Documentation Fee?

[colemanvoice]

How confident should I be when I tell this dealer I'm not paying a "Documentation Fee" of $599? And, just to confirm, I should be looking at the taxes after the MSRP price, correct? I already had them take off the Protecto Plate - extra clear coat, from what I have learned from here.
Thanks

[Chevyrocker]

I wouldn't bet on them taking off the doc fee. 99% of all dealers have them (if state law permits) and most of them charge it to everyone who buys a car there, even there own employees. I'm sure you're gonna get a lot of responses telling you that you can get past it, but on this car, in these times, I wouldn't count on it.

[nol300]

I am an employee and I pay it if they charge one person they have to charge all people. You will pay it especially since they know that your not going to pass on your Camaro for a doc fee if you do there will be someone else there willing to pay it. So I would not count on it.

These fees are not just for added profit it goes to paying the office employees lot techs, title clerk who sends all your paperwork off etc.

[Douge]

I would walk on a the $600 gouge like that. You can try my standard reply which is if you cannot do the paperwork, I cannot buy the car. You can also tell them to sell it on permit and that you will pay the fees yourself at DMV for free. By law they can't do that and they have to do the paperwork, it really has nothing to do with you. Bottom line, no paperwork, no dealer. I wouldn't pay $100 let alone $600, that is a money grab.

[Douge]

Originally Posted by nol300

I am an employee and I pay it if they charge one person they have to charge all people. You will pay it especially since they know that your not going to pass on your Camaro for a doc fee if you do there will be someone else there willing to pay it. So I would not count on it.

These fees are not just for added profit it goes to paying the office employees lot techs, title clerk who sends all your paperwork off etc.

Absolutely not true. Don't spread misinformation please.

[Cyberfan]

Did you get the numbers in writing when you ordered the car? If so, that $599 should be in the agreement or they can't charge it. If you did it without doing that, then you are trusting the dealer- I don't trust them with anything when it comes to my money. I have special ordered my last 3 GM cars with written contracts so I knew the exact dollar amount. No reason not to do that. And no reason to pay a dealer markup of $599 over MSRP.

And a lot of dealers try to do that, but not all of them do it. I didn't pay that fee on any of the ones that I ordered, but I wasn't trying to get the first of a brand new model either.

[nol300]

Your wrong there is no law the only law regarding dealer fees is if we advertise a vehicle in the paper or online etc for an advertised price it is assumed the dealer fee is included. But if I discount the price in the paper by 1 dollar I can charge a fee again. Call your local govt. there is no law stating anything about dealer fees or a max. dealer fee.

And the dealer fee has nothing to do with registration fees so there goes that.

Just letting you know because people try all the time to say it's law and after 10 years no one has been able to show me where it is the law.

[colemanvoice]

Originally Posted by Cyberfan

Did you get the numbers in writing when you ordered the car? If so, that $599 should be in the agreement or they can't charge it. If you did it without doing that, then you are trusting the dealer- I don't trust them with anything when it comes to my money. I have special ordered my last 3 GM cars with written contracts so I knew the exact dollar amount. No reason not to do that. And no reason to pay a dealer markup of $599 over MSRP.

And a lot of dealers try to do that, but not all of them do it. I didn't pay that fee on any of the ones that I ordered, but I wasn't trying to get the first of a brand new model either.

I haven't ordered yet, I just got a quote from them. What I have learned so far, is that I shouldn't be shocked to see this on the quote. However, it can't hurt anything to see if they would remove it. This is the only Chevy dealer I have confrunted. There are plenty more in my area. I do like the way things have been going so far though. They will do 3.9% financing.

[babyjulie83]

hmmmm....$599 sounds really high. My dealer told me that the document fee would be $50 and he put it in writing.

[mmarcum]

My dealer had a $384 documentation fee, I told them I wouldn't pay that much. They dropped it to $75 and I accepted it. Only they couldn't adjust the actual amount of the doc. fee as it was pre-printed on all sale sheets, so they dropped the sale price of the car by $309 for me.

[Dakota Kid]

mine is wanting $299 which I thought was very, very high.

[nol300]

Originally Posted by Douge

Absolutely not true. Don't spread misinformation please.

It is true there even if I agree not to charge it I would have to lower the price and still show it on the paperwork as if a dealer gets audited they won't have any problems.

Now if your dealer shows a different fee for every person that will cause major problems for them eventually. No they don't have to but they should be consistant for audit reasons.

[Douge]

Originally Posted by nol300

Your wrong there is no law the only law regarding dealer fees is if we advertise a vehicle in the paper or online etc for an advertised price it is assumed the dealer fee is included. But if I discount the price in the paper by 1 dollar I can charge a fee again. Call your local govt. there is no law stating anything about dealer fees or a max. dealer fee.

And the dealer fee has nothing to do with registration fees so there goes that.

Just letting you know because people try all the time to say it's law and after 10 years no one has been able to show me where it is the law.

People are here to get accurate info and competent advice and I would ask that you respect all of us and limit the application of your logic to the few who have the misfortune of receiving your services.

[nol300]

Originally Posted by Douge

People are here to get accurate info and competent advice and I would ask that you respect all of us and limit the application of your logic to the few who have the misfortune of receiving your services.

I am sorry you still have not proven anything or that I am wrong so this is not in accurate info. It's been the same for years and years.