Added on fees when buying a new car?

[Mappa20]

Hey guys, I recently took my partner to purchase a new vehicle as she has been in the market for one and doesnt trust buying second hand. we found a car she really liked and the price was right up her ally, but when we got a the quote... there were nearly 10k worth of extra fees they slapped on the price... I get License and reg fees, but metallic paint fees and delivery fees? what can i do about these?

 

[ovisser1]

@StangV2_0

 

[BlueCrayon]

Hey guys, I recently took my partner to purchase a new vehicle as she has been in the market for one and doesnt trust buying second hand. we found a car she really liked and the price was right up her ally, but when we got a the quote... there were nearly 10k worth of extra fees they slapped on the price... I get License and reg fees, but metallic paint fees and delivery fees? what can i do about these?

Push your luck, tell them to remove all of those or else find another dealer that can assist.

I've never paid license and reg etc.. ever. I always get them to remove it and knock a little off the price as well

watch this

 

[Byakugan]

Hey guys, I recently took my partner to purchase a new vehicle as she has been in the market for one and doesnt trust buying second hand. we found a car she really liked and the price was right up her ally, but when we got a the quote... there were nearly 10k worth of extra fees they slapped on the price... I get License and reg fees, but metallic paint fees and delivery fees? what can i do about these?

Tell them to remove all the extras and that you only want a quote on the car. If they dont want to then go elsewhere. Plenty dealerships out there.

 

[StangV3_0]

Not sure how they have broken down each cost but this is not an excessively high on road charge.

What's the price of the paint, lic & reg, and delivery fees each?

When I was in new vehicle sales some of the vehicles were R2900 for metallic paint and that was 2 years ago,

Our average delivery fee (On road charges and Lic & Reg) was R5500 and this combined with the paint charge would then be R8400.

So yeah, this is in line with the industry norm. The metallic paint charge will depend on what the manufacturer is charging the dealership.

License and Reg is self-explanatory, and the dealership must not make any profit on this.

Delivery fees are a little different. Every single new vehicle that arrives at a dealership needs a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) done to it. This is the vehicles first service, so to speak. The vehicle is checked for any defects and prepped for hand over to the new car dept. Many vehicles may need programming to be taken out of shipment mode and then placed into normal mode. If the vehicle did not come with mags then the hubcaps need to be fitted. If it came with mags the center caps need to be fitted. Did it come with a towbar? many of them are chucked in the boot and have to be removed and fitted. This is over and above the programming and inspections the manufacturer recommends.
This is charged for by the workshop to the new vehicle sales dept, they don't do it for free. It usually also includes a wheel alignment check.

Your delivery fee covers this, as well as the carpets in the vehicle which is charged for to the new vehicle dept by the parts dept. Then of course, the fuel in the car.

So, if we ( or I ) did a discount on the on the delivery fee I had to cover these charges.

PDI cost was about R2k ex vat. Think for a second what a workshop charges per hour, and they may spend 3 hours on the PDI. Some vehicles even had to get their tank filled with an additive added for the first tank. But this will depend on what you buying.

Carpets about R800 and then fuel of R400 for example.

So you still looking at R3620 incl vat. Then lic and reg, plus the R2900 for the metallic paint. So about R7500 for a discounted "delivery fee and metallic paint"

Like I said, doesn't seem very high but it depends on what they charging for the delivery fee and metallic paint.

Perhaps ask the dealership to give you the delivery fee at cost price. Ask them to charge you their cost for the PDI, carpets, and the metallic paint and tell them you will put your own fuel in. See if that helps.

 

[RuskaDP]

I remember VW wanted to charge me for window tint on a pre-owned model that was already on the car.

They quickly removed the sum after I pointed it out.

 

[PepeThePrawn]

When I bought our Qashqai new the agreement was sent to me before I drove down to officially sign it.

Get there and sign. My wife says to me 'wait, thats not the same agreement'. I look and magically the agreement has changed to include a variety of aftermarket insurance plans to the tune of about R8k. Lots of awkward stares between staff as I tore up the doc in front of them.

 

[VolderTort]

When I bought our Qashqai new the agreement was sent to me before I drove down to officially sign it.

Get there and sign. My wife says to me 'wait, thats not the same agreement'. I look and magically the agreement has changed to include a variety of aftermarket insurance plans to the tune of about R8k. Lots of awkward stares between staff as I tore up the doc in front of them.

What happened next lol

 

[BuNNeH]

Some of the options are mandatory (lic, reg, etc) but anything additional such as Smash and grab tint and so on, rather do yourself if you're financing.

Keep in mind, it may be only R2k extra and it may cost more outright to get it done yourself, but if you factor that R2k extra in over a 5 year financing period, it becomes the most expensive smash and grab in the history of smashing or grabbing.

 

[Logan_]

YOU HAVE TO MAKE A SCENE. You will look like a retard but a retard with no fees is better than a polite person with 10 less grand in their wallet, I made quite the scene buying my first car and they ended up taking around R12k off. I know I could have gotten more off but I needed the car so... But yes as @Byakugan Said there is always another deal to be had at a different dealership.

 

[Bencrisp]

Your hard earned money, you dictate if you are happy and willing to pay those extras. I told the garage you take it off or I walk. I do not see a value in those extras....racketeering if you ask me.

 

[PepeThePrawn]

What happened next lol

It was one of those kak sitations where normally I would have gone ballistic but I was buying the car for my wife and at the time the Qashqai was selling well so walking out would have meant delays.

But they're not the first to do something dodgy, I was looking to buy a Ford Fiesta and the dealership said they were discounting it but gave me the monthly installments instead of the actual discount price. I took the installments and worked the price backwards to get the sale price and it was the full retail price!

VW phoned my wife and told her the brake pads on her car were shot and needed replacing, they gave the old pads to her (as required) and they were still 80%. Next service they phoned again and told her the pads were shot again which led to arguments of course with the garage.

Nissan also claimed we needed to replace a part on the Qashqai and sent my wife a pic of the part on a table so she could see it needed replacement. I told them it was bullshit because no dealership would remove a part to show a client when most of the 12k bill was for time. Thats like saying, ooh your cambelt is shot so here it is on a table so you can decide if we should actually replace it.

 

[Andrew_Smith]

Here is my breakdown of my 2023 Suzuki Swift GLX M/T:

They also wanted to add a lot of extras which with back and forth I said I only wanted a quote on the vehicle as is.

I paid for the tinted smash & grab out of my pocket.

 

[PepeThePrawn]

Here is my breakdown of my 2023 Suzuki Swift GLX M/T:

They also wanted to add a lot of extras which with back and forth I said I only wanted a quote on the vehicle as is.

I paid for the tinted smash & grab out of my pocket.

My basic approach has always been that I say I don't care what your fees are, just tell me the amount of have to pay for the vehicle with everything included, I'll accept or reject. I understand there's some juggling when it comes to vehicle finance as well as trading in as they like to play with the figures but I want to know what they want me to pay and not what they want to call it.

I think my biggest gripe is actually with car financing as I think its still a highly dishonest way of selling. Those lovely little tables they show you never add up because of what they exclude from it, sometimes its the deposit, sometimes a balloon payment but always done to make the deal look far better than it really is. Doing that allows them to skirt around having to be upfront about a lot of important info.

 

[StangV3_0]

at OP,

How much is the metallic paint? I suspect this is making up around 40% of the extra charges. Unless they have added smash and grab as well. Cheaper to do it yourself in most cases.

Be boring and buy the white the car. Cheaper insurance as well!

btw, let me know if you want a quote on the insurance.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

The biggest problem is when the car you want is in high demand. They throw lots of on-the-road/PDI/licensing costs on the invoice when they know that if you walk away they have a queue of buyers on the waitlist to take your place.

Also, make sure they actually apply to all the major banks. Plenty of places push their local in-house finance.

Another thing is that some manufacturers sell for cheap and make up some money on the final invoice. For example, Suzuki’s margins are not high and they make it up with metallic paint etc whearas Mazda typically gives you a discount that covers the on the road fees because their margins are higher.

 

[Trompie67]

These extra fees are just ways of inflating costs for you, the buyer, so the stealership can make more profit in one or more of their cost centres.

The only legit costs are license & registration.

PDI a brand new vehicle - that's the dealers cost of doing business. Think about it logically - you've just spent hundreds of thousands of ZAR buying a new vehicle that includes a service/maintenance plan. But you must pay to have it inspected before it can go out on the road? GFYS.
Ditto for metallic paint. The old excuse BS used to be that metallic was more expensive because fewer vehicles were sold with metallic paint. Nowadays there are more metallic colour options than standard colours. And more metallics sold than standard. Difference in paint manufacture costs are minimal. In reality you should be getting a discount for buying a standard colour - especially White, which actually does cost less to manufacture!

Pay for mats/carpets? Fokkof - first set should be included in the cost of the vehicle.

Towbars, nudge bars, seat covers etc. are all added extras - you can choose to have them fitted by the stealership or elsewhere. Reality is be prepared to pay 50 to 100% more at the stealer than at an aftermarket fitment centre - the same goes for mats/carpets for that matter. Irony is many dealerships send the vehicle out to aftermarket fitment centres in any case!

Last vehicle I bought new was a Fortuner for SWAMBO.
Added towbar, nudge bar, seat covers, rear sill protector & rubber mat for the load area/boot plus smash & grab. Paid stealership price for all of them as they would then be covered by the manufacturer warranty.
Paid license & reg.
When they tried to get difficult about the metallic paint, carpets & PDI aka Delivery fees I told them not to worry, I would go elsewhere. Not like there's a shortage of Toyota Dealers in GP...
So ended up being:
No delivery costs aka PDI.
No charge for metallic paint.
No charge for carpets/mats.

OTP done & dusted within 30 minutes. They'd emailed me the invoice by the time I got to the office, made payment same day.
That was Monday morning, we collected the vehicle that Saturday which was SWAMBO's Birthday.

The motor trade is in many ways a major rip-off. I've never seen a "poor" dealer principal. They by & large all do exceptionally well. The same goes for panel beaters, fitment centres, tyre franchises etc. etc. There are plenty ways to reduce costs - ever try asking for the qualifications certificate of the chap draining the oil on your vehicle? Try not to look surprised when you see the same fellow is sweeping the floors of the workshop later that day! Yet you've paid 30 minutes labour at R900-00 per hour for him to drain your oil...

 

[Mappa20]

at OP,

How much is the metallic paint? I suspect this is making up around 40% of the extra charges. Unless they have added smash and grab as well. Cheaper to do it yourself in most cases.

Be boring and buy the white the car. Cheaper insurance as well!

btw, let me know if you want a quote on the insurance.

looking to be just over 3k for the paint... might be better to get the car in white to avoid it I will drop you a pm for insurance

 

[Mappa20]

at OP,

How much is the metallic paint? I suspect this is making up around 40% of the extra charges. Unless they have added smash and grab as well. Cheaper to do it yourself in most cases.

Be boring and buy the white the car. Cheaper insurance as well!

btw, let me know if you want a quote on the insurance.

Went back to the dealership and apparently the white is also metallic...

 

[Trompie67]

Went back to the dealership and apparently the white is also metallic...

With that kind of logic you could use the Vaseline (that the stealership is NOT using whilst they shaft you) as petrol - it is after all, petroleum jelly!

On a more serious note - it may be "pearlescent" which has silica in the paint to make it lekker shiny my bruh. 🤦‍♂️

 

[PepeThePrawn]

Sorry, have we established what car this is yet?

 

[SteveIndeed]

Not sure how they have broken down each cost but this is not an excessively high on road charge.

What's the price of the paint, lic & reg, and delivery fees each?

When I was in new vehicle sales some of the vehicles were R2900 for metallic paint and that was 2 years ago,

Our average delivery fee (On road charges and Lic & Reg) was R5500 and this combined with the paint charge would then be R8400.

So yeah, this is in line with the industry norm. The metallic paint charge will depend on what the manufacturer is charging the dealership.

License and Reg is self-explanatory, and the dealership must not make any profit on this.

Delivery fees are a little different. Every single new vehicle that arrives at a dealership needs a PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) done to it. This is the vehicles first service, so to speak. The vehicle is checked for any defects and prepped for hand over to the new car dept. Many vehicles may need programming to be taken out of shipment mode and then placed into normal mode. If the vehicle did not come with mags then the hubcaps need to be fitted. If it came with mags the center caps need to be fitted. Did it come with a towbar? many of them are chucked in the boot and have to be removed and fitted. This is over and above the programming and inspections the manufacturer recommends.
This is charged for by the workshop to the new vehicle sales dept, they don't do it for free. It usually also includes a wheel alignment check.

Your delivery fee covers this, as well as the carpets in the vehicle which is charged for to the new vehicle dept by the parts dept. Then of course, the fuel in the car.

So, if we ( or I ) did a discount on the on the delivery fee I had to cover these charges.

PDI cost was about R2k ex vat. Think for a second what a workshop charges per hour, and they may spend 3 hours on the PDI. Some vehicles even had to get their tank filled with an additive added for the first tank. But this will depend on what you buying.

Carpets about R800 and then fuel of R400 for example.

So you still looking at R3620 incl vat. Then lic and reg, plus the R2900 for the metallic paint. So about R7500 for a discounted "delivery fee and metallic paint"

Like I said, doesn't seem very high but it depends on what they charging for the delivery fee and metallic paint.

Perhaps ask the dealership to give you the delivery fee at cost price. Ask them to charge you their cost for the PDI, carpets, and the metallic paint and tell them you will put your own fuel in. See if that helps.

You and I agree on many things car-related, but we won't on this one.

Why is a car I buy not practically ready-to-drive when it arrives at the dealership (excluding fuel, of course)? I can pull the stickers/wrapping off, I can wash it, I can fit the centre caps, I can install the carpets. All vehicles are supplied from the factory with a small quantity of fuel so they can be driven out of the factory gates and onto and then off of the RoRo/carrier. I'm quite capable of putting fuel into the car at the nearest petrol station and attending to the wheel alignment myself just after I take delivery. Heck, I'll sort out my own licensing and registration - just give me the paperwork. All the dealer needs to do is have me sign a document stating they're not liable for the issues I elect to sort out myself. If I don't want to sign it, then I must pay for the dealer to do it. That sounds fair to me.

How can carpets not be included in the price of the car? Imagine buying a fridge online but when you arrive at the store to collect it, the rep says the shelves aren't included so that'll be an extra R1,000, please, sir.

The metallic paint is an option specified at the time of ordering the vehicle - it is therefore included in the cost of the vehicle from the manufacturer.

And I must pay for the line item itself, the time it takes to attend to the issue and then a fat margin on top?

Barring the dealer's fitment of extras (tow bars, tinting, etc), the only chargeable work items that I cannot or am unwilling to attend to myself may be the software programming and the defects inspection, which can be done together and should take an hour at most. We all know that dealership employees are not concours judges...

Give me the exact breakdown of what is to be done to the car before I accept delivery and I will decide whether I can do it myself or not. I wholeheartedly agree with @Trompie67 on this one.

 

[StangV3_0]

Went back to the dealership and apparently the white is also metallic...

Lol.. well then it must be pearl white or something similar.

Why is a car I buy not practically ready-to-drive when it arrives at the dealership (excluding fuel, of course)? I can pull the stickers/wrapping off, I can wash it, I can fit the centre caps, I can install the carpets. All vehicles are supplied from the factory with a small quantity of fuel so they can be driven out of the factory gates and onto and then off of the RoRo/carrier. I'm quite capable of putting fuel into the car at the nearest petrol station and attending to the wheel alignment myself just after I take delivery. Heck, I'll sort out my own licensing and registration - just give me the paperwork. All the dealer needs to do is have me sign a document stating they're not liable for the issues I elect to sort out myself. If I don't want to sign it, then I must pay for the dealer to do it. That sounds fair to me.

No manufacturer is going to hand a car over to a buyer without doing this themselves. Yes, you could do a lot of this yourself however the necessary programming of the car for hand over to the showroom floor you can't do. And even if you did do this yourself, or have the means to do this yourself, the warranty won't be honored. In many cases this is the same time the warranty is activated but in many cases it isn't. What if the car sits on the showroom floor for 3 months before it is sold but the warranty was activated 3 months earlier? Buyer then gets a car which has a service due in 7 months and not 12 months. Point is the dealerships and motor manufacturers are not going to leave this up the buyer and run the risk of bad press on their vehicle warranty.

How can carpets not be included in the price of the car? Imagine buying a fridge online but when you arrive at the store to collect it, the rep says the shelves aren't included so that'll be an extra R1,000, please, sir.

Because they are not. The dealerships don't make the rules. If a dealership receives a vehicle with no carpets, must they just throw their hands up and say to client "Sorry, they didn't send us carpets. Go tag and moan at them on social media."

Some brands may come with their own carpets in the vehicle but the three brands I sold over 5 years didn't. Every now and then there was a limited-edition vehicle that may come with branded carpets from the factory. But the dealership was billed for these carpets.

The metallic paint is an option specified at the time of ordering the vehicle - it is therefore included in the cost of the vehicle from the manufacturer.

And I must pay for the line item itself, the time it takes to attend to the issue and then a fat margin on top?

The dealerships are charged for the color by the manufacturer as well as any none-standard extras on the vehicle. So no, it is not included in the cost from the manufacturer.
Let's imagine for a second you walk into a dealership, and they have a red Isuzu Double Cab 1.9LS Auto with diff lock on the floor. You fall in love with it and say "I'll take it"

The dealership has been billed x amount for the vehicle, plus x amount for the diff lock, and then x amount for the metallic color. They didn't get a red double cab with diff lock at no additional cost above the vehicle itself. Some vehicles will have these features included in their price but others won't. For argument sake the diff lock is included in the price for the LSE spec Isuzu Double Cab, buy not the LS spec. But still, on the LSE spec the dealer will still battle charged for any color that is not white.

The diff lock might be R4900 and the paint R1900 on a bakkie but this is just a small example. The same applies for features on high end vehicles such as adaptive LED lighting, heated seats, ceramic brakes, etc. Have you seen what some of the features are for hign end luxury cars? The dealers don't get it for free. Neither does the client. The same applies to paint.

Barring the dealer's fitment of extras (tow bars, tinting, etc), the only chargeable work items that I cannot or am unwilling to attend to myself may be the software programming and the defects inspection, which can be done together and should take an hour at most. We all know that dealership employees are not concours judges...

Unless all the motor manufacturers in the world agree to this and change the way it is done, this will never change. And with that said, I did on many occasions find defects on a vehicle which the workshop missed. Whether it was the smallest piece of dirt under the paint or piece of trim missing, it does happen a bit more than some may think. AT the end of the day the dealership is responsible to hand over a vehicle to the client that has had the PDI done in line with the manufacturers requirements and is free of defects.

Should this process ever stop all together, then will the buyers be willing to sign a document that says, "I waiver my right to any defect on this vehicle due to the PDI process not being completed in line with the manufacturer requirements"? Or something similar?

I think not. It is what it is.

Give me the exact breakdown of what is to be done to the car before I accept delivery and I will decide whether I can do it myself or not. I wholeheartedly agree with @Trompie67 on this one.

At the end of the day, it is up the car salesman to manage the clients' expectations and be very clear about the costs over and above the vehicle price. On many occasions I absorbed these additional costs in order to get the deal. I would often "give" the diff lock to the client or the color or the towbar etc. I would add it to the invoice and then discount the vehicle price by the same amount of the added item. And I would do this after explaining to the client why I am doing it.

Issues like the extra fees arise when the salesman or F&I has not been clear about the additional costs involved with handing over a vehicle.

It's all about effective communication and transparency. And unfortunately, this isn't common practice in many dealerships.

 

[StangV3_0]

Lol.. well then it must be pearl white or something similar.



No manufacturer is going to hand a car over to a buyer without doing this themselves. Yes, you could do a lot of this yourself however the necessary programming of the car for hand over to the showroom floor you can't do. And even if you did do this yourself, or have the means to do this yourself, the warranty won't be honored. In many cases this is the same time the warranty is activated but in many cases it isn't. What if the car sits on the showroom floor for 3 months before it is sold but the warranty was activated 3 months earlier? Buyer then gets a car which has a service due in 7 months and not 12 months. Point is the dealerships and motor manufacturers are not going to leave this up the buyer and run the risk of bad press on their vehicle warranty.



Because they are not. The dealerships don't make the rules. If a dealership receives a vehicle with no carpets, must they just throw their hands up and say to client "Sorry, they didn't send us carpets. Go tag and moan at them on social media."

Some brands may come with their own carpets in the vehicle but the three brands I sold over 5 years didn't. Every now and then there was a limited-edition vehicle that may come with branded carpets from the factory. But the dealership was billed for these carpets.



The dealerships are charged for the color by the manufacturer as well as any none-standard extras on the vehicle. So no, it is not included in the cost from the manufacturer.
Let's imagine for a second you walk into a dealership, and they have a red Isuzu Double Cab 1.9LS Auto with diff lock on the floor. You fall in love with it and say "I'll take it"

The dealership has been billed x amount for the vehicle, plus x amount for the diff lock, and then x amount for the metallic color. They didn't get a red double cab with diff lock at no additional cost above the vehicle itself. Some vehicles will have these features included in their price but others won't. For argument sake the diff lock is included in the price for the LSE spec Isuzu Double Cab, buy not the LS spec. But still, on the LSE spec the dealer will still battle charged for any color that is not white.

The diff lock might be R4900 and the paint R1900 on a bakkie but this is just a small example. The same applies for features on high end vehicles such as adaptive LED lighting, heated seats, ceramic brakes, etc. Have you seen what some of the features are for hign end luxury cars? The dealers don't get it for free. Neither does the client. The same applies to paint.



Unless all the motor manufacturers in the world agree to this and change the way it is done, this will never change. And with that said, I did on many occasions find defects on a vehicle which the workshop missed. Whether it was the smallest piece of dirt under the paint or piece of trim missing, it does happen a bit more than some may think. AT the end of the day the dealership is responsible to hand over a vehicle to the client that has had the PDI done in line with the manufacturers requirements and is free of defects.

Should this process ever stop all together, then will the buyers be willing to sign a document that says, "I waiver my right to any defect on this vehicle due to the PDI process not being completed in line with the manufacturer requirements"? Or something similar?

I think not. It is what it is.



At the end of the day, it is up the car salesman to manage the clients' expectations and be very clear about the costs over and above the vehicle price. On many occasions I absorbed these additional costs in order to get the deal. I would often "give" the diff lock to the client or the color or the towbar etc. I would add it to the invoice and then discount the vehicle price by the same amount of the added item. And I would do this after explaining to the client why I am doing it.

Issues like the extra fees arise when the salesman or F&I has not been clear about the additional costs involved with handing over a vehicle.

It's all about effective communication and transparency. And unfortunately, this isn't common practice in many dealerships.

Remember, I am not posting here to defend or promote the practices of the motor trade. I am no longer in the motor trade. I am just explaining how it works, their reasoning behind it, and making recommendations on how to handle it.

 

[SteveIndeed]

No manufacturer is going to hand a car over to a buyer without doing this themselves. Yes, you could do a lot of this yourself however the necessary programming of the car for hand over to the showroom floor you can't do. And even if you did do this yourself, or have the means to do this yourself, the warranty won't be honored. In many cases this is the same time the warranty is activated but in many cases it isn't. What if the car sits on the showroom floor for 3 months before it is sold but the warranty was activated 3 months earlier? Buyer then gets a car which has a service due in 7 months and not 12 months. Point is the dealerships and motor manufacturers are not going to leave this up the buyer and run the risk of bad press on their vehicle warranty.

I know with certainty that a few BMW dealers do this to show to H/O that a car has been "sold" so that they can meet their targets. They then discount the price of the car according to how long it's been sat on the floor.

Because they are not. The dealerships don't make the rules. If a dealership receives a vehicle with no carpets, must they just throw their hands up and say to client "Sorry, they didn't send us carpets. Go tag and moan at them on social media."

Some brands may come with their own carpets in the vehicle but the three brands I sold over 5 years didn't. Every now and then there was a limited-edition vehicle that may come with branded carpets from the factory. But the dealership was billed for these carpets.

That's absurd. I'm not pointing a finger at you but rather at the carmakers. Not once have I ever seen a website where the consumer is told the price of the car excludes carpets. It needs to be communicated to consumers upfront.

The dealerships are charged for the color by the manufacturer as well as any none-standard extras on the vehicle. So no, it is not included in the cost from the manufacturer.
Let's imagine for a second you walk into a dealership, and they have a red Isuzu Double Cab 1.9LS Auto with diff lock on the floor. You fall in love with it and say "I'll take it"

The dealership has been billed x amount for the vehicle, plus x amount for the diff lock, and then x amount for the metallic color. They didn't get a red double cab with diff lock at no additional cost above the vehicle itself. Some vehicles will have these features included in their price but others won't. For argument sake the diff lock is included in the price for the LSE spec Isuzu Double Cab, buy not the LS spec. But still, on the LSE spec the dealer will still battle charged for any color that is not white.

The diff lock might be R4900 and the paint R1900 on a bakkie but this is just a small example. The same applies for features on high end vehicles such as adaptive LED lighting, heated seats, ceramic brakes, etc. Have you seen what some of the features are for hign end luxury cars? The dealers don't get it for free. Neither does the client. The same applies to paint.

I'm referring to times when cars are specced on the carmaker's website and then ordered at the dealer, like I did. The metallic paint and other extras were built into the price I saw on the website when I ordered the car. I've never assumed the dealer gets it for free. If the dealer aims to make a profit/charge a mark-up on each extra despite having to put literally no additional effort into incorporating that extra into the car - since that's the carmaker's job - then that's a scummy dealer.

Should this process ever stop all together, then will the buyers be willing to sign a document that says, "I waiver my right to any defect on this vehicle due to the PDI process not being completed in line with the manufacturer requirements"? Or something similar?

I think not. It is what it is.

That's why I say, give consumers the choice. Some of them might be willing to sign that document in favour of doing their own PDI. Whether they do that PDI themselves properly or not is then not the dealer's problem. Offer the service at an additional cost with the caveat of what could happen if they don't choose the service. Similar to a TV retailer saying, "We offer an installation service" and in the same breath, "We take no responsibility for defects in the product that could have emerged if we did the installation." Leave it up to the consumer to prove that the defect was there before delivery took place - that's what almost every other retailer of goods does globally.

At the end of the day, it is up the car salesman to manage the clients' expectations and be very clear about the costs over and above the vehicle price. On many occasions I absorbed these additional costs in order to get the deal. I would often "give" the diff lock to the client or the color or the towbar etc. I would add it to the invoice and then discount the vehicle price by the same amount of the added item. And I would do this after explaining to the client why I am doing it.

Issues like the extra fees arise when the salesman or F&I has not been clear about the additional costs involved with handing over a vehicle.

It's all about effective communication and transparency. And unfortunately, this isn't common practice in many dealerships.

Agreed. Since people also look up cars on the carmakers' websites, it should be up to the carmakers to point out the additional fees that may be charged when buying that exact car!

 

[StangV3_0]

When they tried to get difficult about the metallic paint, carpets & PDI aka Delivery fees I told them not to worry, I would go elsewhere. Not like there's a shortage of Toyota Dealers in GP...

Well, this is the best advice anyone can give or take. If you are not happy with the offer, then go look elsewhere. There are more than enough dealerships that will be willing to get your business.

The motor trade is in many ways a major rip-off. I've never seen a "poor" dealer principal.

Most of the money generated in a new vehicle dealership is in the workshop. The new vehicle sales are usually a fraction compared to what the workshop generates. New vehicles themselves don't have as high margins as what the general public thinks they do. To be fair, I only worked with three brands. But we do hear what margins are on other brands from time to time. They are not very high. Some brands as low as 5%. Some could be less. A full workshop could make that much money in an hour.

I know with certainty that a few BMW dealers do this to show to H/O that a car has been "sold" so that they can meet their targets. They then discount the price of the car according to how long it's been sat on the floor.

Yeah, this happens very often. If the dealership is 3 or 4 vehicles short of their expected target for the month they will "pre report" 4 vehicles as sold. But they need to be careful because the next month they could be short again, and then they "pre report" again. Could catch up with them in a few months' time.

 

[StangV3_0]

I assume no one here has bought a Polo when they charge you for the smokers package ashtray??

https://imgur.com/kmsebEv

 

[BuNNeH]

I assume no one here has bought a Polo when they charge you for the smokers package ashtray??

Wait, you have to pay extra for windows?

 

[hms_dexter]

Here is my breakdown of my 2023 Suzuki Swift GLX M/T:

They also wanted to add a lot of extras which with back and forth I said I only wanted a quote on the vehicle as is.

I paid for the tinted smash & grab out of my pocket.

My guy is running windows 3.11

 

[BuNNeH]

My guy is running windows 3.11

So is the Swift.