Dealer handling fee (in addition to standard $1,100 handling and delivery fee)

[generaltso]

Mine was $100 (xplan), but yes, the lowest I’ve seen for any dealer of any brand within 200 miles of me is $595.

I even spent 8 years (in a former career) doing advertising for local car dealers. I was literally the person responsible for putting the words “plus tax, tag, title and $XXX dealer fee” at the bottom of every ad. So let’s just say I’m “familiar” with the numbers. Given that was a decade or more ago, but I’d be shocked if they got cheaper for our local dealers.

I would be curious to see which dealer you have advertises a dealer fee lower than that. Link?

The dealer where I bought my MME has a regular doc fee of $195, but I used X-plan so only paid $100. The doc fee for my wife’s RAV4 Prime was $295. I don’t think anything over $300 is reasonable. It’s just extra padding for the dealer.

https://www.aldermanstoyota.com/new-inventory/index.htm

*Estimated Monthly Payment will depend on vehicle make and model and will be determined upon actual vehicle inspection. All payments are estimates. Tax, title, registration and documentation fee ($295) are extra.

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[HuntingPudel]

My SE Michigan dealer is happy to take plan orders, and even in stock (some exceptions).

I chose my dealer based off of the no ADM thread. I didn’t find out that they don’t participate in AZDX-plan until after my order got it’s production week assigned (and therefore I couldn’t change dealers without having to place a new order and wait another 7 months for a car). So yeah, everyone please check out your dealers before ordering.

 

[connoisseurr]

Nah they’re all BS at those prices. My doc fee was $80.

For your state maybe. Each state can limit what a dealer charge as a processing fee. Most will milk it, especially when it comes to the Mach E.

A local dealer to me actually raised their doc fee from $295 to $795, just to make extra $$$ on preorder sales like Bronco and Mach E.

 

[trutolife27]

 

[Mach1E]

The dealer where I bought my MME has a regular doc fee of $195, but I used X-plan so only paid $100. The doc fee for my wife’s RAV4 Prime was $295. I don’t think anything over $300 is reasonable. It’s just extra padding for the dealer.

https://www.aldermanstoyota.com/new-inventory/index.htm

*Estimated Monthly Payment will depend on vehicle make and model and will be determined upon actual vehicle inspection. All payments are estimates. Tax, title, registration and documentation fee ($295) are extra.

Ah makes sense.

Avg dealer fee in Vermont is $148. FL is over $600.

https://www.realcartips.com/newcars/482-documentation-fees-by-state.shtml

“Reasonable” is relative to where you live.

Personally I think a reasonable state sales tax is 0%, but your results may vary.

Here is our local Toyota dealers disclaimer:

“Prices are PLUS tax, tag, title fee, $999 Pre-Delivery Service Fee* and $285 Electronic Tag Registration Service Fee, and does not include dealer installed options. See dealer for complete details.”

Big cities in FL aren’t any better. Toyota of North Miami-

“. Price excludes tax, tag, title, electronic registration filing fee, $999.50 dealer documentation fee* and dealer installed options (dealer may add nitrogen, door edge guards, pinstripes, mats, etc.) and must be paid by the purchaser.”

 

[Motomax]

For your state maybe. Each state can limit what a dealer charge as a processing fee. Most will milk it, especially when it comes to the Mach E.

A local dealer to me actually raised their doc fee from $295 to $795, just to make extra $$$ on preorder sales like Bronco and Mach E.

Soo yes, Doc fees are BS too ?.

 

[generaltso]

“. Price excludes tax, tag, title, electronic registration filing fee, $999.50 dealer documentation fee* and dealer installed options (dealer may add nitrogen, door edge guards, pinstripes, mats, etc.) and must be paid by the purchaser.”

Wow, they even advertise their shenanigan. Sounds like a good reason to buy cars out of state.

 

[Mach1E]

Wow, they even advertise their shenanigan. Sounds like a good reason to buy cars out of state.

Or in the case of Ford, just do X plan.

Unfortunately for us, Florida is a “long” state and Georgia only averages $100 cheaper. Gotta go all the way to SC to save $200, but it would cost $800 to ship a car from there.

The price of sunshine and no state income tax.

My guess is it probably has something indirectly to do with real estate prices.

If the product margin is the same across the country, gotta figure out how to pay for higher cost of the real estate of the dealership somehow.

It’s not like restaurants where the price of a burger in Arkansas is $6 but on the beach it’s $18.

 

[ARK]

People need to research long before delivery, and use X-Plan. Should be no surprises at delivery.

To be fair, this is like a hidden ADM, hard to figure out ahead of time.

Albeit, some dealers will give you a finalized price if you ask, I think this might be harder to request if the vehicle does not exist yet or if this dealer was chosen before order banks even opened up.

 

[ARK]

Idk how you guys are getting to use X-Plans must be on slow moving market? Not a single dealer in NWI/ Midwest will take X-Plan and some dealers aren't even taking A-Plan which seems mean. Even sales people were like yea it's sad cause the people that work for Ford can use there discount. Other than the mighty it just pushes me away from those dealerships. I would much rather buy direct. But dealerships are convenient when you need something quick

When I got my Mach-E in early February, my dealer accepted X-Plan but they said they were reconsidering it for the Mach-E.

They said they knew lots of people were signing up to the Mustang Club of America just for this benefit and felt it wasn’t really a legitimate thing to do since this benefit was supposed to be for good faith members of that organization. Don’t know if they followed through on that, perhaps other dealers have gone that route as well in dumping X-Plan.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Wow, 5.5% sales tax!!! I am jealous.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Good afternoon!
My MME GT has been delivered to my dealer. I'm pretty excited!

Now, when I asked for a final price breakdown, I'm getting 3 additional lines:

• Pro Pak = $499
• Vin Etch =$399
• Proc / Doc Fees = $795

I knew what Vin Etching is - although $399 seems obviously far off... - so I asked my dealer about the other 2 things:

Pro Pak: "Pro Pak is our interior/ exterior paint and fabric protectant that is applied to all vehicle. "

Proc / Doc Fees: " Proc/doc fee is our Dealer Handling Fee. Dealer handling fee of $795 is a charge that all customers and vehicles get. There's no negotiating on dealer handling fee. "

It seems like an easy additional margin without any rationale at all from the dealer. But I'd like to double-check here.

• Would you say this is a common thing?
• If not, what would you advise me to do?

Thank you!

They are just ADMs made to look like you get something. This is the advantage of X-Plan. It helps stops these BS charges.

 

[Mach1E]

When I got my Mach-E in early February, my dealer accepted X-Plan but they said they were reconsidering it for the Mach-E.

They said they knew lots of people were signing up to the Mustang Club of America just for this benefit and felt it wasn’t really a legitimate thing to do since this benefit was supposed to be for good faith members of that organization. Don’t know if they followed through on that, perhaps other dealers have gone that route as well in dumping X-Plan.

The dealer is deciding to not honor X plan based on some philosophical argument about who it’s supposed to be for?

BS

They just happen to make more money based on that philosophy.

It’s FORD who decides who to give X plan to, and it’s anyone who is a club member for 90 days. There is no philosophical argument.

 

[pepper]

I was quoted $85 documentation fee and no other hidden or undisclosed fees (apart from standard delivery and DMV fees). I got that in writing. I do not have X-plan. Of course we’ll see what happens when the vehicle shows up, but I plan to hang on to the email I received from the salesman quoting these fees until I receive the final bill.

 

[ARK]

The dealer is deciding to not honor X plan based on some philosophical argument about who it’s supposed to be for?

BS

They just happen to make more money based on that philosophy.

It’s FORD who decides who to give X plan to, and it’s anyone who is a club member for 90 days. There is no philosophical argument.

Yeah but I can see it from the dealer’s perspective too. It used to be 30 days waiting period but I think they changed it to 90 days to try and stop last minute signups because of the Mach-E.

It’s sort of like with those credit card signup bonuses. They were put in place to induce people to open a new credit card, but people figured out how to game it and open/close a preposterous amount of cards just for the bonus so they had to change the rules and now most banks limit people’s ability to do this.

Same thing with X-Plan, I don’t think they appreciated that people who had zero interest in Mustang Club of America were joining just for X-Plan and then cancelling membership and never being involved in the club but doing it entirely just to get the discount.

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