The doc fee was a new one on me when we ordered our truck. That is those in the $500 range. If I ever paid one previously it may have been 50 bucks to run and get the plates. Well, low and behold, after we negotiated a price on the truck, the doc fee shows up as a line item. That irritated me to the point I almost didn't sign. But I thought we did more than OK on the price so I went ahead and signed. Come a week and a half later and the whole after the fact presentation of it was still working on me. So went back to the dealer for a little feedback, which I think every business deserves, positive or negative. After stating my views, the sales manager said he could not remove it as a line item, but would lower the price by the same amount, $495. Worked for me. The sales manager did say he did not know of a dealership with a doc fee any different, but I do, same state too. What has your experience been?

 

I have always seen doc fees. And they are always ridiculously outrageous. Especially for what they are. Running and getting plates and filing the appropriate paperwork. I have heard of higher fees and have seen lower fees. Yes they can remove them, you just have to be persistent enough. You were and they just removed them another way. It's no different than pin striping, glass etching and alarms and so on that they add that worthless but cost hundreds of $.

 

mine was $129 in AR.

 

If you use Xplan it limits the documentation fee to 100 bucks.

https://www.fordpartner.com/partnerw...ules.htm#faq26

 

It varies by dealer. Even most powersports dealers have them of over $100 now for ATVs, sleds, PWCs, etc. $500 seems to be the top end of where they are to date but they are constantly creeping up.

 

It varies by state too. PA caps them at $136 currently. My neighbors to the south in MD and VA always run higher (VA I see $599 commonly). It's one of my standard list of reasons just to price shop locally because if you have that much profit built in to handling the documents you can undercut someone in a more upfront state by a few bucks. All those little fees add up. I don't blame those dealers though, they are just acting in accordance with their own state laws. If I didn't have a doc fee myself, I'd have whatever the itemized cost of the office in the back per unit is added to the charges against the car and then that much less to give away. Granted when it's $136 I can mentally justify that. $500 is padding in order to be locally competitive.

 

Edmunds general chart of doc fees

So for TN $495 is the avg. A dealer that goes lower will likely see reduced sales (unless they are the only shop for 50 miles and can survive of loyal local buyers who understand). A dealer who is much higher, might risk offended a few deals away, but if they always advertise a few hundred dollars less than anyone else, folks flock to em. I see it at work (and on this forum) all the time.

 

Cool chart Frantz. Remember the days when the part of what the profit margin of selling a vehicle included doing the paperwork? I guess it's just a game now like you say. With margins tighter and the net bringing far off competition to your back yard, you need a way to keep the initial view of the price down.

 

Just another item for pure profit, just like freight charges.

 

Rasty,
Freight charges go to Ford, not the dealer. Some states allow them to not be advertised as part of the price, and you may have been told "we'll waive those for you", but it's a line item that is 100% charged to the dealer. So for them to take them off, they had that money in profit somewhere else.

Doc fees aren't "pure profit". We do have folks who handle the documentation, and at least at our dealer, they are entirely paid out of the doc fees collected. Does that department make a profit? Sure! Is $500 a bit silly! Of course! BUT states where dealerships have high dealer fees do tend to sell the vehicles less. So if they use part of whatever profit there is to sell the car/truck as a loss then it's not really profit, just another way to move numbers around. I'd bet the real cost for doc is about $50 a unit, but I am not an accountant and have never paid the cost of having employees so I could be short.

 

Glad I posted, sure has been educational for me - (better late than never). Thanks to Frantz for the perspective and link to the Edmunds site. I appreciate it!