Admin fee's

[HKQAC 2]

Just interested if anybody charges admin fee's here?

 

Its becoming increasingly popular, and if anybody does charge an admin fee how do you answer the inevitable "what's that for?"

Edited April 28, 2019 by HKQAC

[MarkTVS 209]

We charge an admin fee of £150 if the customer arranges there own finance, this covers the time spent required for new set ups when some companies want pictures of premises inside and out and proof of where the car came from etc etc, It’s designed to sway them more to use the finance we provide

 

We also charge a £25 admin fee for any card payments (excluding deposits) this is to encourage customers to pay via bank transfer which means we get the money faster or good old fashioned kesh

 

Not really had many people moan about it tbh.

[EPV 631]

I thought you couldn't charge admin fees to selected punters, I thought it was everyone or no one.

[David Ayers 171]

7 minutes ago, EPV said:

I thought you couldn't charge admin fees to selected punters, I thought it was everyone or no one.

Thats what what I though too.

[MarkTVS 209]

Apparently it’s not quite correct but I don’t force people to buy cars from me so it’s their choice to pay it or not. 

[Nick M.K. 574]

You definitely can’t charge card fees. You can of course charge a £150 fee to set up the finance but you have to charge everybody and offer to refund it in full if the customer chooses your finance provider instead of their own. 

[Dealer 54]

11 hours ago, MarkTVS said:

We charge an admin fee of £150 if the customer arranges there own finance, this covers the time spent required for new set ups when some companies want pictures of premises inside and out and proof of where the car came from etc etc, It’s designed to sway them more to use the finance we provide

 

We also charge a £25 admin fee for any card payments (excluding deposits) this is to encourage customers to pay via bank transfer which means we get the money faster or good old fashioned kesh

 

Not really had many people moan about it tbh.

I'm all for getting the money faster Mark but be careful, anyone that knows the law can make a quick call to TS and it could really open up a can of worms. 

https://networkdigital.co.uk/are-you-ready-for-the-card-surcharge-ban-from-2018/

 

[Row 71]

Putting myself in a punters shoes, if I was a customer I would not pay an admin fee I would sooner walk.

[Brunswick 10]

Yep, the European Payment Directive 2018, I have got to know it like the back of my hand, takeaways, village shop, even my kids school have had both barrels of my well rehearsed speech seeing as I have to live by it.  You simply cant charge a fee for different payment types.  Car Giant do however get away with charging for set up of your own finance so I would think that is ok?

 

[Rory RSC 596]

I would love to charge admin fees to every customer. Huge profit potential. 

[Nick M.K. 574]

On 29/04/2019 at 7:58 AM, Row said:

Putting myself in a punters shoes, if I was a customer I would not pay an admin fee I would sooner walk.

Yet us dealers pay HUGE fees to the auction houses and don't walk. Because even with the fees added the purchase still makes sense. 

Car supermarkets and low cost airlines have demonstrated over the years that customers will absolutely pay the fees (exorbitant amounts in some cases) and even if some "walk" most will buy. 

For a small business however it's a great selling point to not have fees. We have bigger margins and lower costs than the supermarkets so we can live without the fees. 

38 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

I would love to charge admin fees to every customer. Huge profit potential. 

Also huge potential for bad reviews and trolling on social media. 

Find some Facebook adverts for the British Airway AmEx credit card which has £195 annual fee, make yourself a cuppa and read the comments*

(*I have that card. Gives you almost 30000 avios points which I use for 5-6 flights in Europe every year. But people don't know and scream about the fee.)