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Florida Car Dealer Fees
6 years ago, when I lived in a northeastern state, I leased a vehicle for a very reasonable down payment and reasonable monthly rates. By the time that the 3 year lease was nearing its end, I had moved to Florida. I could not find any local Florida dealership willing to lease me another vehicle at reasonable prices, primarily due to the “dealer fee”. I went back up north and got the same deal as my original lease and they titled everything in Florida.
Last month, when my leased vehicle was nearing the end of the lease, I again checked several local dealers. One of those dealers is new and advertised, “No Dealer Fee”. All of the local dealers deals were again much higher than I had negotiated up north. So much for no dealer fee dealers. I was ready to go back up north to visit relatives and lease a new car when a friend told me about a dealer in the area who gave him a deal similar to what I had on the same basic car. I contacted the saleswoman at this dealership and without any hassle at all, I had my new 2018 car in 3 hours at the same price I had paid up north. If this Florida dealership can make a profit without charging a dealer fee, (the same profit that the dealers up north make), why do the Florida dealerships have to make this extra profit called a “Dealer Fee”? If buyers in Florida are willing to accept these extra charges, there is no incentive for the Florida dealerships to eliminate them. As a senior citizen, I have bought or leased many vehicles. This had to be the easiest car deal I have ever experienced. I am willing to share more details about my experience. |
kappy, you may want to remove your email address from a public forum, you can edit your orginal post. Also, thank you for the information, I will keep this in mind when we start looking for a new car.
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I find the Florida dealers hard to work with. Just bought a new Honda in upstate NY. Got a reasonable deal and the dealer had a third party that for $100 took care of all the Florida paperwork, Florida sales tax and Florida plate transfer from old to new.
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It's not just the dealer fee. They like to put on a lot of extra junk and add another 5 thousand above the factory sticker price.
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I just purchased a new vehicle and had a heck of time negotiating down the "dealer documentation fee." This was my first new car purchase in Florida. The dealer stated Florida law required the Documentation Fee, which is dubious to me; I paid what I thought was fair for the new vehicle but I sure had to work the negotiation long and hard. I did not pay $699 for documentation, which is pure profit to the dealership.
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When you visit a car dealership, one thing that you can be sure of is that the salesperson will lie to you about everything related to the price, fees, and value of the car. Personally, I believe that car manufacturers would sell more cars and make more money if they would get rid of the dealers and set a firm, fixed price for their product. Other retailers learned this lesson a long time ago.
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Florida Car Dealer Fees
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GM’s Saturn tried that. People would rather negotiate with Slick Sam than not negotiate with Millennial Mike. They walked away from Mike thinking they could do better with Sam. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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Thanks for the advice and I understand what you are telling me. However, I do want to get the word out that people in Florida do not have to put up with what I believe are unnecessary additional charges. If the dealers up north can make a reasonable profit without any dealer fees. Why can’t the Florida dealers do the same.
Well, if i’m Any example, they obviously can. The $799 and more fees are judt outrageous, IMHO. |
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They prey on the uninformed & trusting, young and old. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Dealer fees seem to be the norm here. Even when buying used. I don't get it at all. Just another reason I hate car salesmen or women.
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A couple years ago I went with a friend to the Lincoln dealer on 441 Leesburg. He wanted to check out a new Lincoln. I separated from him in the showroom and looked at some of the window stickers. On each one was a $500 "New Vehicle Preparation". Never in my life saw that, and a few minutes later a young sales rep came up and asked if I had any questions. I said Yes I do, and asked him what that charge was for. He said (quote) "Oh they don't completely build the car in the factory and we finish it out back". Me= "Oh really - what type of things need to be done?" Him= "like install the fuses and put in oil and gas and other things". Me= "Do you tell all your customers that"? Him= (befuddled) "Well yeah". Must say I lost some control then and told him what I thought of that answer, their fee, and how this dealership treats unknowing customers. A minute later my friend had to escort me outside. He thankfully did not buy from that dealer.
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Doc Fees
My son works in auto sales and recently told me to watch FL dealers who charge exorbitant documentation fees (Doc fees). New York dealers are limited by state law to charge no more than $75.00 for this expense, which covers the processing of paperwork on a car sale. I looked up the FL average Doc Fees on the web, and in 2011 the average was $607.00, the highest in the nation. I"m sure it's higher now. I'm buying a new car after the first of the year, and plan to refuse to pay such an outlandish charge.
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