USA BMW Dealer Doc Fees Survey

[longboy4]

I'm shopping nation wide for a used BMW and I get "our fees are competitive" when asking about additional customer costs beyond the selling price. Well are they or not? In my case on a car I'm considering, the DOC was $520 plus a $134 out of state buyer fee. Perhaps forum members can give a sampling of dealer fee list schedules you were told from a BMW or other brand dealership when you found your BMW on the lots. Thanks!

[UPSROD]

I had to pay the AHOLES in Connecticut $499....upsetting when Wa. and Or. are regulated at $150 and it is supposedly negotiable.

[jpnh]

Just under $200 in NH

Gets you a temp plate and you register it

[Beartato]

Out of state buyer's fee, that's crap. I live in Utah and bought my car out of Idaho, and they didn't pull that crap. I think my doc fee was $200.

[DanG]

My doc fee was $75. Negotiated down from $150.

[David70]

I don't understand their reasoning for the "out of state fee", when someone in state buys it they collect sales tax and normally deal with registration and other hassles. Out of state should be simpler. I bought my daily driver from Arizona and I think they charged $499 which was irritating because I was out of state and they didn't do much more than sign over the title.

Better to just negotiate based on the "out the door price, including all dealer fees that you will have to pay". They can call it whatever they want but the final price is all that matters.

[bd307]

So they are charging the $134 out of state fee by typing an address that is not in their state.

They might as well call that a drop-ship fee.

[xlover]

Massachusetts i have seen consistently about $400

[pz619]

$80 for the doc fee. About 350 for the DMV fees though.

[halfpast3]

Doc fees are mandated by the states. Each state is different as you can see but it is not a government fee so it technically can be negotiated. That being said, CA is $80 and surprisingly low so I haven't seen many discounted/waived around here.

[miiipilot]

Ohio is $250

[CSBM5]

This thread inspired me to look at my M3 file. I bought the M3 from BMW of Mt. Kisco about 4 years ago: 2yrs old, 16k miles, CPO. Normally I would never buy a car from a northern state, but the original owner never drove this car in bad weather (nor rain from what I could tell).

Anyway, BMW Mt. Kisco charged a doc fee of $75 and also $12.50 for a NY temp tag so I could drive it back to NC. I had an excellent buying experience from them as I had told the salesman up front I wanted no sales pitches for *anything* (tire/wheel warranties, et al), so it was a very smooth and professional transaction once we arrived to pick up the car.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by David70

Better to just negotiate based on the "out the door price, including all dealer fees that you will have to pay". They can call it whatever they want but the final price is all that matters.

THat's the first thing I say when i walk into the dealer. I will never, ever understand the US and Canadian way of advertising a price that is just utter BS because there's a litany of fees and charges. I cannot fathom why you do it this way, it is immensely frustrating.

I say straight up, price is the price, kapish, as in drive that sucker away.

If not, I walk.

[rkinra]

$300 here in DC, through a dealer in MD.

[paliknight]

600 in all of georgia and south carolina

[omasou]

$135, Documentation Fees
$154, License, Title, Registration, Encumbrance Fee
$ 4, Tire tax

[omasou]

Originally Posted by David70

I don't understand their reasoning for the "out of state fee", when someone in state buys it they collect sales tax and normally deal with registration and other hassles. Out of state should be simpler. I bought my daily driver from Arizona and I think they charged $499 which was irritating because I was out of state and they didn't do much more than sign over the title.

Better to just negotiate based on the "out the door price, including all dealer fees that you will have to pay". They can call it whatever they want but the final price is all that matters.

Do they have to collect and forward the sales tax to the state where the owner lives?

[Beartato]

Originally Posted by omasou

Do they have to collect and forward the sales tax to the state where the owner lives?

I couldn't imagine the bureaucratic mess of forwarding sales tax on car purchases between states.

When I bought my current car, I bought it in Idaho and when I registered it in Utah that was when I was charged sales tax. The dealer knew I was registering it in Utah so they didn't charge me sales tax, and they also didn't pull some crap about an out of state fee.

[Bluewater328iT]

Originally Posted by omasou

Do they have to collect and forward the sales tax to the state where the owner lives?

If the dealer registers the car, which is increasingly required by the finance and insurance companies before you drive the car off the lot, then the answer is yes and there is a processing service and cost that many of them pay for doing that which will be passed onto the buyer.

If the buyer registers the car, then the answer is no. If it is a used car and/or the buyer is paying cash, then the problem is what plate to put on the car. The dealers do not like to put their plate on your car and hope that you mail it back to them if you are never going to see them again. Some states do not have "temporary or in transport" tags that will allow you to drive off without registering the car.

So all of this is part of the deal when they are selling to an out of state buyer. I used to work at a dealer and I have helped many friends locate and execute out of state deals on the phone. While every dealer wants to sell every car they have, it is a lot easy to sell to someone who comes in and completes all of the paperwork on the spot than it is to deal with an out of state buyer who gets sent something, sends it back, then they need something else, etc.

[TooFan328i]

Some states have a cap, like NY. When I bought my car, I think it was $350 (bought it in NJ). NY has a cap of I think $75. Not many people are aware of this.

[Bluewater328iT]

Originally Posted by Beartato

I couldn't imagine the bureaucratic mess of forwarding sales tax on car purchases between states.

When I bought my current car, I bought it in Idaho and when I registered it in Utah that was when I was charged sales tax. The dealer knew I was registering it in Utah so they didn't charge me sales tax, and they also didn't pull some crap about an out of state fee.

You are supposed to pay sales tax only in the state where the car will be registered and garaged. All of the states I have dealt with, not that I have dealt with all 50, handle it this way.

[David70]

Originally Posted by omasou

Do they have to collect and forward the sales tax to the state where the owner lives?

Depends on the state you live and what agreement they have or don't have with the state you purchased it in. When I bought my car in Arizona (I live in Ohio) they missed that they were supposed to collect sales tax from me and then when I registered the car in Ohio they knew that Arizona was supposed to collect the tax.

http://www.tax.ohio.gov/sales_and_us...04archive.aspx

For car dealers in Ohio -

Currently, motor vehicle dealers are only required to collect sales tax on sales of motor vehicles to Nonresidents who will remove the vehicle to one of these seven states--Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana[2], Massachusetts, Michigan and South Carolina.