I always ask the dealer how much their doc fee is. Stingray Chevrolet's doc fee is a mere $99. Everyone else I went to charged anywhere from $599 to $899. I don't like the principle of a doc fee but I also don't like paying closing costs on a house either.

However, the dealer has to make a profit and if that is how they want to do it, then so be it. As long as you know this going in and include this cost in your negotiating then it's not worth whining to the sales writer over a $99 dollar fee that I knew about from the start and was given $1000's of dollars off the total price of the car.

This particular dealership was totally honest and upfront in everything they did and said including the salesman. It was the best new car buying experience I ever had and didn't really care about their $99 fee especially when their overhead costs is enormous and the consumer lost many places to shop for a car this past year. If dealers don't profit then people lose jobs.

 

I agree. As long as the doc fee is honest and up-front, I think it's just fine. When I purchased, it was included in the final price and presented as such, albeit itemized on my buyer's order. As long as the final price lined up how I wanted, I was fine with it. I could care less if the buyer's order stated that I paid $1500 for the cup of coffee I chose not to accept while waiting for the deal to get finished up in the tower--as long as that $1500 came off the price of the car.

Lots of vendors include T-shirts and hats and other schwag in the stuff they sell. These items are not free. They don't have an orphan child tending cotton-patches and sewing looms out on the back 40 making this stuff. The price is quietly added to the cost of the badges, rims, headers, whatever that you bought. Nobody blinks.

However, itemize a $399 doc-fee on a $70K car and people go BALLISTIC!

It's not logical. That receptionist must be paid for answering the phone, the copy toner must be replaced, etc. The doc fee is part of what pays for this. I don't see how that's such a big deal.

I didn't see a single person whine about the few hundred $$ that the price of a corvette rose this year. Why? Because they all accept that GM must make at least SOME profit, and inflation and other factors must be accounted for. A doc fee is no different, the only problem is it has its own line on the buyer's order in many cases.

 

I always decide what I am willing to pay for the car.
Which is invoice on a new car. (Yes I know invoice is not true dealer cost but no-one can buy a car at true dealer cost or the dealer would go out of business, they have to make a profit). I then add the taxes and title fee.
That is the out the door price I am willing to pay. I don't add doc fee.
They always have to show it for legal purposes since they charge others. So they just back that amount out of the invoice price and I pay the out the door price I started with.

On a used car, I decide what I am willing to pay based on KBB and Edmunds. That is the price I pay out the door including taxes, title, doc fee, etc... There is still a lot of profit in the car for the dealer.

 

I bought within a couple hundred $$ of what I belive true dealer cost is on the car I purchased. Part of the reason I could do this is I had established a relationship with the dealership over the last 6 months. The bigger reason is because this means they are now able to order another Z06, for their show-room this time. That one they are, I am sure, hoping to sell for close to sticker. They took a hit on this one to get one on the floor that they otherwise wouldn't have in hopes of making a tidy profit. Also, they are hoping to service the car. That will also pick up some profit for sure.

 

$0 from Tommy at McMulkin .

The only time I had to walk away due to doc fees was when we were getting an Impala years ago. We had agreed on a price (GMS), minus rebates, plus TT&L. So we start signing stuff, and there it all is listed, but pre printed on the form was a $150 doc fee, and it was included in the total. I reminded the guy that we had agreed on GMS minus rebate, plus TT&L, and his response was "but it's already printed on the form!"

After I got done , I just said I'm not paying it for a run of the mill Impala that I can get at any Chevy store in the area, and they actually let me walk. Next day they called back to say they would waive it "just this one time", but I had already bought another one from a different dealer after I left them the day before.

 

I'm pretty sure I didn't get dinner or kissed either.

 

I thought I had seen some high doc fee`s, but the last car I bought had a $699. I told them that I would not but the car unless they forgot about a $699 Doc fee. I bought the car and did not pay the fee.

 

Toyota (at least when i worked there) capped the dealer' doc fee at $50...just sayin...hate on them all you want but they wont allow their dealers to charge 400+ for nothing.

 

Nope.

 

Never that I can remember and not on the Vette we purchased out of state from Reliable

 

Not totally true. A Toyota dealer here in Tampa acid etch the VIN on all the windows of all their new vehicles, call it a "Theft Prevention Package" and charge $600. They won't take it off the invoice when requested because they claim its already done to the vehicle. Does this really stop theft and Do you want to see a VIN # on all the windows?
Might as well pay $600 for scotchguard or underbody rust prevention.

These no-value add-ons irritate their customers and reinforces their dishonest reputations. If the dealers would just include the necessary profit in their prices and stop insulting customers with false value items they would be more likely to make a sale, get a referal and a gain a loyal customer.

 

ya, but that is a dealer added option, something Toyota doesn't regulate.

things like the doc fee they do. it said it on the contract "not to exceed $50"

 

If a dealer wants to charge me they can take it off the price of the car.

The drive out price I agree to is the drive out price...I don't care where the money goes.

 

Thats a good thing and not all dealers, salesmen or service centers are evil. There are some good ones out there.

 

Dealer tried to add something like $250 when I bought my Vette.....told him to just give me the Bill of Sale & I would take care of all the licensing & titling. Drove down the road to the DMV & took care of the paperwork myself, paying whatever were the DMV fees, which I would have had to pay the Dealer anyway on top of the bogus $250!

 

I bought mine over the phone telling them the price we agreed to was my "all-in" price (those words exactly) + tax/title/license. When the papers came over via email, it included $599 doc fees. I called them up and told the dealership I wasn't paying that and that we agreed to my all-in price. They waived the doc fee. Basically they adjusted my purchase price down by $599 and kept the doc fee in the paperwork but it's all the same to me. My all-in price was met.

 

We looked at a Lincoln in Virginia Beach for my wife. The dealership not only was adding a $500 documentation fee but also was charging $1,999 for polishing and waxing. At that point, we walked without any further discussion.

 

No doc fees, no "hidden" fees and they supplied a 20 day temporary registration, no charge. That's the way to do business.

 

Thats what it takes. Total

 

said NO they said ok......