The Watchdog has been purchasing cars over for half a century. He know how important it is to negotiate the sale price and arrive at an arrangement fair to the customer and the dealer alike.
He also know that talk about selling at “invoice price” is a bunch of nonsense since dealers receive a refund that bring their costs to say 3% less, in itself allowing a good profit on each transaction.
Having done business there before, he was not prepared for the ploy that recently occurred at what he had come to consider to be a reputable major local dealer.
After arriving at a price, the agreement was printed out along with what appeared to be an official looking document from the state. It referred to “state processing fees.” It came to about $250!
The appearance of the document gave the impression that these were state charges. In reality, apart for some legitimate state licensing items, three quarters was an attempt to get the customer to pay towards the dealer overhead charge for being in business.
Yes, a small portion of the $250 had to deal with state costs that had traditionally been charged to the customer. But the rest was sheer hokum. A de facto price increase.
All but the direct state charges were immediately eliminated when vehemently challenged.
But what about customers who don’t have the same amount of business experience and don’t read documents critically?
Whatever good will and loyalty the Watchdog had for the the dealer went up in smoke. Shame on them.
I too recently had a bad experience buying a new vehicle. The sales representative as well as the sales manager told me that a competitors vehicle I was considering required premium fuel which costs 40 cents / gallon more. I was skeptical. When I checked I discovered it was not true. Later that evening the sales rep called to say he was wrong about the premium fuel. Nevertheless rest assured I will not buy from that dealer.u