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Smart Shopper Documentation Fees
667 messages, Last post on Sep 18, 2009 at 3:24 PM
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Replying to: geo9 (Mar 11, 2007 7:14 am) |
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Transferred over from another thread: This is an excerpt from a local (and somewhat nationally recognized) auto writer about the state of Illinois' soon to be almost tripling of the DOC fee. Sorry ISell but the "paperwork" a dealer does doesn't justify this ridiculous fee. As he suggests in the article, I negotiate a lower sale price to compensate. Then, as now, the DOC fee isn't mandated by law, the amount is. Dealers are free to charge the fee or not as long as everyone pays the same if it is charged and it doesn't exceed $58.48 now ($150 soon), says Jerry Cizek, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, which represents more than 500 Chicagoland dealers and spearheaded the original DOC fee as well as the proposal for an increase. Bob Loquercio, chairman of the association and an Elgin Toyota, Scion and Hyundai dealer, insists the higher fee is justified. "The amount of paperwork and people needed to process it have increased. The cost has quadrupled since 1992, but the fee hasn't kept up," he said. Can't object to a higher fee if it costs $150 to process the paperwork--Loquercio won't say--but wouldn't hiring a staff that can dot and cross faster be a better solution? Loquercio argues that many dealers, himself included, weren't in business when the DOC fee was adopted and had no say in the amount. "I became a dealer in 1996. We probably had 10 documents to fill out on each sale then. Now it's more like 40. We've more than doubled our staff because [political] bureaucracy has increased the amount of paperwork to process even the simplest of tasks." For example, 9/11 adds to the load. "Dealers have been asked to do more, even checking to make sure they aren't selling to terrorists," said Cizek. Compliance with the Office of Foreign Assets Control mandates dealers don't do business with "prohibited persons," defined as terrorists or those who support them. A dealer can't sell a car to or even change the oil for a prohibited person. An office worker has to check the buyer's name against the people and organizations listed on the OFAC Web site with whom dealers can't do business. There are 262 pages of names, but it only took a couple of minutes to see that there's no Jones, Thompson, Williams and only one Smith (Columbia) on the list. What really gripes Illinois dealers? In at least 30 states dealers charge $400 to $900 in DOC fees--though anyone charging $900 must be using $100 bills for notepads. So what's wrong, they argue, with those in Illinois charging $150? Of course, that raises what surely will be the next question dealers ask: If other states charge from $400 to $900, why is Illinois charging only $150? Replies to this message: isellhondas |
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I hope you don't think 35.00 is "ridiculous" ?
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Replying to: drive62 (Mar 29, 2007 7:35 pm) Did you not read the post? The DOC fee here will almost triple to >$150. And as the article states since other states charge much more it's only a matter of time until our fees will match theirs. If your area "only" charges $35 the consumer should consider themseleves lucky. But it's pretty clear that your market is an anomaly. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until your area increases their DOC fee. It's clear the DOC fee is completely unecessary and only serves to increase the profits for the auto dealer. |
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Replying to: cccompson (Nov 11, 2006 2:00 pm)  now that I have got a notice from DMV and it states that the license renew registration fee is $160 - which is more than what I paid for my 1st year...sounds kinda weird to me because the reg. fee should be lower each year as the car gets older... can someone please post their registration fee for the Honda fee (especially license renewing owners)? By the way, I am in Los Angeles, California Thanks!
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Replying to: lcomplex (Mar 30, 2007 1:42 am) 1. You stated that it's been almost a year. Did you initially get a full 12 month registration or was it 11 months? (Some states provide partial year registration the first year to coincide with your "normal" annual registraation. My state uses birth month for annual renewal.) 2. The Fit was a new model (for the U.S.) last year. It's not uncommon for new models to have a 2nd year registration adjustment. The state (and many insurance companies)estimate their new model fees and adjust (fine tune) them for subsequent years. 3. It could be they increased their fees for all vehicles. |
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In my most recent car purchase, I had a set minimum purchase price from my bank to get the ultra low intrest rate. During negotiation the price dipped $209 below the minimum price. This left me scrambling to think of dealer addons that would get me back over the minimum. Well then came the $250 doc fee, as the fee is added directly to the cost of the car (check the title) problem solved. Never thought I would be glad about the increased doc fee, it saved me well over $250 over the length of the loan. This vehicle was slightly used (approx. 700mi) and as such had $3000+ knocked off the the original MSRP, so going with a similar model near that price wasn't much of an option. I would've had to switch to a different brand to find what I was looking for at the price. |
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Brought over from another thread: This is an excerpt from a local (and somewhat nationally recognized) auto writer about the state of Illinois' soon to be almost tripling of the DOC fee. Sorry ISell but the "paperwork" a dealer does doesn't justify this ridiculous fee. As he suggests in the article, I negotiate a lower sale price to compensate. Then, as now, the DOC fee isn't mandated by law, the amount is. Dealers are free to charge the fee or not as long as everyone pays the same if it is charged and it doesn't exceed $58.48 now ($150 soon), says Jerry Cizek, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, which represents more than 500 Chicagoland dealers and spearheaded the original DOC fee as well as the proposal for an increase. Bob Loquercio, chairman of the association and an Elgin Toyota, Scion and Hyundai dealer, insists the higher fee is justified. "The amount of paperwork and people needed to process it have increased. The cost has quadrupled since 1992, but the fee hasn't kept up," he said. Can't object to a higher fee if it costs $150 to process the paperwork--Loquercio won't say--but wouldn't hiring a staff that can dot and cross faster be a better solution? Loquercio argues that many dealers, himself included, weren't in business when the DOC fee was adopted and had no say in the amount. "I became a dealer in 1996. We probably had 10 documents to fill out on each sale then. Now it's more like 40. We've more than doubled our staff because [political] bureaucracy has increased the amount of paperwork to process even the simplest of tasks." For example, 9/11 adds to the load. "Dealers have been asked to do more, even checking to make sure they aren't selling to terrorists," said Cizek. Compliance with the Office of Foreign Assets Control mandates dealers don't do business with "prohibited persons," defined as terrorists or those who support them. A dealer can't sell a car to or even change the oil for a prohibited person. An office worker has to check the buyer's name against the people and organizations listed on the OFAC Web site with whom dealers can't do business. There are 262 pages of names, but it only took a couple of minutes to see that there's no Jones, Thompson, Williams and only one Smith (Columbia) on the list. What really gripes Illinois dealers? In at least 30 states dealers charge $400 to $900 in DOC fees--though anyone charging $900 must be using $100 bills for notepads. So what's wrong, they argue, with those in Illinois charging $150? Of course, that raises what surely will be the next question dealers ask: If other states charge from $400 to $900, why is Illinois charging only $150? Replies to this message: |
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This is from the Lexus website: " "Delivery, processing and handling fee" is based on the value of the processing, handling, and delivery services Lexus provides, as well as Lexus' overall pricing structure. Lexus may make a profit on the delivery, processing and handling fee." The fee for the RX 350 is $715 here in VA. Obviously, part of that is profit for the dealership. I wonder what the DPH fee is in CA, where there's a cap on doc fees?
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Replying to: khristina (Apr 13, 2007 6:03 pm) The "doc" or "processing" fee is added by the dealer; it's oftentimes pre-printed on the buyer's order (contract) to make it appear to be non-negotiable. This is really a back-door way of adding profit for the dealer instead of simply raising the sale price of the car slightly. So in this manner, it's no different than dealer-added "accessories" like pinstripes or "mop 'n glo" (glorified wax job). Unfortunately for the salesperson, the processing fee adds nothing to his or her commission.
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