[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by PennBF

The reason I asked the question is that I went to a dealer in Leesburg and was looking for a price on a new car. When I looked at the price list they had a line item of about $800 for Dealer Prep. I said I would not pay for Dealer Prep as this was just "Fluff" and added Dealer Profit. The sales person responded with then I was not going to buy a car in Florida as every Dealer charged for Prep! That was as far as we got when he said thanks for coming in and good bye. I felt like I was being thrown out of the Dealer ship for challenging the line item rather than a cordial thanks for stopping in. We live and learn.

I have bought many new cars in my 6+ decades on this planet, in several states. Never once have I paid a "dealer prep" fee. Nor have I ever paid the similarly dubious "document fee." Both are nothing more than ADM (additional dealer markup). Yes...I have walked away from deals when the dealer would not budge. Fine with me, as I always found another dealer who played in the real world. Dealer prep is nothing more than making the vehicle ready to transfer to the new owner, and that is something the dealer is contractually bound to do by the affiliated manufacturer. The document fee is also a ruse, where dealers try to charge you an extra couple hundred bucks to prepare the sale documents for you. I say Bullfeathers! Car dealers are required by state law in every state I am familiar with to provide the new owner with any and all documents required by the state to title and register the vehicle. The sad thing is that many people simply shrug their shoulders and pay these fees. Stand your ground, and walk away if necessary. Think about it...what you needlessly give the dealer for these fees would likely buy you nearly a year's worth of gasoline!

[chrissy2231]

Orlando Subaru doesn't charge it.

[B-flat]

I'm late to the discussion but there's a ton of You Tube Videos about car buying and extra fees. Never tell them you are paying cash and watch out for the finance departments they are big profit centers for car dealers. Also you may want to check out "FightChance" a web site by James Bragg who offers a little different approach to new car buying.

Fighting Chance: Your Customized Solution to Getting the Best Car Deal

[B-flat]

Originally Posted by Art cov

Yes sir! This was my experience, I done the 3 car lot thing, got all out the door prices. They all said absolutely this is the bottom line! I worked at it hard. Then got the phone calls from each one and the amounts got lower. As they knew I was buying. After all the haggling ( I found this to be fun) finally I went to the lowest bid after all the talk. Got cash and went straight to the General managers office and put $ 40,000 cash on his desk. He didn’t know who I was or what this was about. I told him my story and told him the salesmen came up with a price of 41500 out the door. After a few days of haggling with 3 lots involved in my purchase. 4 men standing around me at this time. I then said, are you taking that for that truck or are you making me walk? He said to one of the guys “ get his paperwork and process it through! In an hour I drove away in a new crew cab 4x4. You got to have guts to win! It took 4 days but BINGO!!! Ended up being $3000 cheaper then the other 2 lowest prices. This I’m sure wouldn’t work on a Prius or little car on that amount but it worked on a big truck. I’m now ready to do it again. Last week of December is a good time

Love your style! Great lesson!

[B-flat]

Originally Posted by PennBF

Originally Posted by PennBF View Post
The reason I asked the question is that I went to a dealer in Leesburg and was looking for a price on a new car. When I looked at the price list they had a line item of about $800 for Dealer Prep. I said I would not pay for Dealer Prep as this was just "Fluff" and added Dealer Profit. The sales person responded with then I was not going to buy a car in Florida as every Dealer charged for Prep! That was as far as we got when he said thanks for coming in and good bye. I felt like I was being thrown out of the Dealer ship for challenging the line item rather than a cordial thanks for stopping in. We live and learn.
".

There's another approach tell them you'll pay the prep fees but they need to come off the the actual price your quoted on the car. In other words if the car price is $35,000 and they want to charge you $1000 for various prep fees etc. tell them you'll buy for $34,000. The best advice is to walk if they won't meet your price.

[schwarz]

Just bought our new Tucson there. Great dealership...goodby Hyundi of Ocala and their $999 dealer fee