administration fees. bogus?

[FreightTerrain]

am currently negotiating with 2 dealers in my area on ordering price for a '13. ironically, they both charge a $249 administration fee (maybe its a state by state, across the board number, i dont know). ive read that this fee is nothing more than a way for the dealeship to pad their stats, so to speak, and i should refuse to pay it, or negotiate it off the total price of the vehicle.

i recall the last time i went through the new vehicle buying process, and when i balked at paying these fees, they came back with "we have to charge everyone this fee, because everybody else does" or something to that effect.

ive been offered $50 over invoice from one dealer, am waiting to hear from another closer to me if theyll match that, so im getting a very good deal, and hate to stir the water up too much considering this is a minimal cost when yur talking about a $45000 truck.

on the other hand, $249 seems like alot to shuffle a few papers around, and i hate throwing money away. should i try to barter this number down a little, or just be glad im getting the truck for less than most people around the country?

thoughts, anyone?

 

[xBX]

If you can't negotiate a little fee like that then you need help. Ask yourself "Is a dealership going to lose 50,000+, services and all over $250??

 

[Mjolnir]

I didn't have any extra charges like that thrown in. Typically dealers like to throw in an advertising charge or a fuel surcharge for delivery of the truck to the dealership.

I would push back on it, the only extra charges you should incur are taxes and title, and if you let them talk you into the myriad of uselss add ons that they push at time of sale.

 

[Hockster]

Ha dam dealerships, hey just leave it, Im sure you will find a better deal..

 

[Maxx2893]

I would fight paying it as much as you can. However if they will not take that out, go ahead and pay it. Your still way ahead of MSRP.

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

well if you pay it, you are still only $300 over invoice, but its up to you........

 

[Donk74]

Don't get too hung up on how the dealership wants to make their money. I've had really good luck coming in to the final deal knowing what I was going yo pay out the door (tax, title, license, dealer prep..........). Those little charges the dealer adds are not bad for you as long as your out of pocket isn't going up. Because the dealer is taxed at different rates for different sources of income; profit on a vehicle vs service (labor) and because of how invoice prices are negotiated between Ford and the dealership if you let them play the game it can work out for you.

In other words get a total in your head and allow the Stealership the freedom to screw Ford and the Government too, not just you.

 

[Madcowranch]

When you ask for a quote tell them all you want to hear is the "Out the Door" price. This is the only number you care about.

 

[FreightTerrain]

i went through this same ***** the last time i bought a few years back at a different stealership. i ended up convincing them to just add the amount of the fee to the my trades value, and thats what it took to close the deal. probably just do that again. i dont really want to hear the whole "everybody charges it and if we dont we're breaking the sacred dealership vow of honor" song and dance

 

[BIRDMAN]

Dude $300 over invoice is a great deal. Dealerships are only getting 2% of their total f-150 sales for raptor allocation. So if they sold 100 f-150s last year they can order 2 raptors. For them to let one of them go for $300 over invoice knowing some slob would probably pay MSRP is a pretty stand up move. It would be obnoxious to negotiate any more IMO. you're getting a great deal and they are making some money...sounds fair to me. Nobody is getting that close to invoice these days...take the deal.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2