No doubt there is some administrative work associated with selling a car. It's the cost of doing business. It's the same more or less for every car sold. So, charging you separately for it is nothing more than a deceptive business practice - getting you to agree to one price and then asking you to pay more. Why don't they add a "dealer profit charge" and a "facilities rental fee" and a "salesman annual bonus fee"? These would all be as legitimate as the "documentation fee" because they are all routine costs of doing business.

 

"facilities rental fee" is already paid to the dealer by the manufacturer. For each car that comes in the dealer gets a fee to store it on their lot.

 

I just stopped into our local honda dealer to check on pricing on the HCH II and to really look it over. At first I was overjoyed to see only MSRP on the sticker... then I moved to the front of the car to find a big red tag. "Regular $27,400 SALE $26,800". Next to it was a little sliver indicating a $2500 market adjustment. erm right. not document fees but another example of dealers bumping the price for increased profits. I've not negotiated with them yet to see if they're willing to drop their 10+%markup but I'm kind of doubting I'll even try.

 

Don't bother. If they are doing markup then obviously they just have $$ in their eyes. If you show interest they think they are right. The more people that walk away from these kinds of "adjustments" the less they perceive the demand.

 

"Documentation Fees" are (obviously) not standardized and will vary from dealer to dealer. WAY back in 1990 I was a salesman for Acura. There were two in the city. After a while we learned that the Acrual dealer across town would sell an Integra for $295 less than ours (minimum deal). Turns out they also had a documentation fee that was - you guessed it - $295 more than ours.

I don't care what dealer you're talking about, they all buy the same cars and the same price, and all have the same thresholds for what a "minimum" deal is. There is no "Wal Mart" of Hondas where they buy Civics in bulk and pass the saving on to you. What they reduce in one category, they'll get you in another.

My advice to everyone is to simply find out what the fees are before you make a purchase decision - don't wait until you're in the "finance office" to find out. That smoking deal you got on your car can be erased with a $400 doc fee. Sure you can walk out, but do you really want to do that after 3 hours at the dealer?

Some dealers will use that money to guarantee themselves a least some profit. Dealers that have a $0 will take it out of you another way - rest assured. It's all the same game - just depends on how directly or indirectly the dealer wants to get your money.

 

The dealer I bought from did this too. I just found a dealer within driving distance that did not have that mark up (they were selling for just MSRP...) First thing I said that for $2000 I'd drive to the other dealership and buy from there, so if they wanted my business that "fee" was off the table. Still paid MSRP, but they rolled over very quick on that point. They knew the dealership I referenced too...

 

Amen!!! I knew all the dealer-added fees on the deal, 6 weeks (-ish) before I bought the car, so there was no big surprise there. The only hanging question point of any kind was what the sales taxes would be on the trade, since we didn't know the trade value until I pulled/dragged/pushed it to the dealer to close the deal.


The one point that I found works best (this from being a professional buyer by trade) is to walk into an office "ready to make a deal" and not "ready for a fight." THEY gots to make money, and YOU gots to hit a budget (selling price, monthly payments, whatever the goal you have for the deal is. Mine was very easy: buy 15 grand worth of MORE car, and make my monthly payments LESS than they were for the trade. At the end of the day, everybody won.)

Until somebody comes up with the concept of the Not-for-Profit organization that's also a new car dealer, SOMEbody, SOMEwhere in the deal is going to have to pay for the new carpet, the free internet connection in the waiting room, and the cool wavy blue awning out front. If you don't want to donate [sic] funds to their New Awning Fund, then the best thing to do is NOT buy the car. You're happy that you've beaten the Capitalist Pigs at their own game, and they're happy that they have fewer ulcers from dealing with another customer that my father refers to as "a blowhard."

 

I must say there is a lot of good information or power of knowledge here to take into the dealer when the time is right to make a deal. Thank you all for the great insight!

 

I've seen advertised "doc fees" as high as $400. In some states, like AZ, they can charge anything they want for that, and you can't say a thing about it in most cases. That's what they charge, and they charge EVERY CUSTOMER that fee, and if you don't like it, you can buy your car somewhere else. It's generally non-negotiable.

I have purchased 6 cars in AZ since 1996 and have been told this almost every time.

PS
Just looked at my last two vehicle purchase contracts. Paid $239 for the oldest one and $289 for the HCH in "dealer document fees." Incredible.

 

For both my vehicles, two different dealerships, I was told I had to pay the "doc fees". Both times I refused and I did not have to pay. Dealers will wave the fee, if you make them think that they'll lose a sale. To them $200 or $300 is nothing to fight over to lose a sale. It also helps to know a little tricks of the trade. My father was a salesman for 25 years.