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A 20 grand car includes VAT at 17.5% which makes it £17,000 so maybe a £2,000 profit if the in-cost is £15,000.
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But even that £2,000 is not profit. You have to apportion a contribution to the dealer's fixed costs for each car. Even if you say that's £150 (a complete guess, by the way, merely for illustration purposes), the profit comes down to £1,850.
Then the dealer has to pay its variable costs from there. These will vary depending on whether a car is supplied to a specific order from a customer, or bought for showroom stock. If the latter, the dealer pays for the car up front, and could be carrying it for some time before someone buys it. Let's say in our example the variable cost is another £150. That reduced the income to £1,700. That is then subject to Corporation Tax at 30%, which brings the actual net income down to £1,190.
So, whilst I hold no particular brief for car dealers, please remember that what looks like a big rake-off is not quite all that it seems.
I've just traded my old 2.8Q for £3,800. Two days later, it was on the forecourt at £6,500. Was I pi$$ed off? Not at all.
Take off £230 for VAT, then another £500 for the cost of the used warranty (yes, that IS how much it costs, as it was listed separately on the invoice for the car I bought), and then you're down to £1,970. Then take out the cost of any preparation for sale work, and factor in a contribution to fixed costs, & the dealer's profit before Corporation Tax is likely to be about half the mark-up difference.
So the dealer will sell my car for a profit but, hey, that's what it's there to do. It's a commercial business, after all.