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

gregboulder

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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!
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Brutakus

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All new cars are generally required by manufacturers for the dealer to do PDI. Transport fee covers just that. Not sure what they're handling but I don't believe that's common. I'd bet your state has the Doc Fee capped by law so they added this in since they cant increase Doc Fee.

Regardless, its just them trying to snag a few more dollars from you. Totally up to you on what to do. Is there another dealer close by you can go to instead that has a GT? Is it worth it to YOU to pay that money to get the car from (I'm assuming) a closer dealership and not pay ADM/wait a year for a new order?

Since your car is already delivered though, you'd have to re-order it and they'd likely list the delivered car with an additional markup if you switch dealerships. No transferring the car to another dealer unfortunately
 

connoisseurr

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Dealer processing fee is all you need to pay. The other two are BS add-ons to siphon more money from you.
 

generaltso

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The sleazy dealer is trying to milk you for more money. Do you have X-plan? That would at least limit the doc fee to $100 and then you could ask them to remove the other charges, which are totally bogus.
 

RickMachE

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


HuntingPudel

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$499.00 for half a can of Scotch Guard (probably a generic substitute at that). Ouch. $795.00 for someone to process your DMV paperwork. More ouch. VIN etching for any price? Ugh. Try to negotiate that crap out, or at least to a level that is acceptable to you.
 

Mach1E

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Dealer processing fee is all you need to pay. The other two are BS add-ons to siphon more money from you.
This^^

This isn’t something new for the Mach E.

Every new car ever has had some sort of “dealer fee.”’

I’ve seen them as low as $595 and as high as $1395.

Unless you do X plan, it’s standard on every new car sold.

The other things are just dealer profit add ons, you may have to push back (a little or a lot) but they’re just pure profit for the dealer.

It’s the 2021 version of pin stripes, mud guards, nitro fill tires, paint protection or undercoating.

And when they say nonsense like (oh no, it’s already installed on the vehicle), read the fine print and disclaimers that say “not required for the purchase of the vehicle”, because that’s exactly what it said on my purchase contract and I pointed at it and they went away.
 

Cptmorgemaker

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

RickMachE

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

Glen

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Dealer processing fee is all you need to pay. The other two are BS add-ons to siphon more money from you.
TOTALY AGREE. Some dealers cant wait to stick it to you. And they do. ?
 
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gregboulder

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Thank you all for your answers! I'll likely have to swallow the doc / proc fee, but will try to push back on the VIN etching and paint protection items.
Have a good Sunday!
 

SpaceEVDriver

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Another dealer demonstrating why dealers are just in the way. None of those are legitimate fees. The doc fee shouldn't be more than a hundred or so dollars. The other two are complete scams. I would contact Ford corporate and then walk away.
 

Mach1E

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The lowest doc fee you've seen was $595? You need to use different dealers.
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?

Just did a quick internet search and this makes sense why ours seem high to other people:

“Depending on the state, fees might be determined by a percentage of the sale price. Florida has the highest dealer fee.”
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