tex2670

But--this cuts both ways. If you have a good relationship with your dealer, you don't have to take an adversarial position over a $500 doc fee. You can say to them "C'mon, really? This is how you treat a good customer?" Having a good relationship with your dealer means both parties treat each other with respect. IMO, charging a $500 "doc fee" instead of just being straight with the car's bottom line price is disrespectful to the customer.

jcat_350

Doc fees are just a way to undo some of the negotiation you've done in your deal. that's why some dealers don't charge them, some charge $125, $250, $500 etc.

My stance is, I'm not going to pay you to do your job. All of your costs are built into the fact that you're making money on every car you sell. Want to take $100 for registering the car? Ok, that's fine. $60 for the plate transfer and $40 for the person to go there and do it. Fine. I'm not going to pay you $500 to process paperwork you have to process anyway, wash/inspect/maintain your inventory, or other costs of doing business. That's the dealer's responsibility and you're paying for it with your margins on the cars you sell.

saz25

I respectfully disagree. There really is no benefit to establishing a relationship with a sales person except to benefit them; not you. If you really want to pay the lowest price, don't become their friends.

Your only leverage is knowledge as to the invoice price, incentives, hold backs, etc.

Rule #1: Never trust a car sales rep.
Rule #2: Don't forget rule #1.

Steve

chikoo

Rule#1. Make the service advisor your friend.
Rule#2. Never make the sales person your friend.

Nick2JZ

my method of buying a car from dealer is very simple......i tell them this is the price i want to pay out the door with TT&L. They can add any fee they like as long as the final number is the number OTD. I am a reasonable person so i never lowball them and it works most of the time. My latest purchase was 10' LS460L AWD Executive Seating......... Lexus charged $599 for PRE-DELIVERY SERVICE FEE and $59 ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION FILING FEE.

J.P.

good post.... i have never haggled over the doc fee, if the sales price \ trade in is what i want, i am not *****ing over $150 which is what, a tank of gas these days?

last new car i bought last month, dont even recall what the doc fee was, didnt care, the deal was right and they took care of me....

TripleL

Exactly

They took care of you and the bottom line is the bottom line...

Example both dealers very nice and pricing is as follows:

Dealer A: Final offer is Car: $41,000 Doc Fee: $0 Total Cost of vehicle: $41,000

Dealer B: Final offier is Car: $1 Doc Fee: $39,000 Total Cost of vehicle: $39,001

Who will you buy the car from?

saz25

I would buy from Dealer B, but I would insist on a reduction of the Doc fee by 5%. Seriously.

On my last Lexus purchase from a dealer in Massachusetts (I live in NH), they wanted to add a $29 license plate fee. Since I wouldn't be registering the car in MA, there is no reason for me to pay the $29. They agreed to remove it. My feeling is why throw money away. $29 is better in my pocket than theirs.

Steve

tex2670

I suppose when I'm faced with this scenario, it will be an easy choice. But you know it doesn't work this way. You work hard to negotiate the best price of the car, then you get the invoice, and there's $500 tacked on. Depending on what car you are buying, you may have been $500 apart from another dealer. And...if you are, then you just tell them thanks, but no thanks.

spwolf

but you know about doc fees, they have been around forever. and you dont sign anything anyway until purchase agreement which has them, so you can simply refuse to sign it.

it is valid thing to complain about - customer is always right, but at the same time, cars have never been cheaper with huge discounts, so it seems a bit silly to fixate on that.

TripleL

I understand about buying from Dealer B but can you expand on why you'd still ask for a reduction in the doc fee?


I agree a license plate fee is for the state or them going to the state for you, so removing that fee should be 10 second conversation,, but again.... In my example if dealer B had that fee.. 'who cares?' If its an upstanding dealer that I have a good relationship with I'm sure if I casually mention it the fee would be gone as it was for you, but again, I'm not going to walk away from a dealer I like, at a more than competative price over a $29 fee. YMMV

TripleL

Excellent point. That's exactly what happened to me in 1996. I negotiated a trade on the purchase of a brand new Civic for my wife. It ended up being at a dealer just over the Mass line cuz they were extremely helpful, they had the car I wanted and they were $300 less than anyone else.

I showed up to pick it up and a $75 document fee was on the invoice, I worked pretty hard to get it removed. I had no idea about document fees etc but made a few calls and was told that some dealers are starting to charge them. I reluctantly paid it.

The internet wasn't very active then so I learned my lesson the hard way. Since then I've bought, for myself and others, over a dozen cars and have never been presented an invoice that wasn't exactly what I negotiated. Simply by stating up front the terms of how I prefer to negotiate (as in my first post in this thread) I've had good car buying experiences.

chikoo

Best Method. I love it.