Out the door price

[Smart_ABQ]

It was bound to happen I guess. Still trying to tack on another $500 will no doubt make news as many people bail on Penske's promise of a "new" way of selling these vehicles. I don't think this is what they had in mind.

[KP4 smart]

Originally Posted by cesarmor

Nothing seems to be negotiable on these things.
499.00 is a dealer fee for getting the car ready and cleaned etc.
This may vary from dealer to dealer. I am not sure if it is set by Smart or the dealers have a say in it.

This probably isn't a vehicle prep charge, but a "documentation fee?"

Its purpose is simply to increase the dealership's profit, but the dealer say it's to pay for all the paperwork they have to process in performing/documenting the sale. This documentation fee really represents dealers recovery of administrative overhead expenses plus dealer profit. In other words, you are paying the light and water bill and they put the rest in the bank!

In California, the "doc fee" is regulated and set at a fixed non-negotiable amount. I believe that PA, IL, OH, and MD have a maximum fee. However in other states, such as Florida, the "doc fee" is not regulated so the dealership can charge anything they like. The going rate in Central Florida is $500.

I have always fought it, and most of the time they delete it from the price. The last time they lowered the price of my car to make up for the fee (even after I had negotiated $2,500 under invoice), and showed the fee on the sale. They told me they would get in trouble with corporate if they didn't see the fee, but were able to eat it up somewhere else. I get the feeling the poor salesman also gave up part of his commission.

I don't know how this will play with the smart car, since they are selling for full MSRP. Hopefully smartUSA will have something to say, but I guess the documentation fee will be paid by most Florida smart buyers.

[cesarmor]

Smart says that unfortunately dealers are allowed by State law to charge this fee and that there is not much Smart can do about it. They told me that they can actually charge up to 800.00. They did tell me to check with other dealers in the area to see what they were charging.
Does not look good so far.

[SmartShanna]

From Udo Kaiser at San Diego smart center, mere moments ago (Udo rocks, by the way):

We will add a $55 documentation fee on any retail deal at our store. This is to cover the expenses for our finance department and the business office that occur when processing your contract and do all the DMV paperwork. We do this on the Mercedes-Benz side and we will do the same at the smart center since the workload will be the same.

You will also be responsible for sales tax (7.75% for San Diego) plus the license fees for the DMV.

As a rule of thumb you can add approx. 10% to the selling price of the vehicle. This covers tax, license and registration.

You can rest assured that we will NOT mark up the price of the vehicle. We will sell at MSRP and at MSRP only. We could easily charge a lot more than MSRP due to the unbelievable demand for this vehicle but the smart center San Diego will neither offer discounts nor mark up the prices set by the manufacturer.

[bmx43]

my dealer kicks ass! just got an e-mail back from Udo. they charge no such fee at my dealership other than a $55 doc fee which is fair and pretty standard by my experience. obviously you also pay for the destination fee as well ($645).

[cesarmor]

Dealer is Smart Center of Weston by the way.
I have put en email to my original dealer Mercedes Benz Of Coral Gables to see what their policy is regarding this doc fee or whatever it is.

[Fyvel]

Originally Posted by jwight

I'd suggest calling smart usa and telling them you want your car delivered by another dealer and the reason why.

John

That's a good idea. It's a bit premature so far since I haven't even confirmed/configured the order yet. I'm going to wait and see how things play out. If they're still charging that ridiculous fee, I'll either go somewhere else or cancel the order.

For the record, I would have no problem paying a $55 documentation fee. But $500 is a bit steep.

[SmartShanna]

Again, from Udo:
If I was the customer I would escalate this to smart USA. They should at least know what’s going on. Don’t get me wrong, this may be a legitimate charge. I am not familiar with Florida laws and this particular dealership so this may be something completely correct.

But it seems that smart USA should be aware of this practice…

Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[cesarmor]

It may be cheaper for me to get it at your dealer and drive to Florida!

[KP4 smart]

Here's a link to a PDF on documentation fees from the Florida Senate... http://www.flsenate.gov/data/Publica...2008-107cm.pdf

This report examines issues related to automobile dealers’ documentation fees, or the “pre-delivery service fee,” charged to consumers by most motor vehicle dealers in Florida. This discretionary charge “represents costs and profit to the dealer for items such as inspecting, cleaning, and adjusting vehicles, and preparing documents related to the sale.”

This report identifies types of costs incurred by consumers in the purchase of a vehicle; sales disclosure requirements required by federal law and the Florida
Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act; the monetary range of pre-delivery service fees imposed across the state; and limits on similar fees imposed by
dealers in other states.