Documentation & Administration Fees

raymond01

I am seeing dealers charging documentation fees or sometimes they call them administration fees of between $350 to $399 which seems excessive to me. Are these fees negotiable?

stever

Yes. And some states limit fees by law to something more reasonable (like $50). I'm sure most of the paperwork is done electronically these days.

Dealers are loathe to negotiate the fees though, and will claim that they have to charge everyone the same or face a discrimination suit. Can't say that I've ever heard of such a suit. Makes for a convenient excuse though.

Anyway, for those dealers, just subtract the fee from the total price you want to pay and negotiate on the out the door price. in other words, take your purchase price, figure out the taxes and a DMV fee and work off that number. That'll be your OTD price target and will include all fees and taxes, including any junk fees. Ignore the line items that the dealer presents you with and don't negotiate those.