What to expect at "Checkout"

Read this about prices for extended warranties:

http://www.vfaq.net/docs/ExtendedWarranty.html

I significantly overpaid for my warranty and ended up cancelling it and repurchasing (in a week or two) from one of the guys mentioned on that page. Also, note that it's simple to purchase this after you've had the car for a while (which the dealer won't mention), as long as you're still within the basic warranty period and haven't made any claims. So you can wait a week if you feel pressured, certainly.

They'll probably try to sell you Lojack as well. Up to you if it's worth it for you. If your car sits in your garage, may not be valuable to you -- Someone else noted once that Priuses are much too rare to be stolen for parts, and you can't hotwire the thing.. you'd have to tow it away. You can check with your insurance co ahead of time to see what sort of discount you'd get for getting Lojack installed.

Tax/Title/License you can't do anything about, of course. I paid about $200 for the title and registration total.

 

Check with your state's DMV to find out what the registration fees are. In many states it depends on the purchase price and kind of car you buy (car, truck, etc.) -

http://www.dmv.state.va.us

I found this breakdown of state fees on their site.

Other things you may be responsible for are document fees. My dealer did my registration for me and charged me $50 for all the paperwork. It saved me about 2 hours, so it was worth it to me. You don't have to have the dealer do your paperwork. It's up to you. But don't pay more than it's worth - $50 is fair, they get paid for the labor involved and it saves you time.

If you have secured your own financing, some dealers will try to talk you into theirs and may get you a better deal. If you bring your own Capital One financing they may charge you $300 because that's what Capital One charges the dealer on the backend.

State sales and use tax is 3% in VA (according to the DMV site).

Watch out for other sneaky upcharges like "advertising" fee or "dealer prep" - this being a high-demand vehicle, it's difficult to negotiate those away (which is why it's important to chose a good dealer to begin with).

Some dealers, in addition to pushing extended warranty also push the prepaid maintenance. The car requires very little scheduled maintenance in the first 5 years, so most of us don't see it as a very good deal, but if you buy it at the time of purchase, you can fold the cost into your loan, which may make sense for you.

The biggest tip - ask your dealer. They should be able to tell you what the out the door cost will be within about $50 of the end total.

 

Cybele, to clarify, the CA dealers charge $45 "doc fee" which we can charge -- and we charge everyone that. We can charge up to $75 per sale if we want to, but the going rate these days is $45. That's on every single deal in CA, whether it's used or new.

Di

 

Sales tax is a state thing... variable. Some cities add tax too (NY and Austin come to mind)

 

One thing not to expect? Buyer's remorse. I've had the car 2 months now, 4500 miles, and the smile is still there.

-m.

 

Arizona Doc Fee?

Anyone know if there is a standard amount that is charged in the state of Arizona as a document processing fee? My dealer claims there is and that it is $279 and not the $40-$50 charged in California. Does anyone have any info to the contrary? TIA!!

 

In case this helps anyone in California: I bought a 2005 Pkg 6 for MSRP, plus cargo and floor mats ($186), which came to $26,666.00 "Out the door" cost after taxes, title, and registration was $29044.85.