"Dealer transfer fee"/"document fee" is kept by the dealer, as additional profit. It is negotiable, meaning you can say, " I won't pay it " and the dealer can decide whether or not to lose your sale, by refusing to waive it.
In MD, where I live, such fees can't exceed $100, by law, and many dealer charge only $25 or nothing at all. On the other hand, in neighboring VA, where I have also bought many vehicles, most dealers try to charge $200 to $300.
On Ford X-Plan sales such fees are not allowed. However, on several occasions buying X-Plan, dealers have tried to charge me and claimed they "forgot", when I remind them of the Ford Plan rules.
Government fees ( sales tax, tags, etc. ), which the dealer collects and pays to MVA/DOT or other government agency to transfer title, to the buyer, are different. The dealer isn't keeping any of that money. Therefore, those fees/taxes should not be negotiable.

 

walc,


i just bought a FX4 using x-plan... and the dealer tried to stick me with a $99 documentation fee... i told them nope.. they took it off.....

that's not th worst part.. i had to get help from Jeff and PolarBear to prove to my dealership that there was a $500 X-Plan rebate on the F150.. Jeff and Polar were able to provide the Program# for the rebate and i gave it to the dealership... they STILL could't find it online.... i had to sit in front of the computer with them and actually find it myself while they watched..... pretty incompetent if you ask me.....

it had been 5 years since my last purchase... and 4 years before before that one.... and it gets me EVERYTIME... buying a truck/car NEVER changes...it's the same runaround 3 puchases /9 years later.....

isky... tell the dealship your not gonna pay the $194 and be prepared to walk..... they'll either stop you as your getting up from your seat to leave the dealership or they'll call you back later that day or a few days later....

if they don't call back... well heck, there's about a zillion Ford dealerships out there... you, the buyer, has the upper hand......you'l have to decide what your willing to live with....

i personally was torn between paying for a $300 pickup fee... they located the truck i wanted 4 hours away and they wanted to charge me $300 to get it... i ultimately caved in and decided i was willing to pay the $300 because they were giving me quite a bit on my trade... my concern was that another Ford dealership might not give as much....maybe a valid concern for you too.. not sure.... in any matter, i never ended paying the $300 fee as the dealership went a got the wrong truck.. they had to locate another one and agreed not to charge me a pickup fee for it.....

good luck...

 

I tell every one of my FTE customers that I'm not doing anything all that spectacular, it's that my competitors all do it so POORLY...

Well, it is changing, you just haven't found one of those few dealers that has shown a willingness to change...until now. Next time around, a trip to Boring, OR or Victor, NY is in order, don't you think?

 

Well, I don't get it either. I had a delivery this evening- single mom, recently divorced, first car purchase she's done on her own. She wanted to trade a high-mileage Volvo in on a Ford Freestyle. She had her colors and equipment picked out, and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the car- we had two in stock that would work (7-pass Limited with the Safety Pkg). Problem was, we were 1 1/2 hours drive away from her- and there's more than one Ford dealerhip between us and her office on the West side of town. We didn't get the deal because we were the lowest price- we got the deal because I gave her straight answers to some important questions like 1) what's my Volvo worth? 2) How much is my payment going to be? 3) (most importantly) are your numbers going to change by the time I drive all the way out there? She'd already been through the ringer- 4 Ford dealerships, she knew what she wanted and was qualified to buy. Had to drive 40 miles past all those dealerships to get the stoopid car bought- I just don't get it.