<p>After months of searching, DH and I are ready to buy a Honda CRV. We want a 2011 as there is an incentive of $500 rebate to the dealer and .9% financing. We “negotiated” invoice minus $500. However, when we got home and looked at the offer (we haven’t bought yet), there is a $475 “administration fee.” Is that a bogus charge? How much is that reasonable to negotiate down? Does anyone on CC do better with a car buying service such as consumer reports or AAA? Thanks, we drive our cars until they are dead with about 200K miles and this will be our first new car ever.</p>
<p>Well we just ended a deal on a used Toyota. They wanted $249 documentary fee (they would have been getting a bank check from us for the entire amount - no loan paperwork, no financing of any kind), $199 for etching (that we did not want - they had just already done it) $200 for vehicle prep (it was spelled out that it was for exterior cleaning which would be washing? and vacuuming) and $150 for the motor vehicle paperwork. We were willing to give them some toward the clerical stuff.</p>
<p>They were willing to take off the $199 for etching, but not reduce any of the other fees. So for $600, we walked and they were willing to lose the sale at their asking price. This is not a high demand vehicle and has been sitting on their lot since August. I guess business is good enough.</p>
<p>Good luck with your fees! Do a google search about that fee in your state and see what you can find out. That’s what we did.</p>
<p>I haven’t purchased a car in a few years, but the last time I did, I called the manager before the rest of the sales’ staff arrived, and negotiated directly with him. One less person to get a commission. He did then turn the sale over to a salesperson who spent the day trying to raise the sales’ price, without success.</p>
<p>One thing they might give you, if it is not already covered is free service visits for a few visits (eg. the 5,000, 10,000 etc.)if they don’t want to lower the price. I can’t say that I remember an administrative fee on any new car I’ve bought (and we also drive our cars for 12+ years on average), but I do think there were “delivery” or “destination” charges, which sound the same to me. </p>
<p>We usually go to a couple of dealers of the same models and a couple of competitors of similar type cars and then decide on the best price of the ones we want. Once you get to the “best” price, then you can decide to buy it. Where we live it is such a crowded state that within 30 minutes you can have two or three dealers of most major brands. I realize that this is not the case everywhere.</p>
<p>I never used AAA car buying or other service.</p>
<p>It’s typically a pure profit charge. There may be some real costs of the dealer’s in there, such as arranging the title paperwork and the transfer of your existing plates or getting new plates from DMV. You should always negociate the bottom line, noting to the dealer that includes their ‘fluffy’ upcharges. (Consumers Reports has published articles on this topic).</p>
<p>We bought our last new car 4 years ago to replace the exact model Corolla that the au pair totalled. (she was gone 4 weeks later). We looked on the Toyota website for who had exactly what we wanted and negociated by phone, telling them it was a bottom line price. When we showed up and they had that $400 charge we walked out and they ran after us and took it off. (Corollas are volume, not high margin, cars to the dealer)</p>
<p>Ive bought lots of cars because I buy them for my business. You are getting a good deal. you always get the best price buying last years model at this time of year but you are limited to what is on the lot and still available. there is always some kind of destination charge or administrative fee. You can try to negotiate it down but if this car is the make model and color you want I would not walk over the fee.</p>
<p>First of all, you don’t negotiate with the dealer, you let other dealer negotiate for you.</p>
<p>Go the edmunds dot com and they have a service you could use to send the same e-mail to all the local Honda dealers. You list what you want and let them compete with each other. They also have a forum on each popular car model about how much who is paying at their region. You get a good idea how much others are paying.</p>
<p>Lastly, go to the dealer today right before their requalr closing time. Since they close the book of Nov today. They might be more willing to cut you another $500. </p>
<p>We got our 2009 that way. </p>
<p>Also, we don’t look individual items on the invoice. We only talk in term of “drive out” price. We give you a check of this amount, you give me the keys and title. Much easier that way.</p>
<p>Yes! (Yes, and YES) We bought our CRV 2 years ago and used AAA buying service. The ease and convenience was worth a lot of money to me, but I did enough research to know the price was excellent. They charge an explicit fee (can’t remember, $300?) but even with the fee included the final price was the price I hoped to be able to negotiate with a dealer, but did not have to go through that painful process. Also we got the exact car we wanted (broker searched a 3 state area to find it) they delivered it to our front door and I gave him a personal check. </p>
<p>If you are a AAA member you can call them, tell them exactly what you want and he will get back to you with a price. At that point there is no obligation and you have a firm price to at least compare with what you get from the dealer. </p>
<p>We went to dealer #1 who tried to put us in last year’s model with the wrong color - because that’s what they had on their lot. Then we went to dealer #2 who also wanted to sell us wrong color, but strangely we never even got around to discussing price. We had to leave for another appointment and when I called them back later they refused to give me a price over the phone- they wanted me to drive back 30 mins to their dealer so we could negotiate face to face! No thanks! I called AAA and got exactly what I wanted (they added roof rack) at a good price delivered to my door. I couldn’t be happier. :)</p>
<p>ps: if you enjoy playing those bs games with dealers, by all means go for it. For me it is revolting, where the ultimate reward for all that unpleasant haggling is the wonderful feeling you are stealing someone’s lunch, and the urge to rush home and take a shower.</p>
<p>I use edmunds.com just like Dad II and I also buy my cars on the last day of the month. The dealers who contact you after you ask for quotes on edmunds will try to call you on the phone. I always ask them what part of internet quote don’t they understand. You will want the quotes in writing and printed out when you go into the dealerships so there is no last minute monkey business. I’ve bought three cars this way now and the only tricky part is if you have a trade-in. In that case, I always print out three different estimates (Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds, NADA) and then when the dealer tries to lowball me, I wave my quotes from other dealers around and say I’m so sorry we can’t do business, I’d hoped to not have to go elsewhere. I did this most recently on a Prius on the last day of August and was really pleased with my deal.</p>
<p>I bought a CRV in Feb of 2010 from a Honda dealer. There were the fees paid to the DMV directly fo license and title. The only extra fee charged was a “document preparation fee (not a governmental fee)” of $55. We bought through their internet department. </p>
<p>Administrative fee of $475? Ridiculous!</p>
<p>I agree with Dad II about the itemized charges. Figure out your price, and then stick to it.</p>
<p>I bought my last car over the phone/internet. I drove the exact model at a local dealership, but the negotiation process was horrendous (as usual) and so I walked. I found the same car at a dealership about an hour away via internet search, called the person in charge of “internet sales,” told him my price and asked him to take it or leave it. Deal done in about 2 minutes. We later laughed about it when I went to get the car. It was a used vehicle and he told me I got all new tires for free. When he took the deal, he didn’t realize they had put the new tires on. :)</p>
<p>How about COSTCO Program?
Which program is better AAA or COSTCO?
My parents are planning to buy a new car.</p>
<p>Check out truecarDOTcom I just bought a new car using this site and I got a good deal. Note, dealers typically will add a $600 dealer fee to the price. But even with this charge I was able to get a good deal. And you don’t have to give them any information until you choose your deal. Even then, you’re not obligated.</p>
<p>We have used the Costco service and liked it.</p>
<p>Here is what plays out if you don’t have Costco or AAA between you and the car dealer.
Can someone say Trucoat?</p>
<p>[fargo</a> salesman - YouTube](<a href=“fargo salesman - YouTube”>fargo salesman - YouTube)</p>
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<p>We found that we got a better price just emailing the internet department of the dealer.</p>
<p>OK, thanks all. I got a quote for 2 dealers and one from AAA. It seems that AAA is $250 below what the dealer quoted, but the dealer does include maintenance up to 10K miles so pretty much a wash. Thanks for all the advice. It seems that ebeeee may be right in that we were offered a “fair” price.</p>
<p>There s/b almost no maintenance required up to 10K miles other than a couple of oil changes so that’s worth very little.</p>
<p>The ‘administrative fee’ isn’t normal and you shouldn’t pay it. It’s just the dealer trying to get more money out of you for a made-up item. Tell him you won’t pay it or walk to another dealer now that you know about what they’re willing to sell for. Or you can try a buying service although I’ve usually gotten a better price than AAA or Costco but it means more negotiating.</p>
<p>Yup, 10K nowadays means 2 oil changes. Even at the dealer, they are $50 apiece. You can get the work done at an oil change shop for less.</p>
<p>I have negotiated for our cars and on behalf of family members. I always do better than the AAA or Costco and never pay bogus administrative fees. Let the internet sales departments of dealerships within a day’s drive negotiate against one another. Do a keyword search for your area or state on Edmund’s prices paid forums to find lowest priced dealerships in your area ( or even in adjacent states) and then either ask your local place to match or buy elsewhere and get service locally ( which is never the big deal they try to make you think it is). But we’ve never had a local place refuse to match a legitimate email offer. </p>
<p>An old thread, but lots of good information:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/356878-thoughts-tips-about-buying-new-car.html#post4284784[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/356878-thoughts-tips-about-buying-new-car.html#post4284784</a></p>
<p>Just be aware that at least in Illinois, dealers are specifically authorized by statute to charge an administrative processing fee on top of your negotiated price. its been this way for at least 25 years. signs are posted in the finance office and notices included on all purchase orders. The amount is now @$155 and goes up every year based on inflation. Since this is a state given “bene”, there is absolutely no negotiation on this fee - be it a chevy or lexus dealer.</p>