Documentation Fee?

[ZYAL8R]

Doc. fees here run $129.

As far as paying for this and that with this fee, they are probably making 1/2 of that in pure profit.

Dealer always says..."Well it costs for us to do all this paperwork". Why Yes, it does, but not near as much time as they lead you to beleive. After the Finance manager has been doing his job for a short while, they get rather quick at "plugging in the numbers". The printer is really doing the hard stuff. LOL.

BUT, $599 is a frickin' EPIC-GOUGE!

[Douge]

I am not going to argue the point. A doc fee is a soft add. It is a profit tool. Many dealers actually print a set amount on their contracts. I have personally negotiated many new car (vehicle) sales and simply had them draw a line through that line item and not paid for it. It is negotiable as is everything on the contract with the exception of the state fees, and not everyone pays it. I am not going to call you stupid for paying it even though you are an employee, sometimes employees get the worst deals, but please don't assume that since you fell for it, everyone else should follow your poor example.

Even though it is portrayed as a "documentation fee" and passed on to you as though it costs the dealership an arm and a leg to process your paperwork, it is state law that requires the dealership as part of their license agreement with the state to fill our odo statments, registration and verify insurance coverages and they could not sell you a car at all if they did not adhere to the license agreement with the state. If they can fool you into believing that you should contribute more money to cover their overhead than more power to them but this fee is the equivalent to pinstriping and perma coat and all the other BS fees they try to sneak by you.

[nol300]

I never said it was not negotiable and I pay it but it is backed out of the price of course I am not going to actually pay it. But I do show it on every deal for audit purposes. And yes of course it is state law for us to do that paperwork but we still have to pay those employees.

All I am saying is I usually give it away and back it out of the price but I doubt most dealers on this new of a car are going to say ok let me take that off for you. That is highly doubtful.

[Chevyrocker]

Some of you guys are funny. Maybe it's just a Florida thing, but some dealers are up to $1199 and $1299 for their doc fees (aka dealer fees). $599 is really not that big a deal and trust me, they will have no problem selling your car if you walk. No, it is not gouging. Gouging is changing prices on things because of current market conditions. If a dealer charges that on every car and they have been for years, it is not gouging.

As far as people saying it's pure profit, you're wrong too in a way. Does it add to the bottom line? Yes. But from what I understand most dealers charge it to offset floor planning costs. It probably wouldn't exist if it didn't cost dealers upwards of $60K-$100K to keep cars on the lot for you to see and drive and such. If dealers just kept one unit of each model around and made you order everything it probably wouldn't exist, but since everyone likes choices, dealers have to keep 10 LTZ Tahoes and 10 2LT's and 15 1LT's and 8 LS's and so on.

Flame away if you feel it necessary, but this is one thing that drives me crazy.

Also, just because you cross it out on your contract doesn't mean it doesn't get paid. That just means that when the paperwork gets to the back, they discount your vehicles another $600 or whatever it was and keep the fee on there.

[nol300]

Originally Posted by Chevyrocker

Some of you guys are funny. Maybe it's just a Florida thing, but some dealers are up to $1199 and $1299 for their doc fees (aka dealer fees). $599 is really not that big a deal and trust me, they will have no problem selling your car if you walk. No, it is not gouging. Gouging is changing prices on things because of current market conditions. If a dealer charges that on every car and they have been for years, it is not gouging.

As far as people saying it's pure profit, you're wrong too in a way. Does it add to the bottom line? Yes. But from what I understand most dealers charge it to offset floor planning costs. It probably wouldn't exist if it didn't cost dealers upwards of $60K-$100K to keep cars on the lot for you to see and drive and such. If dealers just kept one unit of each model around and made you order everything it probably wouldn't exist, but since everyone likes choices, dealers have to keep 10 LTZ Tahoes and 10 2LT's and 15 1LT's and 8 LS's and so on.

Flame away if you feel it necessary, but this is one thing that drives me crazy.

Also, just because you cross it out on your contract doesn't mean it doesn't get paid. That just means that when the paperwork gets to the back, they discount your vehicles another $600 or whatever it was and keep the fee on there.

Thank you.

What wait a minute someone who actually thinks dealers have extra cost that can't be according to everyone else we are just out there to screw people. It's amazing how many people think we still make a ton of money on a new car. Wow 1,199 that's heafty. We charge 399 that is about the norm out here.

[PAUL SS]

$599 seems high. I once had a dealer try to sneak in a Simoniz Wax Protection kit and wax job for $300. It was never mentioned until I questioned the final total price when he was writing up the deal. He removed it when I was out of the seat and leaving. He changed his mind...and this was a new Saturn in 1999. No haggling, no hassles, yeah right.

[Chevyrocker]

Originally Posted by nol300

Thank you.

What wait a minute someone who actually thinks dealers have extra cost that can't be according to everyone else we are just out there to screw people. It's amazing how many people think we still make a ton of money on a new car. Wow 1,199 that's heafty. We charge 399 that is about the norm out here.

That's Braman (BMW, Audi, etc) and Lexus that charge the big bucks around here. Everyone else is $499-$799.

[THE EVIL TW1N]

the dealership i worked at, from what I remember, was ~$50.

[CamaroSue]

I thought my sales guy called it a "docking" fee. I assumed it was associated with the destination fee, but I should have asked. Its $151.65 and I have it in writing. I will most likely be so excited that my car arrived, that I wont argue about it.

[DDustiNN]

$599 is outrageous.

[Vash]

OMG that's a rip off.

[Douge]

Look if you want to show all the guys down at the dealership what a high roller you are, by all means, pay all the fees and drop a couple of Benjamins to the detailers to really let them know who is boss.

Bottom line, if they told you they were tacking $600 on the car as a markup, you would all hit the roof, at least the intelligent ones would. If they do the exact same thing and call it an electricity use surcharge to keep the lights on at the dealership and you are dumb enough to pay it, it is still a markup.

Get a clue. Some of you don't have the intelligence or the best interest of this board in mind when you post and again should do us the favor of not posting at all.

[BLUEMARO]

Its a BS fee. 75 dollars is fair. I walked when they pulled that on my GT, they followed and I paid nothing.

[OUR72GTO]

I have bought 20 new GM cars since 1970. I have never paid a dealer fee. When I make my offer the last 6 words are "and there will be no fees." I have walked twice.

I took that position on my 2010 CAMARO and the dealer said "well we charge all sales a 199 fee" and when informed again "I don't pay fees" he took it off of MSRP rather than loose the sale.

This was unheard of when I started buying....

When you sell at MSRP that planned gross profit covers the cost of doing business.

Would you pay a surcharge at Burger King to "pay the cost of office over head"