a $600 documentation fee?!?! what is this crap? so much for pure pricing. went in with high hopes of having a new car, went out with high blood pressure. i guess i'll return at some other time and try to negotiate my way around it; i will be paying for the car in full with cash, so i don't know if that would make the fee more "disappear-able". any thoughts?

 

I doubt you will be able to negotiate it. Dealerships usually have a flat fee like that they charge to everyone. I would say try another dealership, see if they have a cheaper cost, and tell the original dealership to drop theirs down or you are gonna walk. It is just one more way for the stealership to get more money off people.

 

My dealer has some sort of fee as well.... they say it's for gas and car prep. Mine is only $350 or $380 something likethat.... try another dealer

 

forget it, its on there. Yea I know I was ____ed too, but every single one of my dealers has that fee and they aren't really different except for Central Florida Scion which has a (wait for it) $750 fee.

I knew about it for a long time though through my research so I just thought about it as sorta part of the price, so it wasn't a surprise or anything

Also beware of some places that will ALSO charge an "admin fee" ON TOP of the documentation fee...

My salesperson told me straight up that its purely for their profit, and obviously I wasn't going to argue with him since that's something that's out of his control (set by the dealer, not by the salesperson).

Check around and see what other dealers' doc fees are, but chances are you won't find any siginifcantly cheaper unless you're going to travel for hours to another dealership. And of course in that case I don't think you'll want to run your brand new car on a highway at constant RPMs for a few hours on end anyways

but yea, it sucks. I hoenstly think Scion should step up and make Pure Pricing truely pure.

 

thanks paul and everyone, glad to know all of this. and i agree, scion should step up. once more and more people start having scions, less are going to want them. and what happens then? more and more people are turned off by "documentations fees" and the like. sheesh.

 

wow did you ask them for Vaseline before they try to bend you over ?

 

Well, its not scion, its the dealers (which are not directly scion). And I have heard or seen the same for any car dealershp, no matter the brand. My dealer called it something else.. I cant remember what now.. too long ago And it has nothing to do with pure pricing. Pure pricing means they sell the car at what it is stickered on the lot. Not all places HAVE to sell it at the same price, and fees are not part of it.

 

what you should do is call around to other local dealers and see who has the lowest doc fees since the price is the car will be the same regardless. i paid $200 for doc fees back when i got my tc and i felt even that was expensive. whenever i've bought a car in the past i've never paid a doc fee nor has any i have ever known. it's usually bundled into the negotiating cost but since scion is pure price (which i hate) they can tack it on

 

The fee at my dealer is $105, at least that's what is printed on the order sheet. I'll find out if I have to pay more tonight when I pick the car up.

 

Dang 600 bucks?! At the dealership where I bought my tC it was $89. At the Lincoln-Mercury dealership i work at we only charge 89 to.

 

You gotta love people who don't read the bottom line and then get mad at the fact they have to pay more. When you buy a car, there are always documentation fees, delivery fees, tax, fun stuff like that. It's not like they changed the sticker price on you. That is what PURE PRICING is.

 

I will say this, $600 is pretty high for documentation fee. Ask them to break it down to the last penny, if they can't justify why it is that high then tell them you will go to another dealer that charges less. Don't be affraid to walk out the door.

 

wow guess i was lucky i didnt get charged one. just the stupid sound sealtent crap was the only thing i got raped on.

 

at my dealership, sticker price (price on the sticker on the car) = $17,050-ish, although somehow the price "dropped" a little. Real price? Look:



(dealer fee = doc fee in this case, although its written documentation fee everywhere else)

But I don't feel ripped off per se since I know it wouldn't have been any cheaper but just more expensive from the dealers in my area. I could've avoided the doc fee by going 3+ hours north to Lake City, but that's a 6 hour roundtrip on just the highway! no way, especially with a brand new car...

 

99% of dealers have a dealer fee. It doesn't matter what they tell you it's for, it's for one thing: garunteed profit for the dealer. How do you think a dealer keeps the lights on when everyone comes in waiving their little Edmunds and Consumer Reports print outs, "I know what you paid for it!!!! You sell me that car at invoice, or I'm walking!!!"

If every car dealer had a "pure pricing" model and stuck to it, there wouldn't be a problem. "what's your best price?" "I'm sorry sir, I thought you could see it, it's right there on the window."

 

in michigan at least doc fees are regulated by law.. it's either $160 max or $200.. still ridiculous and then they wonder why dealers and salespeople are not respected.. it's pure greed..

but i bet i might get someone defending them.. never fails..


might want to check with your state law, and see if it's regulated.. $600 is a joke!

 

$420 processing and document fee here. Big sign in the window of the dealer. Atleast they dont hide it.

 

my dealer fee was around 550 or so, but they ended up not charging it cuz i pleaded them to death. they will tell u that they cant take those off because its alreadu printed on their paperwork crap, but what they did in my situation was charge me the 550, and then they reimbursed me. they gave me a check for 550. myb u can try that direction.

 

At the Lincoln Mercury place I work the 89 dollar fee covers me stocking the car in, giving the key to the service guy who goes through the checklist and then having them wash it and wax it. Hearing what you guys are paying ours is pretty damn cheap. Then again I think we will be raising it soon because 1/2 the new cars that come in are miss built (two differnt side mirrors, wrong trim, black molding in some spots and chrome in other spots etc) so we are wasting a lot of time fixing them. Then again this is FORD quality for ya.

 

okay so why should the consumer pay for what ford did? that's hilarious.. another reason why i never would have a ford..