"car supermarkets" admin fees etc
Discussion
Morning all,
Currently car hunting for the Mrs after hers was declared a total loss via insurance.
Looking cars online we have seen a couple that suit the bill at a couple of those big out of town car supermarket type places.
Now I have never used anything like this in the past as I like a good deal and have always bought my cars via private sales.
Firstly what's all this new fangled thing with £250 worth of admin costs on all cars they sell. Can this be wrangled off of the price or is it a set fee that just makes the ticket price look more appealing?
Also are these types of places worth a punt of just a pain in the backside to deal with.
Shame as she ideally wants another DCI clio, 2015 or younger but 95% of them appear to be at this type of establishment....
Cheers all
Currently car hunting for the Mrs after hers was declared a total loss via insurance.
Looking cars online we have seen a couple that suit the bill at a couple of those big out of town car supermarket type places.
Now I have never used anything like this in the past as I like a good deal and have always bought my cars via private sales.
Firstly what's all this new fangled thing with £250 worth of admin costs on all cars they sell. Can this be wrangled off of the price or is it a set fee that just makes the ticket price look more appealing?
Also are these types of places worth a punt of just a pain in the backside to deal with.
Shame as she ideally wants another DCI clio, 2015 or younger but 95% of them appear to be at this type of establishment....
Cheers all
These places are normally fixed price + admin fee. You can try and haggle but I think most of them won't budge. The admin fee makes my blood boil but it seems to be the way of things. Not sure how they get away with it really.
The car supermarkets themselves are normally ok but are big faceless monsters. Don't expect them to know anything about the car. They have a lot of corporate stock so I would buy with a little caution as I think you are more likely to find ex hire cars etc (although not sure in reality if that is a problem).
Might be worth having a look at the online only places like cinch or cazoo as they do seem to be very competitive on prices and you get a 14 day money back deal with them. Might seem a bit odd but I think with something reasonable straight forward and common you might get a better deal....
The car supermarkets themselves are normally ok but are big faceless monsters. Don't expect them to know anything about the car. They have a lot of corporate stock so I would buy with a little caution as I think you are more likely to find ex hire cars etc (although not sure in reality if that is a problem).
Might be worth having a look at the online only places like cinch or cazoo as they do seem to be very competitive on prices and you get a 14 day money back deal with them. Might seem a bit odd but I think with something reasonable straight forward and common you might get a better deal....
I don't know why they do it - maybe for tax efficiency reasons.
I wouldn't get too hung up on it, just worry about whether the total cost for the car is right or not.
In my experience, haggling doesn't get you very far in such places but then the cars are generally cheap recent models with high mileage.
I wouldn't get too hung up on it, just worry about whether the total cost for the car is right or not.
In my experience, haggling doesn't get you very far in such places but then the cars are generally cheap recent models with high mileage.
LeoSayer said:
I don't know why they do it - maybe for tax efficiency reasons.
I wouldn't get too hung up on it, just worry about whether the total cost for the car is right or not.
In my experience, haggling doesn't get you very far in such places but then the cars are generally cheap recent models with high mileage.
this ^^^I wouldn't get too hung up on it, just worry about whether the total cost for the car is right or not.
In my experience, haggling doesn't get you very far in such places but then the cars are generally cheap recent models with high mileage.
just bought one last week from one. Quite a painless operation TBH. Mileage was so-so, condition of the car was ok (it's 4 years old). There was no service book/owner's manual (though it does have full service).
Interestingly we went on consecutive days and the place was full both times. I think the phrase used was "we make our profit on volume of sales"
LeoSayer said:
I don't know why they do it - maybe for tax efficiency reasons.
I wouldn't get too hung up on it, just worry about whether the total cost for the car is right or not.
In my experience, haggling doesn't get you very far in such places but then the cars are generally cheap recent models with high mileage.
I think it is deception.I wouldn't get too hung up on it, just worry about whether the total cost for the car is right or not.
In my experience, haggling doesn't get you very far in such places but then the cars are generally cheap recent models with high mileage.
Search autotrader by price. Find a cheap.car at a supermarket, then find the price is inflated by £250.
To be fair, their prices are usually competitive despite the admin fee. Just leaves a sour taste.
I had three six-month old cars in a row off Motorpoint back when that suited my ownership requirements. Very easy to deal with if you know exactly what you want and are happy with the total price. Much easier in fact than forecourt dealers or private sellers, although I didn't avail myself of their finance or any extras so can't comment on that, just turned up with my debit card after reserving the specific vehicle on the phone.
I’ve only experienced this once, albeit a long time ago. Took me by surprise when they told me about the fee when signing the paperwork to purchase a car where there had already been a bit of budget creep.
Told them I wouldn’t pay it. Salesman went to talk to the manager claiming nobody had ever refused before (bulls
t) and eventually agreed to waive it.
The whole thing feels very underhand. Imagine getting to the till at Tesco and being charged a further £10 for administering the sale.
Told them I wouldn’t pay it. Salesman went to talk to the manager claiming nobody had ever refused before (bulls
t) and eventually agreed to waive it.The whole thing feels very underhand. Imagine getting to the till at Tesco and being charged a further £10 for administering the sale.
Heathwood said:
I’ve only experienced this once, albeit a long time ago. Took me by surprise when they told me about the fee when signing the paperwork to purchase a car where there had already been a bit of budget creep.
Told them I wouldn’t pay it. Salesman went to talk to the manager claiming nobody had ever refused before (bullst) and eventually agreed to waive it.
The whole thing feels very underhand. Imagine getting to the till at Tesco and being charged a further £10 for administering the sale.
I think now they have to be upfront about any admin fees, if they are then I can't see what the big issue is. Told them I wouldn’t pay it. Salesman went to talk to the manager claiming nobody had ever refused before (bulls
t) and eventually agreed to waive it.The whole thing feels very underhand. Imagine getting to the till at Tesco and being charged a further £10 for administering the sale.
It’s becoming more and more common unfortunately.
Not sure what it’s for, they will claim it’s for paperwork and the like but really it’s just an extra little earner for them as car sales places managed for years before this admin fee.
Hopefully you are not looking at a large car supermarket which has the initials of a German brand from Munich. If so, avoid like the plague.
I wouldn’t pay an admin fee in principle so would choose to go elsewhere but each to their own. I realise this limits me a little but that’s my problem. Fortunately dealers don’t charge these fees on approved used stock
Not sure what it’s for, they will claim it’s for paperwork and the like but really it’s just an extra little earner for them as car sales places managed for years before this admin fee.
Hopefully you are not looking at a large car supermarket which has the initials of a German brand from Munich. If so, avoid like the plague.
I wouldn’t pay an admin fee in principle so would choose to go elsewhere but each to their own. I realise this limits me a little but that’s my problem. Fortunately dealers don’t charge these fees on approved used stock
drgoatboy said:
These places are normally fixed price + admin fee. You can try and haggle but I think most of them won't budge. The admin fee makes my blood boil but it seems to be the way of things. Not sure how they get away with it really.
The car supermarkets themselves are normally ok but are big faceless monsters. Don't expect them to know anything about the car. They have a lot of corporate stock so I would buy with a little caution as I think you are more likely to find ex hire cars etc (although not sure in reality if that is a problem).
Might be worth having a look at the online only places like cinch or cazoo as they do seem to be very competitive on prices and you get a 14 day money back deal with them. Might seem a bit odd but I think with something reasonable straight forward and common you might get a better deal....
Cheers for the heads up on the ex hire car bit. Might make sense and the interiors on some of them look like they have had a hard life. Also MOT checked a 16 plate clio and it had failed on a cracked suspension springs and other random items that screamed ragged to death so that's off the list now. The car supermarkets themselves are normally ok but are big faceless monsters. Don't expect them to know anything about the car. They have a lot of corporate stock so I would buy with a little caution as I think you are more likely to find ex hire cars etc (although not sure in reality if that is a problem).
Might be worth having a look at the online only places like cinch or cazoo as they do seem to be very competitive on prices and you get a 14 day money back deal with them. Might seem a bit odd but I think with something reasonable straight forward and common you might get a better deal....
Didn't think of looking at cinch etc, buying online etc without viewing and test driving just seems to alien to me!
PH User said:
I think now they have to be upfront about any admin fees, if they are then I can't see what the big issue is.
Yes fortunately I phoned a head to enquire and that's when I was told about the fee. So as I know in advance its not an issue and as you say you just have to be happy with the total all in cost. Its in very small print on auto trader admittedly and I missed it at first.
I just preferred the old days where someone would just quote the price it is at the start.
By the sounds of it the supermarkets are an easy process but we shouldn't expect to be able to strike a deal on anything other then the list price.
gavin18787 said:
By the sounds of it the supermarkets are an easy process but we shouldn't expect to be able to strike a deal on anything other then the list price.
Then tend to be fixed prices, relying on volume rather than high margins.They'll push finance and extras pretty hard.
They have to buy large amounts of cars to keep the sites full so they can't be too picky.
They'll have good examples, and not so good ones.
So just treat every car individually.
I've bought many good, cheap, cars from Motorpoint over the years. Often within a few hundred of what I'd have paid at auction.
But looking around their forecourts there's often cars that have had a lot of paint.
Trevor555 said:
PH User said:
Camelot1971 said:
Charge them an admin fee of your own just before you conclude the transaction.
Yeah that will work.I'd love to see their reaction.
Trevor555 said:
gavin18787 said:
By the sounds of it the supermarkets are an easy process but we shouldn't expect to be able to strike a deal on anything other then the list price.
Then tend to be fixed prices, relying on volume rather than high margins.They'll push finance and extras pretty hard.
They have to buy large amounts of cars to keep the sites full so they can't be too picky.
They'll have good examples, and not so good ones.
So just treat every car individually.
I've bought many good, cheap, cars from Motorpoint over the years. Often within a few hundred of what I'd have paid at auction.
But looking around their forecourts there's often cars that have had a lot of paint.
on piss poor wages largely commission based who will lie through their back teeth about the car to secure a desperate sale.Pal of mine recently travelled a 400 mile round trip to a well known car supermarket in Glasgow who's name coincidentally rhymes with shark to discover the 2year old 20k mileage car he wanted had no service history whatsoever cheapo budget tyres and was ex rental despite the lying salesman insisting it was direct from the manufacturer with main dealer service history having 2 services and new Continental tyres all round.
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