in the post" with our original enquiry about that car. Nevertheless I rang the salesman next day, left a voicemail and an hour or so later he rang back and confirmed that yes, the car had been snaffled by someone else before they were able to pin it down for us. I'd love to see the timeline for that, but what the Hell, its gone now.

Anyhow he very helpfully searched their used car database and came up with a couple of alternatives, one of which seemed to suit us very well and which is on its way to our local dealership as I speak.

Hopefully before someone else buys it.

Edited by argybargy on 10/01/2018 at 17:26

Thanks for that.

Its a used car which is five years old this May, so I don't think there's much point in taking out GAP insurance.

Fortunately there's no finance involved, because I was too meek to take up the suggestion of going for finance to get a discount and then paying cash instead.