Celeron

For buyers in North Carolina, whats up with this $399 doc fee I'm getting quoted at every dealer, no matter the make of the car? Is this something common to North Carolina? Coming from NY we don't have any mysterious "doc fees."

Jim Holloman

Apple Tree Acura in Fletcher, NC charged me a Doc fee of $175.00 on a new TSX. That was the only fee that was charged beyond the destination fee. And, we discussed it before I looked at any cars. The amount paid was less than the amount of the fee below MSRP, so I guess one could rationalized that, in effect, there was no fee.

I was extremely pleased with my purchase experience at Apple Tree Acura in Fletcher (near the Asheville airport). My salesman was Matt Sewitsky.

A dealer can add any fee they care to add and call it anything they want to call it. It is always an item for negotiation. One dealer North of here (not Acura nor Honda) adds a $695.00 "protection fee" to every vehicle.

I always advise a potential buyer to discuss "fees" before doing a test drive.

joerockt

Tax, title and registration should be the only fees you pay beyond the neged price for the car. Everything else is and should be removed.

Thats all I have on my sales draft.

Power1Pete

biker

Just because eveyone in the state is doing it doesn't mean it's beyond negotiation.

anopholes

Its a way for the dealership to guarantee a direct profit on every car. In many cases it is not counted toward the saleslperson's commission and therefor the salesperson has to work that much harder (to push up the price) for their pay. Sales people are rarely well off, but owning a dealership pays off.

Its pretty ridiculous and similar to the advertising fees of previous years. But when people see it printed on an invoice they figure it should be there, because we beleive what we read. However by the same token, they could charge you a lighting, furniture and asphalt fee for providing those services as well. I am looking at getting a TSX in N. Carolina as well.

The pricing is frustrating because I really like the car, but an Accord EX-L is $4500 cheaper and thats a large premium to pay for "fun to drive," stability control, a slightly better stereo and marginally better warranty, resale. Especially when the TSX also costs about $300 more a year in insurance and gas.

I emailed a lot of acura dealers and for a 2005 non-navi I got two quotes for 26,350 +Tax and Tags, including doc fee. Best financing is 3.9% for 60months.

The EX-L manual accord is going for 21,600 (+Tags and Tax) but also with 1.9% financing for 60 months.

(The price difference is really 4850, I can do math, but I would add an autodimming mirror to the accord).

I find it a frustrating choice.

fast-tl

I can see those are good points, and the Accord is more roomy, to boot.

Jeffropugs

I went back and fourth for about 6 months. Accord/TSX/Accord/TSX over and over.

I'm sooooo glad I bought the TSX. It's fast enough (for me, I like to cruise) and plenty roomy. This coming from a guy who used to own a 2001 new Accord...

Every time I step out and see my car, I can't wait to drive it. I feel so good sitting inside it. I feel like a . I hardly ever felt like that in my Accord.... It worth the extra $$ to get into a car you absolutely LOVE day in/day out - if you can afford it.

Celeron

I just got back from the Honda dealer. I worked out a deal with the sales manager for a 2005 Accord EX, 5MT, for $21750 OTD. Pretty decent price I thought. Sticker is $22660. Any thoughts?

fast-tl

What's the breakdown? Price, sticker, tax rate?

Celeron

Sticker is $22660. I'm getting everything for $21750. Price of the car is 20669, tax is 3% ($620), a stupid $400 doc fee I couldn't get them to drop, $62 for registration.

jcg878

I ran into this when I bought my car in NC. The fee is different for different dealers - I had them drop the car price to compensate.

biker

There's another place that you could be getting screwed. Virtually no one ever questions the tax, tag, title fees. While unavoidable, how do you know those are not getting inflated? The only way to know for sure is to ask DMV or better yet - tell the delear to slap on some temp tags and you'll do all the paper work yourself. This is also a good way to put off paying what in some cases is a pretty good chunk of money.

Celeron

Biker, thanks for the advice. The tax is 3%, I know that for sure. The registration and titling are also right around $62. Might be a few dollars cheaper. Being new to the area I'm not exactly sure. I don't mind paying a few extra dollars for them to deal with the DMV instead of myself.

I tried to get rid of the $400 doc fee, or even cut it in half and they wouldn't have it. Not much I can do about that really. All in all, I still think its a pretty decent price.

jcg878

Call/contact another dealer - if the fee is lower, come back to your dealer and tell them.

Also if you're new to NC... get ready for the real car tax... it comes later

Celeron

Yah, I'm aware of the personal property tax, what a load of crap. Its not very much, a hundred bucks or so. Still cheaper than paying full retail sales tax in NY (8.25%) where I used to be. Every dealer I've spoken with has a $400 doc fee.

jcg878

Get a quote from Leith Acura in Raleigh. I couldn't stand my salesguy (bought from Performance Acura in Chapel Hill), but their fee was $199 I believe. I took it back to Performance and they dropped the $100 difference off of the car (their fee= $299). Maybe I'm underestimating each of these by $100, but I'm positive Leith's was $100 less.

You'll save a boatload of money in insurance alone between NY and NC - remind yourself of that every year when you pay the car tax

wvu1999

Since we have some NC's peeps on here, any feedback regarding the Service Dept at Leith Acura in Cary? Are they pretty decent, or should I drive up to CH and go to Performance?

sauceman

You could search about this under "NC" or "North Carolina", for example, and if nothing is found, start your own thread about it.