Washington State License Fee?

scho

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

Michaell

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

scho

Michaell said:

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

Thanks Michaell for shedding some light on my question. But I don't see anywhere in the Washington DMV fees page that specifies a fee of 1.5% of MSRP. Do you have any resources I can learn more about the 1.5% of MSRP dealer "License fee"?

This is the WA DMV Fees page I was referring to: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/fees.html

kyfdx

scho said:

Michaell said:

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

Thanks Michaell for shedding some light on my question. But I don't see anywhere in the Washington DMV fees page that specifies a fee of 1.5% of MSRP. Do you have any resources I can learn more about the 1.5% of MSRP dealer "License fee"?

This is the WA DMV Fees page I was referring to: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/fees.html

We don't have any insight, other than what other WA members report to us.

Generally, they have DMV charges in the $500-$800 range on a new car purchase.

scho

kyfdx said:

scho said:

Michaell said:

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

Thanks Michaell for shedding some light on my question. But I don't see anywhere in the Washington DMV fees page that specifies a fee of 1.5% of MSRP. Do you have any resources I can learn more about the 1.5% of MSRP dealer "License fee"?

This is the WA DMV Fees page I was referring to: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/fees.html

We don't have any insight, other than what other WA members report to us.

Generally, they have DMV charges in the $500-$800 range on a new car purchase.

Thanks kyfdx. So do people typically just pay for it? Or is this something that I can leverage to negotiate further and lower the sales price of the car? Is it worth bring it up to my dealer and request to lower the sales price?

Michaell

scho said:

kyfdx said:

scho said:

Michaell said:

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

Thanks Michaell for shedding some light on my question. But I don't see anywhere in the Washington DMV fees page that specifies a fee of 1.5% of MSRP. Do you have any resources I can learn more about the 1.5% of MSRP dealer "License fee"?

This is the WA DMV Fees page I was referring to: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/fees.html

We don't have any insight, other than what other WA members report to us.

Generally, they have DMV charges in the $500-$800 range on a new car purchase.

Thanks kyfdx. So do people typically just pay for it? Or is this something that I can leverage to negotiate further and lower the sales price of the car? Is it worth bring it up to my dealer and request to lower the sales price?

The DMV fees are paid to the state; no way to negotiate them lower.

@tifighter @28firefighter - feel free to jump in here...

scho

Michaell said:

scho said:

kyfdx said:

scho said:

Michaell said:

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

Thanks Michaell for shedding some light on my question. But I don't see anywhere in the Washington DMV fees page that specifies a fee of 1.5% of MSRP. Do you have any resources I can learn more about the 1.5% of MSRP dealer "License fee"?

This is the WA DMV Fees page I was referring to: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/fees.html

We don't have any insight, other than what other WA members report to us.

Generally, they have DMV charges in the $500-$800 range on a new car purchase.

Thanks kyfdx. So do people typically just pay for it? Or is this something that I can leverage to negotiate further and lower the sales price of the car? Is it worth bring it up to my dealer and request to lower the sales price?

The DMV fees are paid to the state; no way to negotiate them lower.

@tifighter @28firefighter - feel free to jump in here...

What I'm mostly confused is this: Dealership is charging $500 for "License fee". Out of that $500, how much is paid to the state? Is it a $100, or the entire $500? There is no transparency here. I'm all for paying the state what's due, and I just don't think it's fair if the dealership is making few hundred bucks of profit with "License fee", where they already charge us $150 of "Doc fee". I asked line items breakdown of that $500 "License fee", but I haven't heard back from them yet.

Michaell

scho said:

Michaell said:

scho said:

kyfdx said:

scho said:

Michaell said:

scho said:

Dealerships that I'm currently working with are charging me additional ~$500 for what's labelled as "License fee". I think this is to cover the registration, title, and license plate. My question is, "Is $500 a fair price for the license fee?" I looked up the cost of registration and title at WA DMV, and it certainly doesn't look $500. In fact, it would be much cheaper if I just do it myself. Is this one of those bogus dealer fees that I should ask them to take it off or lower the cost?

It's my understanding that the DMV costs in WA are roughly 1.5% of MSRP, so if you're looking at a $30-35K car, $500 seems about right.

Thanks Michaell for shedding some light on my question. But I don't see anywhere in the Washington DMV fees page that specifies a fee of 1.5% of MSRP. Do you have any resources I can learn more about the 1.5% of MSRP dealer "License fee"?

This is the WA DMV Fees page I was referring to: https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/fees.html

We don't have any insight, other than what other WA members report to us.

Generally, they have DMV charges in the $500-$800 range on a new car purchase.

Thanks kyfdx. So do people typically just pay for it? Or is this something that I can leverage to negotiate further and lower the sales price of the car? Is it worth bring it up to my dealer and request to lower the sales price?

The DMV fees are paid to the state; no way to negotiate them lower.

@tifighter @28firefighter - feel free to jump in here...

What I'm mostly confused is this: Dealership is charging $500 for "License fee". Out of that $500, how much is paid to the state? Is it a $100, or the entire $500? There is no transparency here. I'm all for paying the state what's due, and I just don't think it's fair if the dealership is making few hundred bucks of profit with "License fee", where they already charge us $150 of "Doc fee". I asked line items breakdown of that $500 "License fee", but I haven't heard back from them yet.

It all goes to the state.

The $150 doc fee is purely dealer profit.

scho

Thanks everyone. For others wondering about the same, I found there are other vehicle registration fees other than the registration and title fees:

Other Vehicle Registration Fees

Service fee for title: $15
Service fee for registration: $8.
Local transportation benefit district fees: varies by county (if required).
Regional transit authority excise tax, if applicable.
King County congestion reduction charge: $20.
License plate fee: $20.
Inspection fees:
WA State Patrol inspection for salvaged, rebuilt, or homemade vehicles: Inspection is $65. Inspection with VIN assignment may include additional fees.

And the "Regional transit authority excise tax" was 1.1% of the MSRP of the vehicle, and it could be anywhere between $300 ~ $500.

Source: https://www.dmv.org/wa-washington/car-registration.php