Dealer Fees??

Yes, my Florida dealership also adds a $600 dealer fee. :angry: They insisted that everyone pays it, even employees, and they wouldn't back down. I had the choice to either walk away from the car I had waited for for 4 months, or eat it. It was the *only* bad mark in an otherwise good transaction.
If you go to Toyota.com, build a car, and experiment using different zipcodes, I think you will find that all dealers in the SE add it. But, at least I wasn't stupid enough to buy one on the lot for $3000 over MSRP! :blink: They must love it when someone turns down one that was special ordered in, because they told me that EVERY Prius that goes out on the lot gets marked up $3000.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Steven48 @ May 11 2006, 02:20 PM) [snapback]253652[/snapback]</div>

No, my dealer did not charge extra fees. I was lucky and got my 2006 Prius for almost $750 off sticker price. The only thing extra I paid was taxes and a small amount for the license. The extra fees are a rip off, in my opinion, but ultimately the dealers can charge what they want, mindful only of competition. There is one dealership in my area that adds such extra fees to virtually all their models. The others do not. To the extent possible, I would never do business now or in the future with the one that does.

Gary

 

<_< Sounds like time to simply walk away, buy in another state for a lower price and do the "fly-drive home" thing.

It has been reported before that Florida dealers were still "on the take" for extra "fees." I've never known a dealer to show real loyalty to a buyer, so a buyer has no local obligation or loyalty to a dealer.

OH YES.. there are "on the lot" Prius available around the country ready for immediate delivery.

 

Dealers often charge a "doc fee", which is supposed to cover the cost of documentation. It's really just another markup. Some dealers charge more than others. Ours charged $170 doc fee, with no other dealer fees. They also sold at $500 under MSRP for a package #7.

Tom

 

My dealer charged $45 doc fee so that I don't have to go to the DMV to get my Prius registered and get the plates. I think that $45 is worth the time I saved.

But $500?!!! What are they doing with all the "paper work"?

 

I've paid doc fees as high as $199 before for a car, but only paid $50 when I got my Prius.

 

It is different in different states and with different dealers. In Virginia there is a maximum charge and many dealers charge the maximum because they can. In Maryland it is less. I paid $279 Doc Charge for my Prius (Virginia) a few weeks ago and $100 Doc Charge for a Camry I bought in Maryland this week. If you can go out of state and find a good deal it might be worth it.

 

Deland Toyota does it on all sales (you can get out of it) But I got my NEW 2006 B-red #4 in about 1 hr. It was on the lot and I jumped on it. Did et it under list and was treated GREAT. See Butch Richardson he will take care of you. Now the dealer in Daytona has Prius in stock at $4995.00 over list..Well they can keep them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Steven48 @ May 11 2006, 03:20 PM) [snapback]253652[/snapback]</div>

Hi Steve,

I live in the Bradenton area and found the dealers in this area sometimes also charge a $2,000 additional fee. It's their right to charge anything they want and the dealers in this part of FL seem to be getting these fees. You can't fault them; free market economy at its best...

But with that being said I vowed simply not to pay anything over MSRP. No Toyoguard, no mudflaps, etc... With the help of Priuschat I found Earl Stewart Toyota in Palm Beach FL will get you a Prius at MSRP with absolutely no extra charges or markups. You can go to their website and they are proud of their pricing policy (never over MSRP on any vehicle and no additional charges). I ordered my 2006 silver No. 4 Prius in Nov with a $500 credit card deposit and got delivery in January of this year. I flew over on Southwest from TPA on the 8 AM flight for about $80 on a one day notice fare (they had three flights a day to Palm Beach last year). The salesman (Jesse Lorretto) met me at the airport and in two hours of signing a zillion forms (buying a new car is almost like buying a new house) and after giving them a check for the remainder due I took a nice 3 hour drive back home on SR 70. The car was in perfect condition (1.8 miles on the odometer) and was just off the truck the day before. Most of the correspondence was done via email.

If something was to happen to my Prius or if I was to buy another Toyota I will simply go straight to Earl Stewart Toyota again. It's just a waste of time IMHO to even bother with the West Coast FL Toyota dealers.

Regards,


Rick
2006 No. 4

 

I paid a $149 documentation fee at Corwin Toyota, in Fargo, ND in January of 2004. That was on top of MSRP and no other fees or add-ons. They offered me all the usual dealer add-ons, but accepted my firm but polite "No" to all of them, and it didn't add much time to the process. (I did buy carpet mats and mud flaps, because I wanted both.)

 

pretty much everone in the raleigh nc area charges $399... and even though my husband works for the dealer we had to pay it, of course this was back when there was a waiting list... and my old car was essentially useless so we didn't have a whole lot of choice on the matter.

now that there are prii on lots... you can find a better deal and i say go for it

 

Steve,

This seems to be the norm in FL. Most of the FL dealers have silently agreed to operate this way. It IS negotiable, but likely to be a tough battle. While we're at it, most FL dealers want to tack-on the "Toyoguard" port installed option (POI) to boost the price another $600. Again, this is negotiable. I called the Southeast regional distributor (the ones that install POIs) and I know it is not a "mandatory option". I finally got tired of the Orlando dealer games, cancelled my order, and bought outside the SouthEast Region. I found a dealer on the net having the color, option, available for immediate delivery, and priced at MSRP with $100 doc processing fee. I probably spent 1k getting the car (flight, car rental, taxi, lost work, gas, hotel, etc), but I got what I wanted, at a fair price without waiting. I used www.vehix.com to locate my car, called the dealer, paid the deposit using my credit card, and flew to Indiana.

Good Luck,

Brian

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Steven48 @ May 11 2006, 02:20 PM) [snapback]253652[/snapback]</div>

The fee here in Okla. was $449.00. It was the only extra I paid. I am sure it is pure profit for the dealer, even though it does seem pretty standard. But be clear about one thing, THEY ADD FEES EVERYWHERE. I was pre-approved for financing and still they had me talk to their finance guy. No problem if he wants to give me a better rate (do NOT tell him your rate, or he'll give the highest rate just under it- if he can beat it at all.) EVEN the finance guy tried to slip a $500 fee in, without mentioning it, even though the deal had been done and I had driven the car off earlier in the day. I caught it because the final told didn't match what I negotiated. He took it off without a word (I got two free oil changes from the salesman for even having to come back and go through this).

When I bought my Camary in '03 AFTER the deal was negotiated they sent me back to the finance guy, who pitched at least $8,000 in worthless add-ons. So the pressure and fancy footwork (and cheating) doesn't stop until you have signed the FINAL document. Check the figures closely. In Oklahoma we have a "cooling off" period where you can get a lot of these extras refunded if you re-think it. Such as I bought "gap insurance" and then realized I had put so much down it wasn't necessary. Getting the money back during this period is effortless as it is a law. Somethings, such as "protective finishes", etching on VIN numbers, are probably not refundable since they involve a product or actual service.

The best thing to do if you have never done this before is to go to the library and read the Consumer Report issues regarding new car purchases- not just the sections rating the cars, but the sections on hidden charges and how to negotiate with dealers.

Good luck.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Max Smart @ May 13 2006, 04:29 PM) [snapback]254922[/snapback]</div>

However, in states with strong traditions of consumer protection, such as California, these fees are restricted by law to approximately $45.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ May 15 2006, 03:14 PM) [snapback]255865[/snapback]</div>

I knew there was a reason I'd lived there besides education, desert camping, beach camping, whale watching, skiiing, pack stations, back packing, multi-culturalism, and professional baseball.

 

("Your dealer"? They're not anybody's dealers but their own.) Most dealers will try to charge you for all kindsa useless crap.

Do yourself a favor: go to the Consumer Reports website and read their free advice on how to buy a car. It saved me several hundred dollars and hours of running around and aggravation.

 

In central FL, they charge that Southeast Toyota Region admin fee. It's now up to $749.50 for the Doc fee, and another $199.50 for the Admin fee. So they're adding almost an extra GRAND to the cars...

We only agreed to pay these because they upped the trade-in # considerably. (It's pretty much 6 and 1/2 dozen where they reduce things, as long as the bottom line is a good number.) If they hadn't given us such a great trade-in #, we'd have made them remove/reduce those...

 

$45 doc fee, that's it. $300 under MSRP.