Buying a car can bring unpleasant surprises when it comes time to pay the bill. Many dealers charge illegal ancillary fees.
What if it were possible to save several hundred euros on the purchase of your next car? This is what a report from the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) suggests. Inspectors from the Ministry of the Economy warn of optional fees imposed by certain dealers.
The story is almost always the same. After choosing your vehicle and negotiating its price, the salesperson presents the final invoice. This is where additional lines with evasive titles appear: “start-up package”, “vehicle preparation costs” or “comfort package”. Optional fees which can be expensive: up to 1,200 euros, according to observations from fraud prevention.
In an investigation, a member of the UFC-Que Choisir association went to a dealership to buy an electric Renault Megane. This person was charged 18 euros for a battery “charge”, 95 euros for “registration procedures” and 329 euros for a mysterious “Secury-T pack”. When he asked for explanations, the salesperson tried to justify these fees by presenting them as obligatory, a completely illegal approach.
According to UFC-Que Choisir, salespeople often use fallacious arguments to convince customers of their obligatory nature. Some even go so far as to charge electric vehicle buyers for fuel!
Worse still, these packages are often illegal. Optional costs included in the purchase price of a new vehicle must be limited to washing the bodywork, polishing, checking fluid levels, including 5 liters of fuel, as well as the supply and installation of a set number plates, recalls the repression of fraud.
These practices are far from isolated. The DGCCRF noted anomalies in nearly two thirds of the establishments inspected. Under the guise of various services such as the engraving of the serial number, the supply of floor mats or replacement bulbs, some professionals do not hesitate to artificially inflate their invoices.
But fraud does not only affect the new home market. In the second-hand segment, fraud investigators have noted even more worrying practices. For example, used vehicles are presented as “first hand” or new. Even more serious, essential information such as the date of entry into circulation, the vehicle's history or its actual mileage are regularly hidden from buyers.
The DGCCRF has even discovered cases of tampered with odometers, with spectacular reductions of up to 121,000 kilometers! Another unfair practice: the sale of damaged vehicles without first warning customers, a concealment which can have dramatic consequences on the safety of buyers.
Faced with these abusive practices, it is possible to obtain compensation even after having paid these costs or purchased the vehicle. To do this, the best thing is to contact a consumer association who can support you in these procedures.
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