Administration fee when buying a car.

[leafie]

I was looking at buying a used car on Thursday. I found a car of interest at a large multi site main dealer who I have purchased a car from in the past,I emailed them asking for details of the warranty that would come with the car.

A sales executive rang me yesterday and I asked him to email me the warranty details as I had requested. He duly sent me an extremely long email giving terms and conditions of purchase, details of a number of ways to finance my purchase and advising me that the car was still for sale at the advertised price plus a £70.00 administration fee for registering the car in my name, but no mention what so ever of the warranty.

At this point being a grumpy so and so who sadly still expects a bit of customer service I decided to take my money elsewhere.

Today I received another email asking me if I wished to proceed with the purchase or book a test drive. I emailed back telling them due to not sending me details of the warranty and adding a hidden administration cost to the price advertised, the car was no longer of interest to me.

They immediately replied saying lots of dealers add administration charges to the price advertised when selling used cars and the warranty would be 3 months or I could extend it to 12 months for a very reasonable charge, but no details of the warranty or cost.

I find it amazing they stay in business with such high standards of customer service.

[warweezil]

I think you did the right thing.

Notifying the DVLA of a sale is a legal requirement and given that it takes seconds to fill in a form I cant see how they justify charging £70 for completing a task that they are required by law to do in the course of their normal business. Sounds to me like a way of padding the price and possibly an unfair contract term - something that your Trading Standards might want to take a look at as it is in fact a hidden price addition.

Look at it this way. I work in an Authorised Treatment Facility for End Of Life Vehicles (what used to be called a breakers yard ), We are required to log the vehicles we process electronically on the DVLA system, (no more posting of tatty bits of V5 to Swansea) which generates a Certificate of Destruction for that vehicle, which can either be given to the person submitting the car as an ELV, or retained on file by us with the V5 for a couple of years. Its part of what we have to do and it is a business expense incurred because of what we do - I'm not even sure we could set a charge for a statutory duty (as is notifying a change of ownership by ANY seller) but if we did I'm sure we would soon be told where to poke the fee.

£70? they really are having a laugh.

[TFM150K]

They are having a laugh all the way to the bank! Wish I could think of a way of making money like that - bet they still get suckers queueing up to part company with their hard-earned! It never ceases to amaze me that people fall for it! Well done leafie, you did exactly the right thing in walking away!

[ManyMinors]

I think it's highly misleading to add "hidden costs" to any purchase and is poor business practice - but it is quite common now, particularly with the large "car supermarket" type dealers. Such costs should be listed in the advertisment of course.

I can top that though....I've worked as a salesman and reckon I know most of the "tricks" but a while ago my son was looking for a used car and spotted a suitable one on the Autotrader website. I telephoned the dealer on his behalf, thought I'd asked all the right questions - checked that the car was still available, confirmed the asking price and asked them to "keep" it for the couple of hours it would take to get there. It wasn't an expensive car - 10years old and "£2000 to clear" so we took cash with us. On arrival we met the salesman I'd spoken to who gave us the keys and invited us to try the car out. It was exactly as described and we went back to the office to purchase it, asking what the best price was they could offer for cash and we'd take it straight away.

The salesman went into another room to talk to his manager and came back with a "best price" of £250 more than the advertised price because "paying cash would deprive them of the commission due on a finance deal". I pointed out that "£2000 to clear" didn't sound like the sort of car they'd expect to sell on finance and nothing of the sort was mentioned in the advert, which we had with us and could show him but despite being plainly embarrassed he insisted it was listed in the "terms and conditions on their website" although not in the advert we'd seen. After much argument with the salesman AND his manager they still refused to sell the car for the advertised price and we left without it! Later telephone calls to Autotrader and Trading Standards showed that they were really not interested and so such practices continue

[bmcecosse]

The original post sounds like E^ans Hellshaw to me.... The charge will include a Data check that the car is not on HP/stolen/accident damaged /correct mileage etc etc. But I agree - all that should be included in the selling price.... And you should see how they squirm when a claim is made on the ' 3 month warranty '. I bought a Clio for my daughter - after a week a 'star' appeared on the windscreen. Easy repair - in to Autoglass for a free fix. Errrr NO ! Turns out this was a previous repair that had failed - and couldn't be done again, and of course the car insurance wouldn't cover it because it was 'old' damage before they insured the car....... Back to EH - ahh sorry - glass isn't covered.... Dealer Principal please ! Explain that Salesman told us the warranty would cover 'anything that went wrong' (car was less than 3 years old - so any major failure was covered by Renault anyway...) - and clearly - something HAS now gone wrong. Much squirming - but we did get a new screen - and an apology (of sorts) from the Manager. Caveat Emptor....

[leafie]

The original post sounds like E^ans Hellshaw to me.... The charge will include a Data check that the car is not on HP/stolen/accident damaged /correct mileage etc etc. But I agree - all that should be included in the selling price....

Or as they are otherwise known the checks any dealer does in about 5 seconds on their computer before they even take a car in.

Not the dealer you mention by the way but a very close guess, the car I'm looking at is over 3 years old so would be out of manufactures warranty, but, at just over £15k I'd expect a descent warranty and no hidden charges.

As a side issue I contacted another dealer yesterday by email about a similar car and asked the same question about a warranty.

The only reply I have had is a questionnaire asking if I am satisfied with the way they have dealt with my enquiry.

They didn't score very well and I presume I won't be winning their prize draw this month.

A mate of mine tells me dealers are not interested in a customer like me as I just want to buy a car and don't want to lease a car, buy with finance, buy redundancy cover, GAP insurance or paint protection.

[leafie]

Quick update, visited a small main dealer for the same manufacture to look at their cars on Saturday. One of their approved used cars took my eye and I arranged a test drive for Monday. It was a very nice car but as always seems to happen to me a newer car (the one up on a stand) which was above my budget took my eye so I had a drive in that as well. Three hours after arriving I left unable to decide which one if either I wanted

I told the salesperson I would not be buying today, anyway what a difference in sales approach, no high pressure sales, good warranty included in the price,discount for no px, no admin fee, the price quoted is as good tomorrow as today. I'll give you a ring in a day or two to see if you have made a decision or we need to wait for another car to come in that your happy with.

Went back yesterday to have another look and asked about a couple of marks on the car and a scuffed wheel. The sales manager said no problem we can get those done before delivery, how about we get the car prepared, you come back and inspect it, if your happy, great, if not walk away.

I'm looking forward to inspecting it.

[dp]

Later telephone calls to Autotrader and Trading Standards showed that they were really not interested and so such practices continue

Certainly Autotrader don't give a monkeys. Over half the cars I've looked at recently marked as 'private' are a trader. As for Trading Standards, I wonder what it's like to work for them as they don't seem to do anything - nothing is ever part of their remit unless there's some dramatic crushing of dodgy goods for the film crews.