Mother****ing doc fees

[Klaus]

I refuse to pay these on principal. Taking paperwork and putting it in a folder is basic business shit and I am not going to pay for it anymore than I am going to pay a "Waiting room coffee" fee. It does not matter how small the amount.

I have an extra car sitting around that I was going to sell to a dealer and had everything wrapped up when they hit me with doc fees.....for the privilege of selling to them. **** that. They went through the "we have to charge these fees" song and dance before I walked out on the spot. Already have a new buyer.

 

[LS WUT]

Those doc fee’s are such a joke. They “store” the files if you need them. Buddy’s widebody hellcat got stolen. We had to jump thru so many hoops today. They never answer the phone, never call back. Even had one guy tell us to look on the “drive” he gave him. I said **** you, do your job and give us the information we need, and the cancellation form for the gap insurance.

 

[NateDogg]

They are bullshit. Same thing with the " (insert dealership name) care package" +$1900 fee.

Nope, take it off or I'll buy my next car at another dealership.

 

[triple-s]

These guys are willing to lose sells over doc fees. I've walked out of a couple purchases cause of it but they don't care.

 

[gimmie11s]

Amazing. **** that! Glad you walked on them.

 

[13COBRA]

Interesting. I can't imagine the explanation on why they needed it to buy a vehicle from you lol

We do charge an administration fee. It covers a multitude of things.

1. We store all data for 7 years.
2. We do lien searches.
3. We perfect liens.
4. File the sale with the state.
5. Overnight paperwork/contracts/etc.
6. Covers cost of pulling credit.
7. A large percent of it in Missouri goes to the DOR, they are in the middle of digitizing their entire titling department. It's a $31mil project.

If dealers advertised prices that included say the $500 cost of doing business on each vehicle, they wouldn't be priced as competitively in the market. Let's be honest, 99 times out of 100 I'll eat the fee, or over-allow on the trade to get us there. I don't do that on ordered units when I'm only making a few hundred dollars anyways.

 

[ccq8le]

Doc fees have always bothered me. They have recently just gotten out of hand. I see some places now charging in excess of $500.

I usually always buy from the same dealer/sales guy and he tried to charge me the $99 doc fee about 12 years ago. I told him I will bring them a check for the car and they can do a bill of sales and I will go to the state office to do my own paperwork (which I did) as well as get my own plates for the car. The same sales guy I always use apologized to me and said the management was making a big deal about it. I thought it was fine that I could just do my own paperwork and opt out of the "doc fee".

In 2017 when I bought my explorer he remembered the last time about it and never even brought it up to me to try and charge me for it, and on that transaction they did all the paperwork, and licensing for me. I did notice at that time the dealer wanted $150 for a "doc fee".

Last year I bought my Bronco from the same guy again and we kind of joked about it. They now we're up to $300 on the "doc fee".

I get it that the dealers want to charge these fees, but in your case to charge a seller a "doc fee"????

Sad

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[1 Alibi 2]

Interesting how the " doc " fee drops to $ 100 with the X plan !!
.

 

[5.0 Hatch]

The dealership model needs to die

 

[HudsonFalcon]

I refuse to pay doc fees, admin fees, etc. I will walk over them.

 

[kevinatfms]

Is the document fee the same as the tag/title/processing fee? Or is that a separate charge?

IIRC, on my F150 purchase, the TTL fee was $300. Didnt see a documentation fee on it.

 

[IronSnake]

Interesting. I can't imagine the explanation on why they needed it to buy a vehicle from you lol

We do charge an administration fee. It covers a multitude of things.

1. We store all data for 7 years.
2. We do lien searches.
3. We perfect liens.
4. File the sale with the state.
5. Overnight paperwork/contracts/etc.
6. Covers cost of pulling credit.
7. A large percent of it in Missouri goes to the DOR, they are in the middle of digitizing their entire titling department. It's a $31mil project.

If dealers advertised prices that included say the $500 cost of doing business on each vehicle, they wouldn't be priced as competitively in the market. Let's be honest, 99 times out of 100 I'll eat the fee, or over-allow on the trade to get us there. I don't do that on ordered units when I'm only making a few hundred dollars anyways.

Glad you provided a real breakdown.

Familys been in the dealer business for years, and my mother used to be the person running back and forth to the commercial/business DMV lane for title and tag transfers.

I suppose we could all go without that, and you could just give customers a stack of paperwork to process themselves, but I feel like you'd hear an even larger chorus of bitching when they have to go to the DMV themselves.

 

[DAVESVT2000]

I paid an $85 doc fee for my 2021 Mach 1 from a dealer in California. That was it, no other hidden fees or add ons

 

[Russo]

i believe in Louisiana the doc fee is limited to $249, but i could be wrong..

its like these shitty businesses that put a 3-5% credit card processing fee on food purchases, its an aggravation..

 

[andymarkv]

its like these shitty businesses that put a 3-5% credit card processing fee on food purchases, its an aggravation..

I hear ya...but I gotta laugh, I hear people bitching about a 3-5% CC fee...but are happy to get a 3-5% "discount" for using cash.
Semantics matter.

 

[13COBRA]

I paid an $85 doc fee for my 2021 Mach 1 from a dealer in California. That was it, no other hidden fees or add ons

i believe in Louisiana the doc fee is limited to $249, but i could be wrong..

its like these shitty businesses that put a 3-5% credit card processing fee on food purchases, its an aggravation..

A lot of states have limits on what can be charged. Florida does not. I've seen some hellacious fees down there.

 

[SID297]

I'll present you with four options as I see them:

1. Shut up and pay the fee.
2. Walk
3. Pay the fee, but let the sales manager know that you are dissatisfied by having to pay an unadvertised fee and that dissatisfaction will be reflected in any post sale manufacturer's survey you receive.
4. If you're in SC, and have been charged such a fee, I may be able to get it back for you. It's lawyer magic.

 

[railroad]

Interesting how the " doc " fee drops to $ 100 with the X plan !!
.

Last X plan I bought, no doc fees. Thought that was sop for x plan.
Ask them to open the x plan book. It list the bottom line cost for the vehicle, no ifs, ands or buts.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

A lot of states have limits on what can be charged. Florida does not. I've seen some hellacious fees down there.

its ****ing insanity down here. $1,200 dealer, $500 doc fee etc...

 

[13COBRA]

I'll present you with four options as I see them:

1. Shut up and pay the fee.
2. Walk
3. Pay the fee, but let the sales manager know that you are dissatisfied by having to pay an unadvertised fee and that dissatisfaction will be reflected in any post sale manufacturer's survey you receive.
4. If you're in SC, and have been charged such a fee, I may be able to get it back for you. It's lawyer magic.

In Missouri it has to be advertised in every listing. It's in the small print.

Last X plan I bought, no doc fees. Thought that was sop for x plan.
Ask them to open the x plan book. It list the bottom line cost for the vehicle, no ifs, ands or buts.

X-Plan limits to $100 administration fee, nationwide.

its ****ing insanity down here. $1,200 dealer, $500 doc fee etc...

Yep. A friend of mine owns two high end stores down there. Their fees range from $1,495 to $2,195.