coolfrood

So I'm finally ready to get an xD. Looks like the dealer I'm going to, and every other dealer nearby in NJ charges a "Documentary Fee" of $195. Is there some way to get out of this? Is this allowed by Scion?

niteowl

The "Doc Fee" is a BS fee- charging a customer a fee for the paperwork that takes less than 15 minutes to sign! It would be like Wal-Mart charging an extra 10 bucks to print out the receipt. I doubt Scion/Toyota has any control on what dealers charge on the doc fee.

The doc fee is capped in some states, in California its capped at $55.00. According to Edmunds.com, the state of New Jersey has no limit on the "Documentary Fee." I think New York capps doc fees at $45.00- if I were you, I'd tell the dealer the doc fee is $50.00 or walk away. I have relatives in the Garden State and your sales tax is high (9%?), don't let the dealer scam more money out of you.

___xDreme___

I've seen as high as $295 "doc fee" from some dealers on fleaBay. It's just added profit, in case they don't make as much as they'd like on selling the car. Doing the paperwork is just one of the hassles of the business, and if they don't like it then they should be in a different business. Usually I'm able to negotiate the fee out of the deal, but I will let it go if I think it's otherwise a super good deal. Since you can't negotiate the MSRP of the Scion, maybe you could get the doc fee reduced or dropped.

zoltiz

$295 will be considered low in ATL. It's usually in the $400-600 range here and they won't budge on Scions at all - up to a point that they don't care if you walk out.

haskovec

I think I would go out of state if they were trying to tack that kind of money on it.

___xDreme___

Back in '02 when I ordered my '03 MINI Cooper S, the dealer (the only one in StL) was tacking $500 over and above MSRP onto every order. They were still new enough that they could get away with it, but they've quit that now. But at least they were straight up about it - "Hey this is a popular car, we can't keep them in stock and we're going to make a little extra off you" - I knew it going in, and the car was desirable enough I sucked it up. Heck to this day a used '03 S sells for close to what a new one cost, so it still wasn't a bad investment. I would've drawn the line at what some dealers were doing in other parts of the country, though.....markups of from $2,500-$5,000 were not unheard of

A $600 "doc fee" is total BS, though - I would respect them a lot more if they just called it like it is. Even the local MINI dealer has "only" a $145 doc fee.....

zoltiz

Local Toyota dealer (this one with a $600 doc fee) was tacking on $4-5K on top of hybrid Highlanders and Priuses, as well as FJ Cruisers when they came out.

coolfrood

I ponied up the $195. The way the Toyotas and Scions sell these days, the dealers don't seem to be too eager to keep you in any case. I figured it wasn't worth killing my mood and wasting my time for saving a hundred bucks. I'm just excitedly waiting for my new car! It's going to take another three weeks -- they really don't have inventory for the xD yet, even though they claim to be the biggest Toyota dealer in the northeast.