I'd only pay money direct to the car dealer, leaving the broker to sort out commission - that's to avoid getting into a legal situation I don't understand with a middleman - rather than any anathema to paying fees. I don't expect brokers to do things for nothing.

That's down to what I understand and what I don't - I'm quite happy for my investment discount broker to have moved away from commission income to management fee income - but that's an area I NOW understand well - it's also reaction to getting poor service from commission-based IFAs but that's going back a long way and the rules have changed drastically a couple of times since then.

I presume the circumstance here is with regards to sourcing rather than finance. Your comments make sense. In relation to sourcing, you may be surprised to know that some dealers are very limited to the amount of commission/referral fee and it can sometimes be rather minimal which is why brokers will charge a fee for their work which should still represent an overall saving to you (e.g. Car RRP = £15,000. Broker Sources for £13,500. Broker may get only £200 (inc VAT) referral fee and want to charge you a further £200 (inc VAT), that means you got the car for a saving of £1,300 overall).

Thus the broker has made perhaps 2.5% overall on the deal in which you saved 8.5% (but had he not been able to invoice you the £200 then he would have made only 1.3%.

As you reasonably say, you don't expect brokers to work for nothing, but for saving you potentially £,000's on a higher value vehicle they do need a cut to make it worth it when you take into account business overheads, wages, insurance, advertising, etc.

I hope this helps you to understand a little why sourcing brokers charge a fee.

The likes of CarWOW etc work slightly differently in that they will do so much volume that they will get what is called a volume related bonus from the manufacturer/dealer but decide not to pass that on to you so in fact will be making far more off a deal than a smaller independent broker with whom you can have a conversation. Plus chances are the CarWOW prices are the same as the independent if not worse (we often give better pricing that CarWOW) as independents have relationships with the supplying dealers allowing room for negotiation etc. whereas CarWOW et. al. just take orders, process them electronically and move on to the next number in line.

Hmm, bit late to point out but...

"as well as IT and management consultancy etc as a hangover from a career a fair while ago.
Oh and these floating ads are really annoying when typing on an iPhone as they obscure the page! "

Seems strange he/she couldn't sort out the annoying ads? given the experience provided.