ihatecats78

My original price on the car was 63,375.

That was the price of the build on the Audi website, anyway. I checked the dealer site today to see if a price would pop up and it did: $64,400.

I emailed them to see what they had ordered for me that I didn't ask for and was informed that there was a $975 destination fee that wasn't on the website because that some people take their delivery in Europe. Fine.


So my negotiated discount was $1472.00. Not much but good for a vehicle that is so hard to get.


Then they sent the final pricing. It includes another dealer services fee of $497, a document fee of $157.25, and Non-Tax Fees of $368.67.

The total fees that they are adding on top of a $975.00 destination fee that I didn't know about are $1022.92.

So basically the car is costing $1997.92 more than I thought it would.

Am I being swindled here? This is my first German vehicle, so I'm not used to all of this extra BS.

synergize

Tell them you're very unhappy with the additional $1022.92 in fees and you no longer want the car, see what happens?

buickfunnycar

The $497 dealer fee is pure BS, those others are understandable.

Pure greed is all that is...just don't pay it.

snagitseven

There is always a destination charge on every car and $975 sounds about right. Beyond that, other charges differ regionally. Here in New England it's not uncommon to see a "prep" fee of around $300 and registration of $100 or so. All of this is negotiable, especially if the discounted price was above invoice cost. You don't say what model you ordered but a discount $1472 is leaving a lot of profit in the dealer's pocket. Question: didn't you negotiate and get a complete order invoice at time of order? I always require the dealer reveal everything and go from there so there are no surprises.

ihatecats78

Unfortunately, I didn't. I just assumed that there would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 in fees.

I assumed that the $975 was included in the estimate provided by audiusa.. My mistake.

I just seriously underestimated all of the add ons. I will follow your advice to get a complete invoice from now on.

In the meantime, I'd like to threaten to walk away, but my order is for a S5 SB. There are only 13 of them within 500 miles of me. I feel like the demand for this vehicle in my area gives more power to the dealer.

I'd hate to have them call my bluff and wind up having to drive a C43 AMG.

JLoft

$975 is the destination fee charged by Audi. You will need to find the detailed pricing of your specific car to see if you're getting billed for this twice.
As far as the rest of the fees, it's got nothing to do with a German car. Your dealer is just adding all sorts of official sounding fees to add to their profit. My dealer charges a $75 doc fee total and even that is all profit because they just send the receptionist over to the license bureau with a week's paperwork and then pick up the license plates the next day.

plat27265

+1.

Those extra dealer fees are just a cash-grab. All that paperwork is not even worth an hour of work to fill out. And, certainly not worth $75, $150, or even $250 an hour (some dealerships charge as much). The typical car buyer ends up spending over an hour with the sales process because the sales people and business manager are trying to sell additional products. Otherwise, all that work is only worth less than $50.

JRuby2004

+1

Dealer fees range widely. I used to live in California and never even thought about it since they were limited by the state to be $80 or something pretty small relative to everything else. So when I just negotiated to buy a car in Florida (remotely from where I live outside DC), I was shocked to find out that their dealer fee was $875! I googled it, and sure enough, Florida has a reputation for having high dealer fees.

Damon44

You would enjoy the c43amg as well but you better believe Mercedes will load you up with fees just the same.

Vandraad

Ask them to detail out exact what you are getting for those fees and see how they explain it. Then tell them those fees are nothing more than a cash grab, thank them for their time then get up and walk out.