iowagary

On advice of the forums around here, I decided to call the dealership that I'm leaning toward buying my tC from just to check what they were going to try and hit me with for doc fees once I got there. I wanted to make sure I didn't like the place and pick the car and then find out they wanted some huge amount of money. I just called and they said it was only $35. I repeated it back, since I was kinda expecting to pay closer to $100, and the sales guy said "is that good?" which I took as a good sign.

My question is this - I like this dealer for one thing (Michael's Scion in Bellevue, WA.) and thus far I've had nothing but good experiences with them, but are there any other hidden charges or names for the charges that they might be adding on? Could it be a $35 doc fee and then another $200 of something else?

Curious...

Giravani

I had a $50 doc fee on the sticker, then on the very bottom there was a $512 Document Processing/Handling Fee. I've heard a lot of different figures but that's what I paid, and it blows .

kikimaja

The charge is actually $515.00 and its a Delivery/Processing and Handling Fee. Every single car in the country has this fee. It has nothing to do with doc fees.

Giravani

Well color me corrected!!

George

Unfortunately, you won't know for sure until they give you the number to write on the check near the end of the transaction. Ideally, they will give you all the numbers up front. The dealers all claim that they do this. However, my expreience is that I had to visit four dealers before I found one that actually did.

Good luck, keep your head up, and don't hesitate to walk out if they try to spring new charges on you late in the transaction. Don't fall for the "you're not going to ruin this deal over XX dollars?" line. Give your business to the dealer who treats you honestly and doesn't play shell games with junk fees.

George

Taylor

I think 328 for doc fee...and about 30 for the title...

That's what the guy at Findlay Scion said, and that is on top of the 17,714 for the atx car with the 515 delivery and the subwoofer

sparks_scion

on most cars there is a processing,delivery, and handling fee from the port. Thats the shipping charge on the car. At the dealership there is a "doc fee" that is charged to you (the customer) for handling paper work and what not. Well at least thats how it is at my dealership. Our doc fee is $199.25 and its the same thing on our Toyotas. However some dealerships are raising the doc fees on the scions. I know of a few, that i can't name, in my area that are doing this. I think you should see what your dealership charges for Toyotas and compare it to Scion...... Just a thought!

Bushido

The "doc fee" is pure profit for the dealership. When my wife went to Scion of Naperville, at least the sales manager there was honest enough to openly admit that. It is a way for the dealer to subsidize their cost of sales. You are essentially paying for the salesman's time to prepare the legal paperwork that they are required to do in order to close the deal.

You don't have to accept it and it is one of the ways you CAN negotiate in a "no-haggle" sales environment. I think it's an outrageous gouging of the customer, especially prevalent in the southeast when it reaches up to $200 or so (see the Atlanta area Scion dealers websites or the previous post). The more hyper the consumers get to put their hands on a Scion tC, the more likely they will be to accept these fees and they will likely escalate.

B.

TokyoRaver

[quote="Bushido"]$600 in Daytona Beach!! That's enough to buy another project car!

05sciontc

you guys are all lucky
here in atlanta, ga
all the scion dealerships teamed up together to set the doc fee at $599.00
anyone has a good advice on negotiating this doc fee????
i know they don't negotiate... but they aren't selling that many of tCs
yeah,,, it's weird... no waiting list,,, you can just walk in to the dealer and pick up your tC right there.....
anyways,,, dealers call me every day saying that i have buy it now,, otherwise,, i'm gonna have to wait a month or two for next delivery... and they've been telling me this for 3 weeks... funny....

JSVH

I got mine from Heyward Allen in Athens, it was worth the hour drive for their $199 doc fees IMO. They also dont play the games that the other dealers seem to be playing with you.

nero_tC

not really weird, same thing is going on here in florida. a lot of tc's are just sitting on the lot of different dealerships. no waiting either, unless you want specific options, like myself

month or two my ___. you just have to keep looking around, dealer's here charge anywhere from $0 to ~$900 in doc fees. i'm sure in atlanta there are several scion dealerships. you just have to might drive a little farther to get a better deal, which might be well worth it.

zoltiz

Bought my tC in Atlanta 6 days ago. I did pay a doc fee, but I got the exact car I wanted - black, with nothing on it, in 5-speed. What I did is printed out a list of atlanta area dealers and started calling them one by one asking what they have in stock. After about 20 phone conversations I got what I wanted. Heyward Allen is the best in terms of attitude and doc fees, but they are a small dealer and told me that the wait would be 3 months for my black tC... I don't think so.

Toyota of Roswell has some pretty active salesguys - they promised me they will get what I want in a week - and they got it (I still did not buy from them, but I tipped the sales guy well).

I got mine from Marietta Scion - decent guys, agreed on taking out the 6-disc changer, and they managed to beat my credit union financing by one point - I'm pretty happy.

P.S. So many tC's in Atlanta - how come I never see any? And why didn't you show up at Dave and Busters meet last weekend?

JSVH

I just think the other dearships are playing games, and it will probably take just as long if you order your car from any dealership. I had a guy at World Toyota tell me that no manual transmission tCs were going to be made till August . But its up to you, I did not mind waiting for my exact car, I even had a chance to take a white one with everything I wanted 2 weeks eariler. But I waited for silver. The only way you are going to get it earlier IMO is if you pick one that they have on the lot, I think all the dealerships draw from the same pool of cars.

I thought about it, but that was the first weekend I had my car, I spent the whole weekend driving it around. I will try and make the next meet though.

Mudd

If you're paying anything over a $100 Doc fee, walk away, because you're getting screwed. I was able to buy my car without paying a doc fee because I was patient and willing to drive a little bit to get it. I ended up driving about 300 miles to another city to get my car, and the dealership waived the doc fee over the phone as part of the transaction. If they had tried to reinstate it, I'd have driven back home without buying the car.

It's nothing more than another way for the dealer to hose you, regardless of what they tell you or what their reasoning is for charging more for it. It's especially bad on the Scions - they can't hose you in the usual ways with the price fixing thing, so they get creative and create things.

JSVH

I checked every dealer in Atlanta, Athens, Savannah, and Jacksonville and they had the lowest. I did not think it was worth it to drive any farther for $199, plus I even liked the service at this one so I did not feel like I was buying from them just for the low price, I even tried to get a couple of the other dealers to drop or atleast lower their doc fees and they would not.

thangchode

my DOC fee was $35, toyota of kirkland.

Ice_Box

the doc fees are 35 at michaels scion in bellevue, also here is how to get your price

price of car times tax percentage (bellevue is 9.1)

add price of car plus tax plus 120 for liscensing plus 35 for docs

that should get you within mere dollars of the final price

- your friendly neighborhood scion dealer

blaster

I just got my TC from Michael's in Bellevue. No hidden fees!

Scion05BOPxB

With airlines nearly giving away tickets these days, and the great gas mileage of the Scions... I would gladly fly a few states away to buy mine if the dealer attempts to screw me over with bogus fees.

I understand destination charges... that's pretty much a given on any car, especially an import. But to jack up the bogus doc fees as much as $900?? I could drive a L O N G way for $900.