I have a MCS on order but noted on the order list that the price doesn't include dealer's processing fee. Correct me if I'm wrong, is this the fee that most people say is B.S. and a way to add profit to the dealership? Should I refuse to pay this fee? I'm already paying dealer markup for my area.

Thanks.

 

Absolutely a way to add profit to the dealer. But, I wasn't successful in my attempts to get out of it. Others may have better advice, though. I'm in an MSRP area; not sure whether that makes a difference.

 

processing fee as I understood from my MA was the title and licensing fees whcih include the first years' inspection. Since i purchased my car out of state, they were not able to perform the inspection on my behalf so i had to pay out of pocket. $10 for new cars

My registration and new license plates came in the mail two weeks later.

I believe the temporary 21 day label on your car also costs the dealer another $50 or so.

 

Citydweller, on the preliminary paper work I have in my hands, the tax/tag/document and registration fees are seperate from the dealer's processing fee. I thought that any fees that fall under tax/tag/document and registration fees already include all governmental necessities.

Thanks.

 

Same topic in this other thread -- here's my response.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...0&postcount=19


When I bought my '05 MCS from Knauz, I did the same thing as MikeM53: after all the other negotiations are complete, if you make this fee a deal-breaker and you're willing to walk away, then they'll reduce the amount of this fee from some other item. (Seems like eliminating this fee from the line item reflects poorly on their evaluations.)

It's no fun being a jerk, but it's also no fun paying for large profit margins as a part of being polite and reasonable with car salesmen.
Doc fees are pure profit for the dealer, and I agree they're B.S.

http://www.adn.com/money/story/PO-7485677c.html

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story....=&aff=national

 

I couldn't get out of it and they pegged me $400 for it. Luckily, I did get free floormats and a year and a half of clear coatings for the paint for free in exchange.

I ended up telling them that I found another dealer who had a cheaper processing fee and I was going to have to go through them instead, despite not wanting to (they wouldn't even let me take a MCSC for a freaking test drive!). At that point they threw in the extra goodies, but then later attempted to charge me for it anyway. I politely reminded them that I was offered that for free in order to purchase from them and they gave it up with no hassle.

 

As I've stated in numerous other dealer prep/fee threads (they grow like rabbits) the destination charge that's worked into your MSRP means mfgr to consumer, not mfgr to dealer. Depending on labor costs where one lives, this destination charge subsidizes most of the paperwork and ******** fees for delivery to YOU the consumer. Anything above roughly $40-70, again, depending on where you live, is pure dealer profit. My MINI/BMW/Honda dealer does not charge any prep/doc fees, and eats about $50 per new car delivered. Then again, he makes up for it in used car sales and service. Jimbo

 

I beg to differ depending upon what the fee pays for. If it has anything to do with prepping the car for delivery then yes, its BS.

However, the fact is that the dealer has labor costs associated with filing your registration, getting the title to the DMV, or whatever they do in document preparation to make the car legal for you to drive in your state. If they didn't do this, then YOU would hauling yourself down to your local DMV, waiting in line, and dealing with the DMV ... not fun.

If the fee is reasonable (and you have to determine what reasonable may be), its fine. The dealer isn't going to do this work for your free.

If the fee is outrageous (and I would imagine that $400 is way out of bounds), then I would complain. I would threaten to walk and be able to back it up. Otherwise, suck it up and pay it if your not prepared to walk

 

If you are willing to bend over and pay a dealer markup over MSRP, you can pretty much expect to pay whatever they ask for the other BS fees, whatever they are.

Make sure you get a "free" t-shirt. . . . or call a dealer that does not mark up their cars.

 

At MSRP. and certainly at more than MSRP, there should be zero, none, nada added dealer fees for anything. The fees at Roadshow totaled about $300, supposedly non-negotiable. I insisted, and they reduced the price of my MINI $350 below MSRP........fee problem solved.

The fees are IMO total BS.

 

I just returned from the dealership. I asked about the processing fee. The cost of this processing fee (at this dealership) is $45. It entails pushing paper work to and from the DMV -- electronics, mail or otherwise. I was told that it's the exact fee that the dealership gets charged from the DMV, and that they pass it onto you because they essentially do the "foot work" for you. Otherwise you submit the paper work (registration, tags, etc) yourself. This, if you believe what I was told, sounds like a service they do for the customers. And at this price, it isn't a bad service. At $400, however, it's a whole different kind of service performed with vaselin.

 

My "bending over" is far enough to pay for the dealer markup, but I couldn't reach my ankles to pay for a processing fee of anything more than $45 (which is the cost I was willing to pay to avoid doing the DMV trip and paper work).

In any case, everyone pays the markup fee at this dealership, set at $1,500 (but I got mine reduced to $1,000 -- I opted for the no-vaselin method). The reason, I was told, that they have a markup is the demand is high in this area and this particular dealership can deliver an order faster than most dealerships around (which is true, because I checked). It pains me less to depart with my grand than to wait 6 to 8 months for my Cooper.

Thanks for all your replies!

 

Have you considered ordering from an out of state dealership and not paying a mark-up?

No vaseline method. . .hilarious!

We live in a state without a dealership, so we shopped around and bought from a dealer that charged us nothing more than the cost of the car and gave us a bunch of goodies and installed our aftermarket stripes for free.

We timed our delivery to coincide with a family reunion in that part of the country. When we got home from the weekend, our MINI was completely broken in, we did as well as we could on the price, and we had a blast motoring across the country in our brand new MINI. . .

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any family reunion coming up.

I considered ordering from a different state, but I didn't want the hassle of scheduling and traveling to pick it up, which probably would have been worth saving a grand. But in the end I guess I'm willing to pay for the time it saves me by just going down the street and pick it up at a dealership that I'll be having my car serviced at for the next 5 to 10 years (I figured it's a good way to start off the relationship, especially when service is hard to get to). Also, over the past two months I have developed a charming rapport with my salesperson: He doesn't say hi, I don't say hi; I tell him what I want done, he tries his best to get it done (and often does); I don't shake his hand, he doesn't shake mine; we greet with a nod and we say goodbye with an "ok then." I have an emotional afinity to such straight forwardness.

Thanks.

 

Are you going through MINI of Mountain View? Note that MANY people have bought out of State to avoid ADM...
Lots of threads on it if you want to read up.
The $1000 will more than pay for a plane ticket to Utah, and you'll be almost through your break-in period.

edit: Nevermind - looks like that was already addressed.

 

If you mention that paying an inappropriate doc fee will lead to a bad sales experience should a survey come your way, would dealers choose to still have you pay it? Or will they then just threaten you with future bad service? Anyone tried this?

 

My opinion on this is stick to your guns and say cram it in your pie hole.....

If they want to charge you then walk away.

They tried it with me and I gave them hell. They relented and I won.


Then again I am the type over many years and many many cars to make a deal and then walk away to come back a week or two later and get them to come off a little more.

Heck, I am sick enough to go to dealerships and haggle just to have a little fun even though I am not in the mood to buy a new car!


good luck.

chris

 

Practice makes perfect! Next time I buy a car I'll pay you $1,000 to haggle for me. It will be worth the entertainment and I just might save a lot more.

Thanks for a good laugh.

 

$1595 in Canada.

 

California limits the fee the dealer can charge, I think the limit is $55. $55 seems reasonable to me.