:doh: Does anyone pay the absurb $395.00 "Documentation Fee?" I trust it is neogtable, else I'll be looking elsewhere. I don't mind a reasonable profit on the product and accessories, but I don't expect to get mugged on the lot! :no:

it is a scam

$395 is too much, but honestly I didn't look at my paperwork this time to find out what I paid :doh:

I know when I didn't have to do this "pure pricing" bunk, I would tell the dealership my bottom line and they'd meet me within $500 and I'd tell them to figure out all that I wanted into that price INCLUDING TT&L :lol:

I think I paid $85 for title and license transfer.

Every Toyota dealership has one. Just varies between dealership. Our's is 249. It pays for all the paperwork. But you get 3 free oil changes, and if you ever need a tow and are within a 100 mile radius of our dealership the tow is free, and that's for the lifetime of the car. So if you dont like the fee, then just try another dealership and see if it's different.

My dealer had a fee posted of $100.00 for processing.
I told the salesman to make it disappear if he wanted the sale. If he doesn't walk out and go back at another time to talk to another salesman. One of them will want the sale to meet his quota.

Mine was $170, which wasn't tooo painful.. and yeah, i get the 3 free oil changes, so thats all good. :)

NO fee's. just tax , title and license.

35.00 for ALL the paperwork, anything over that is redicoulous..........

My dealer had a fee posted of $100.00 for processing.
I told the salesman to make it disappear if he wanted the sale. If he doesn't walk out and go back at another time to talk to another salesman. One of them will want the sale to meet his quota.


Too bad about you saying he will make it disappear to make his "quota" because Scion doesn't work off commission nor do we have a certain amount of cars to sale.

And if you think that they care about you not buying one, wrong, because these cars are selling like crazy, and if its not sold to you it can easily be sold to someone else.

All dealerships have profit quotas for salesmen. I realize that the Scions are low profit sales for the dealerships. But every salesman would rather be the one to make the easy sale rather than one of his coworkers.
The more that a salesman sells per month, the higher that his bonus will be. I have several friends who work at new car dealerships, including one at a Toyota/Scion. They have all told me about and showed me their Quota/Bonus sheets and the money that they make is unreal.

[quote=06XA]


Too bad about you saying he will make it disappear to make his "quota" because Scion doesn't work off commission nor do we have a certain amount of cars to sale.

And if you think that they care about you not buying one, wrong, because these cars are selling like crazy, and if its not sold to you it can easily be sold to someone else. :nope:

You may be right, but add the dealer's MANATORY Toyoguard Protection Group-XY40 for $619 ( xterior Paint Sealant , Glass Etch Theft Deterrent, Interior Fabric Protector, Toyo Guard Sealant Cleaner amd Undercoating/Sound Shield) and you've got one ____ed off redneck! :no: This seems to be the norm in the Southeast.

ohhh my god... the cheapest one in my area is 585... I think that is the biggest ripoff ever... Do they really expect people to pay over a grand in fees to buy a toyota... :tap:

yeah there is a proc fee by area and crap like that, one near my house was $205 another dealership about 20+miles away was about $80

its actually kind of funny, because when i went and bought my first xB, no one wanted to sell them, they pushed new kid out to me to buy from, so i did, but this was when they first came out on the east coast, i think it was the month after they appered here, so now when you walk into the dealership they all jump to try to sell you one

We used to call it dealer prep back 20 years ago. It is added mark up, Pure and simple. When you trade a car in it gives the dealer something to bargin with in an effort to give you more for your trade in or someting to discount with. The less expensive the car, the less profit there is in the sticker price. So a dealer can discount a car without actually discounting from the sticker. In pure pricing all you have to bargin with is the dealer's fake fees. Each dealer decides what they want to add for processing or prep or whatever they want to call it, but most do seem to be $299-$399.

glad i didn't get charged a dealers fee if i did i'd go through the roof.

scion corp is cracking down on dealerships adding this fee they are not supposed to be doing so.

scion reps ( salesmen ) only make 100 per car. and they make a decent percentage on the accessories they sell.

glad i didn't get charged a dealers fee if i did i'd go through the roof.

scion corp is cracking down on dealerships adding this fee they are not supposed to be doing so.

scion reps ( salesmen ) only make 100 per car. and they make a decent percentage on the accessories they sell.

Sorry but I disagree with you on two points:

A.) Scion is not "cracking down". Dealers can charge whatever they want for anything they post on their menu. But EVERYTHING must be on the menu.

B.) Pay plans vary by dealership. Again, it's up to each dealer.

Most of the descriptions about dealer doc fees on here are pretty much on the mark. It's fat built into the deal to give the dealer added margin. They can use it for trade allowance, discount tactics, to offset customer service/fixed operational expenses, or swallow it if the customer doesn't object.

IMHO, ours is too high too. Not my call though so we try to make up for it by being the best dealer we can be. What else can your salespeople do? Please don't blame them for the fees they have no control over. We need MORE salespeople involved online and flaming them over things they cannot change won't encourage them to show up.

And forget asking to negotiate. You want to see Scion crack down? Get a dealer to mess with their menu "just for you".

Sorry for the rant. In real life I'm actually pretty easy going! :silly:

i paid $495 for the doc fees, it sucked but i had the first 06 in gainesville and the salesman called me everyday checking up on me and informing me of any or no changes. it is definitly a scam to get more profit out of our cars, but this guy worked for it.

My total costs were the list price of the vehicle (as shown at both the dealer's site and Scion.com), sales tax, and a $35 documentation fee.

That's ALL.

I agree with bbcrud here at our dealership (a bit bigger in some places) we have 30 men and women from 6:00 a.m till 5:30 p.m doing Title work, claims, payroll and pushing hundreds of paper work each day. so Doc fees are not a way of "squeezing money" out of the consumer. Our Doc fee is about average so in the end it does have a purpose. And it is advertised with accessories and vehicle pring as well. So dealers have lower fees then others but in the end it is the result of the purchase process. Would you rather save $80 dollars by going to a dealership that has gives no respect and creates tons of problems for you or go to a more respected Scion dealership, spend a bit more on the Doc fee and realize that buying your scion was easy, worry free and most of all fun?

$45 fee for me. At the time i was so stoked on getting my 1st NEW car that i didnt notice nor care. But $395 is outrageous. It took me 15 mins to sign the papers and no "secretary" is worth that much hourly.

Maybe the Scion dealers should visit a Saturn dealership! It really doesn't fair well for Toyota to relate the "doc" fees to customer service and good management!! I probably wouldn't have balked years ago when all that mayyered was "how much down" and "how much per montg." But this ol' dawg is actually gonna pay cash for a Xa . I'm getting depressed just thinking about it! LOL

bbcrud. from what northern california toyota executives have told me at least in cali SCION corp. is cracking down on at least CALIFORNIA dealers and trying to rid the proccessing and "mandatory" toyoguard crap.

I am a toyota/scion product specialist and do lots and lots of promoting for both firms. I love it and the info that I get.

i paid $495 for the doc fees, it sucked but i had the first 06 in gainesville

:shock:

bbcrud. from what northern california toyota executives have told me at least in cali SCION corp. is cracking down on at least CALIFORNIA dealers and trying to rid the proccessing and "mandatory" toyoguard crap.

I am a toyota/scion product specialist and do lots and lots of promoting for both firms. I love it and the info that I get.

Would be cool if it's true. Believe me, I don't get paid on the doc fee.

I think it's California cracking down on doc fees. This is a good thing because they typically lead the market in these ways. As for Scion cracking down on mandatory add-on and services... I wish!

We display Scions (that actually make it to the dealership) without radios or hubcaps (xa/xB). We let the customer decide everything that is to be added and we sell as many accessories as anyone. Nine years in this business and I am loving this Pure Price process! Doc fee or not.

Oops! I forgot one other 'fee' that showed up on my paperwork, and that's a $9 fee for transfer of title when I eventually pay for my xB. That is also standard for this dealer.

(The dealer has been around as a Ford dealer since 1938, and has been a Ford and Toyota dealer for years. They are now a Ford/Toyota/Scion dealer and all sales of all makes get the same fee structure. They aren't an especially small dealership, and they have a whole bunch of people working in the back rooms... Here's their lot: http://tijil.org/T-W_lot.jpg)

Here's an earlier ScionLife thread about 'fees' where I (and a few others) detail all the costs on the sales paperwork:
http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4465

Pricing*
MSRP
Base $13,880
Options $20
Del, Proc & Hndlg $635
Documentation Fee $499.00
Total $15,034




Hey this is what it says in my local dealership's website... There is no way in hell Im paying all this..

Is there a way it can be negotiated...

only thing you could even try to negotiate down which probably wont happen would be the doc fees. good luck.

Is this in ADDITION to the $540 del, proc and handling fee????

We're buying one tomorrow, and I verified with the dealer. Their fees for title/license and 'documentation' is $105. Seems reasonable.

yes in addition to the del proc. the del proc isnt 545 anyone either if i remember correctly. i believe it's like 625 or 635 like posted above.

There was a thread like this one a couple years ago and because of it scion updated its covenant. Scion made it mandatory for dealers to post their doc fees on the price menus meaning that the doc fee now falls under pure price guidlines. The reason that they did this is in hopes that the dealers would stop charging such outrageuos fees on Scions. I don't know how well it worked since in Texas it is a state regulated $50. This means now that the doc fee is non-negotiable just like the rest of the process. I am not saying that there arn't dealers that won't waive it, but they will lose inventory. I don't see anything wrong with charging a doc fee when it is within reason (no more than $100) because it does pay for services like getting your car registered and such. I do find it crazy that dealers are charging $600 for it.

Also please don't confuse the Doc fee and the delivery fee. The delivery fee is money that a dealer never sees and has no control over. This fee is set by and paid to the distributor to pay for your car to get here from Japan to California to your state to your dealership. Those prices did recently go up in most regions due to higher gas prices.

the doc fees don't cove tax title . at least not from what i've heard. i believe it just pays for the dealership to do the paperwork for you.

Ours is 50.00 and whoever mentioned the oil changes are thrown in needs to read the delivery sheet again, because those 3 free oil changes are courtesy of SCION not the dealership. :loser: LOL :rofl: