Buying a 08 Accord next week. A lot of the quotes I've recieved have this $400 documentation fee (not registration & title fee). Are they trying to rip me off with this $400 fee?

12/10/2007 1:07:57 PM

It's a rip off. Usually your documentation fees INCLUDE registration, tags, title, and other state fees. According to google, some states have a cap on that fee. Unfortunately, NC doesn't.

But, sometimes stealerships won't budge. So you're going to have to negotiate more aggresively and try and win some of that back in other ways. That's what I did.

[Edited on December 10, 2007 at 1:14 PM. Reason : edit]

12/10/2007 1:09:57 PM

yep, $400 is rediculous.

12/10/2007 2:11:04 PM

Yeah, Leith Honda and Hickory Honda both gave me quotes with $400 documentation fee.

Crown Honda hasn't given me a quote yet, they're scared that I'll take their quote to another dealership to negotiate.

12/10/2007 2:16:25 PM

if you don't mind driving a bit out of the way, try Bryan Honda in Fayetteville. My uncle got a fully loaded odyssey there for $27K

12/10/2007 2:30:55 PM

I literally didn't buy a Jeep from the MB dealer at Autopark over this. I was like "just notarize the title and I'll go get my own plates", but they wouldn't budge on it so I was like "peace."

I'm not paying $400 for you to sell me something. Imagine if you loaded up a cart at Wal-Mart and they made you pay a $5 fee for admission to the cash register line. Fuck that.

You know...If more people had the bawls to tell them to piss off they would probably drop those shenanigans.

[Edited on December 10, 2007 at 2:42 PM. Reason : l]

12/10/2007 2:33:29 PM

Quote :

"I'm not paying $400 for you to sell me something."

yup, that's all it's for. I highly doubt you'll get that fee taken off the paperwork. however, you can get out of paying it if you're persistent and not afraid to walk away. here's how: first, let me repeat that you must not be afraid to walk away from any deal. if you're buying a car at a dealership, it's not a deal anyway regardless of how much you are getting off the sticker price. the last two cars i bought i didn't pay the doc. fee. i didn't mention the fee until the very end when it was time to sign. i worked up the deal with the salesman and had all the paperwork in front of me to review. when i got down to the doc. fee, i told them that i didn't agree with having to pay them to sell me a car. both times the salesman said it was just a mandatory fee that "corporate" charges and it's not a big deal. i just reminded them that it is a big deal since i'm the one paying it and that the deal is off if they don't remove the charge. both times the dealership ended up taking an additional $400 off the price of the car but the fee was still there just to show "corporate" that it was paid.

12/10/2007 2:42:47 PM

^ Some dealership already being I think deliberately vague on the quotes. So I'm writing back emails asking them to itemize the quote they gave me (break it down into car + fees + taxes, etc).

^ Btw, I love it dude! Get all the paperwork done, ready to sign and then mention your disagreement with the fee, puts them in a tight spot.

[Edited on December 10, 2007 at 2:52 PM. Reason : .]

12/10/2007 2:51:15 PM

No matter what, you're going to pay the fee if the dealership has it. You may get them to take it off the price of the car but they have to charge you for it if they normally have one. Supposedly that's the law in NC. I used to work at Leith Honda and that's how we were told to deal with it. If they didn't want to pay the $295 (what it was then) then we would discount the car more if possible but it had to be on the paperwork. I never had anyone walk out because of it once I explained our "reason" for charging one but it was bullshit. At the time our story was that it paid the salary of the office people. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to buy that without ever questioning where the rest of the profit went. Leith apparently split their sales up with different amounts going to different places. Parts/accessories profits went to Service. Detail got paid for details. Doc fee went straight to the office.

One thing to keep in mind though is that Honda doesn't work like Ford/Chevy/Mitsu/etc. There's very little profit for the dealership in a Honda in comparison. Therefore, if you're getting prices close to invoice, the likelihood of getting the doc fee discounted is less likely. Also, if you're looking all the way to Hickory, get up with Larry Combs at Morganton Honda. I bought my 07 Si sedan from him for just over invoice when a lot of other dealers were still trying to charge over MSRP or not discounting off of MSRP. Also got them to throw in some accessories for my mother's Pilot for cheap.

12/10/2007 3:21:37 PM

Here is how Hickory Honda explained the doc fee:

Quote :

"*To be able to sell vehicles so cheaply to consumers, the doc fee offsets fixed , variable and personnel expenses. This helps pay for the employees who do not generate revenue for the dealership and those who process your titling paperwork. We would be happy to deliver this vehicle to you , just let me know how I can help. "

Oh and btw, their quote was ~$1,200 above the quote Leith gave me.

[Edited on December 10, 2007 at 3:34 PM. Reason : .]

12/10/2007 3:33:22 PM

Just negotiate the "Out The Door" price, it's much easier.

12/11/2007 5:01:49 PM

just tell them to take it off the final price, like brian said.

12/11/2007 5:38:07 PM

you don't have to pay the $400 doc fee, just pay the annulment fee. which is also about $400.

12/12/2007 8:49:55 AM

The two times I have bought a car, and the 3 times that the family bought cars, we did it this way.
Walk around and find a car that we like, with no help from sales people.
Find someone to get a test drive.
Go home and research car's value and resale.
Go back to dealer, say we want to leave with the car and spend $XX,XXX. Can you do that.
If they can, we leave with the car, if they can't then we just leave.

12/12/2007 10:15:51 AM

this is how it was at the dealership i worked at, which in all honesty is the best as far as discounts and rebating goes:

doc fees - you're going to pay it unless you're on a special discounted plan reserved for ford employees and ford partners' employees. we NEVER discounted doc fees for someone who didn't didn't qualify for the "A, Z, D, or X plans". you could threaten to walkout all you want. a portion of the financial managers' pay comes directly out of that doc fee (as well as other employees). i've had customers who already "won" by looking at a final cost that was hundreds, and sometimes even $2,000+, below our invoice price that still wanted us to knock off the doc fee. nope. you ain't getting it.

"out the door price" - ahahahahahahaha!!!!.... ahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! no such thing. the price you're quoted is always "+++" (taxes, documents, and fees). and we'll never write down an endorsed quote. at best, we'll give you a copy of our advertisment flyer that lists the current sales.

12/16/2007 8:35:59 AM

Quote :

"doc fees - you're going to pay it unless you're on a special discounted plan reserved for ford employees and ford partners' employees. we NEVER discounted doc fees for someone who didn't didn't qualify for the "A, Z, D, or X plans". you could threaten to walkout all you want. a portion of the financial managers' pay comes directly out of that doc fee (as well as other employees). i've had customers who already "won" by looking at a final cost that was hundreds, and sometimes even $2,000+, below our invoice price that still wanted us to knock off the doc fee. nope. you ain't getting it."

that's exactly how i do get out of them. i get my price then have them take off an additional $400 for the doc fee. true, it's still on paperwork but i just got an additional $400 off the price i was already happy with.

12/16/2007 8:55:09 AM