Documentation Fee?

:thumb: Let them have their silly mandatory fee. Just make sure the price being negotiated already includes this fee, so they have to take it out somewhere else.

 

I always negotiate an OTD price.
I also always have a pre-approved loan from a CU in my back pocket.
If the finance manager can meet that loan rate...I'll let the dealer make the loan. They usually can't.
If they want to put a "Lux-O-rama" exterior protection package, or lime green valve stem caps, or try to slap me with a $99 "Doc" fee, then that's fine.
I start negotiating at true MSRP, minus any factory incentives, and minus all of the second, and third sticker "mandatory options". If they don't meet my price point...well, there are other dealers...and other cars to look at.
The Toyota dealers in this area are pretty sorry, which is probably why the last new vehicle I bought wasn't a Toyota. Neither was the one before that.
I paid MSRP once for a new vehicle when I was a kid, and I didn't have a credit rating.
Since then…never…and I won't.
Ever.

It's going to be tough to get competitive pricing on a C-model (or evidently any Prius) for a while yet.
That's OK.
If you reeeeeally gotta have one, then try to negotiate for the best price between dealers that you can get, but at the end of the day...if you gotta have one, then you're probably not going to get a good deal for a while.

Welcome to Economics 101.
Pay the dealer, and enjoy the car!

Good Luck!

 

Exactly.

When I bought my used Honda Civic a few years ago, the dealership tacked on this fee right before I was set to write the check. I politely mentioned that *I* was going to register the car myself, so they could cancel the fee. The d'ship replied that they would love to, but NM law requires them to charge all customers.

That is of course BS, but I saw no reason to argue with them. I said "fine, then charge the fee but reduce the price of the car by the same amount." Since they had already said they would take off the charge if they could, the discount was in the bag.

 

Exactly. I just need the pre-tax price. At my two closest Toyota dealers one advertizes "No doc fees", but they have slightly higher prices.

 

Wrong.

I simply tell them that if they want to sell me the car ... they have to write the deal. Never paid that BS fee in 40 years of car buying.

If they say they won't remove it ... start walking for the door. They'll never let you leave at that point. If they do ... then leave.

REV