Dealer delivery fee: Just look up at the clock on the wall in the dealership: It’s bullshit o’clock, again.

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Let us bust some entrenched car dealer and car industry bullshit:

My Local mini dealership in Brisbane is asking $3990 dealer delivery. MINI Australia suggests $2500. The Local dealer claims the dealer delivery fee comprises the sea freight/land transport form UK factory, to Brisbane, Australia. I’m highly doubtful of their claim. Please advise. - Allyn

Dealer delivery is a substantially bullshit charge - an entrenched industry rip-off. $4k ‘delivery’ on a $30k car - you’ve got to be kidding. The industry generally charges about $2000 foe so-called ‘delivery’ on mainstream cars, and heaps more than that if you’re too stupid to resist the proposed $15 grand on a Porsche, or $7000 on a Range Rover.

Just for disambiguation: The price here does not include international shipping. That’s just classic car dealer bullshit. Get them to show you an invoice where they pay the shipping. (Pro tip: such an invoice does not exist.)

The dealer does not ship the car to Australia. The importer does. 

The dealer pays the importer a wholesale price for the car. This includes the car, the shipping cost, taxes, GST - whatever - when they buy the car to put it in stock, to sell to you. There is no separate shipping charge that is magically passed on separately. If it were, cars would be the only consumer item on earth with this quaint pricing structure.

Can you imagine buying a refrigerator for $1000, only to be told across the counter that you’ll need to spring for another $150 to cover the cost of shipping to Australia? 

Can you imagine paying such a charge on a refrigerator, without question? Without evidence? Neither can I.

Dealer delivery is a fee for registering the car, screwing on the number plates, filling the tank, detailing the car and making sure it starts and runs. (If you’re lucky.) 

Dealers will say it includes shipping from overseas, because otherwise the cost looks unjustifiably extortionate, which it is (especially at $4k for a friggin’ MINI). $500-$1000 is probably reasonable. Anything more is extortion in a velvet glove.

They don’t even deliver the car. You come in and collect it. So - classic falsehood right there.

This is one of those situations where you and the salesman are not equals. You have all the power in a new car negotiation, which is why they so like to take charge. But should you choose to take the upper hand you can - because you have the money, and there are dozens of other cars you could buy. 

Make sure they know this. Offer - very generously - to pay them no more than $1000 for delivery. Make sure they know you’re walking out the door if they don’t agree, and don’t negotiate. Definitely don’t split the difference on this.