Advertising Fee
Dealers sometimes add an extra few hundred dollars to recoup the cost of national and regional advertising campaigns.
The fix: If the dealer says he will sell a car at the invoice price but you have to pay an advertising fee, just say no. The cost of advertising the car is baked into the sticker price.
Delivery and Preparation Fees
Dealers sometimes paste a second sticker on a car’s window next to the official one, listing charges with names like “pre-delivery inspection,” “dealer prep,” “vehicle prep,” and “vehicle procurement.”
The fix: Contest them all. They’re part of the mandatory destination charge—which, by the way, should also include a full tank of gas.
Market Adjustment Fee
This is a tough one to avoid if you are shopping for a hot seller because dealers may have little incentive to negotiate.
The fix: Still, it’s not a mandatory charge—so it’s worth asking for a discount, especially because the added cost is not just an up-front expense. Paying extra initially also typically means losing more as the car depreciates.
Loan Payment Fees
Many automakers offer loans directly to car buyers—and a third of the people in our survey who got one of those loans said they were surprised by a fee connected to it. For example, Diane Weiser of Port Lavaca, Texas, says she was shocked to find that every time she called to make a payment, she was charged a $10 customer service fee. “And that was for on-time payments, too!” she says.
The fix: Make sure you understand the payment terms before you go through an automaker’s financing arm. Check with your own bank, too, which may offer a better deal and lower or no fees.
Source link
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
