Tried to order a CX-5 today

I thought about that. Not sure how that works as far as registering it back home, etc. Also, it would have to be flat-bedded back home as well. At the end of the day I think I am going to find it's a terrible time to purchase a vehicle. Might end up shooting for next year. Looks like a recession is coming. When that happens people will refrain from making big purchases. I see interest rates are climbing as well. I could have an awfully large down payment next year, and maybe the stealerships will be offering low rates to attract customers. Don't need a vehicle now. The winter daily driver has 198,000k on it and is starting to rust out- but still runs great. It needs a timing belt preventatively and I don't wish to enter the money pit era with it. The other daily driver is a truck in great shape. Would like to just "park" it for when I need a truck. I really wished to just be ready with nice ride in the garage I can use year round.
Given your low level of motivation you're doing the right thing by waiting. This current market requires a whole lot more from potential buyers. I'm hopeful that those paying ridiculous ADMs are doing so out of necessity rather than stupidity as sometimes you have no choice. You're lucky that you have options and are smart enough to exercise them.
 
I thought about that. Not sure how that works as far as registering it back home, etc.
In my case, a vehicle purchased out of state in Ohio was registered in that state with a one month temporary registration which cost me $35. Once home, I needed to re-register the vehicle in New York within the 30 day window. That was taken care of during a trip to the the DMV where I also needed to pay the New York sales tax. If not universal then close to it, sales tax is not due to the state of purchase but instead the state of residence.

In my case, I had a trade, kept the plates, put them on the CX-5, and got credit for the balance of the registration paid on the traded car. Without a trade I imagine there will be an additional nominal plate fee when re-registering in the home state.

All in all, it measured low on the hassle scale.
 
And, if you buy it out of state, you can use that to negotiate getting rid of those insane "doc fees", because you won't be paying their local title, tax, and tag.
Not necessarily. The paperwork is not eliminated, it's just somewhat different. The title still has to be transferred and the vehicle registered even if it is a temporary registration. While sales tax likely must be remitted by the buyer to his home state, the dealer no doubt must file some paperwork with his state as to why they are not remitting it. It might be possible to roll the sales tax into the financing with the dealer paying the buyer's home state, I cannot say since mine was a cash purchase.

It remains a negotiable item. Some states have caps on doc fees that are within reason and you are not likely to get traction on a negotiation. New York, for example, caps that fee at $75. Ohio caps it at $250. Good luck talking thlose down. States with high caps or no cap are a different matter.
 
Not necessarily. The paperwork is not eliminated, it's just somewhat different. The title still has to be transferred and the vehicle registered even if it is a temporary registration. While sales tax likely must be remitted by the buyer to his home state, the dealer no doubt must file some paperwork with his state as to why they are not remitting it. It might be possible to roll the sales tax into the financing with the dealer paying the buyer's home state, I cannot say since mine was a cash purchase.

It remains a negotiable item. Some states have caps on doc fees that are within reason and you are not likely to get traction on a negotiation. New York, for example, caps that fee at $75. Ohio caps it at $250. Good luck talking thlose down. States with high caps or no cap are a different matter.
I was going to buy a car in Georgia, and the (litteral) stealership was trying to add a doc fee to the price. Added on Doc fees are BANNED in Georgia! Says so right on their official state Consumers Affairs website! The advertised sales price must be the actually selling price of the car. They tried to ring me up for an extra $499! So, if they advertise a car at $15,000, then the finally selling price of the car must be $15,000. Not $15,000 plus tax, tag, and doc fees.

When I pointed this out, they as much as told me to pound sand, they weren't taking it off. So I reported them.

Hopefully they got burned, and badly. It's a $5,000 fine per transaction there.
 
I was going to buy a car in Georgia, and the (litteral) stealership was trying to add a doc fee to the price. Added on Doc fees are BANNED in Georgia! Says so right on their official state Consumers Affairs website! The advertised sales price must be the actually selling price of the car. They tried to ring me up for an extra $499! So, if they advertise a car at $15,000, then the finally selling price of the car must be $15,000. Not $15,000 plus tax, tag, and doc fees.

When I pointed this out, they as much as told me to pound sand, they weren't taking it off. So I reported them.

Hopefully they got burned, and badly. It's a $5,000 fine per transaction there.
We have the same rules in Canada. Dealers cannot sell above the list price and addons are not allowed either. If a dealer here tries that you just need to contact the car companies head office and they will tell the dealer to remove the add on. It is ver y easy here in Canada to get any vehicle at list price.
 
I was going to buy a car in Georgia, and the (litteral) stealership was trying to add a doc fee to the price. Added on Doc fees are BANNED in Georgia! Says so right on their official state Consumers Affairs website! The advertised sales price must be the actually selling price of the car. They tried to ring me up for an extra $499! So, if they advertise a car at $15,000, then the finally selling price of the car must be $15,000. Not $15,000 plus tax, tag, and doc fees.

When I pointed this out, they as much as told me to pound sand, they weren't taking it off. So I reported them.

Hopefully they got burned, and badly. It's a $5,000 fine per transaction there.
Doc fees are not illegal in GA. It only matters if they advertise a specific vehicle VIN online or paper print that the advertised price must include this and not be added on when you get to the dealer to purchase that particular vehicle. It does not apply to anything else and a dealer can add the doc fee on ANY vehicle at their dealership lot or in transit on top of the selling price on ANY VIN not advertised online or in print to anyone coming to negotiate a car via email, telephone or in person. THAT is the actual fact.
 
Doc fees are not illegal in GA. It only matters if they advertise a specific vehicle VIN online or paper print that the advertised price must include this and not be added on when you get to the dealer to purchase that particular vehicle. It does not apply to anything else and a dealer can add the doc fee on ANY vehicle at their dealership lot or in transit on top of the selling price on ANY VIN not advertised online or in print to anyone coming to negotiate a car via email, telephone or in person. THAT is the actual fact.
That's almost exactly what I said. If the dealer advertises it at one price, then that's the price they are required to stick to. They cannot go in and add doc fees and other crap to that advertised price, and if they do and the state finds out about it, they can be fined $5,000.
 
So, if they advertise a car at $15,000, then the finally selling price of the car must be $15,000. Not $15,000 plus tax, tag, and doc fees.
Georgia law does not require the advertised price to include tax. title and registration. It would not even be possible to do that. Tax is variable depending on whether a buyer has a trade and what the trade value happens to be. Registration too--whether or not you are transferring plates and have a registration credit from a trade makes that variable as well.

It would stand to reason that doc fees and other "mandatory" add-ons should be included in the advertised price in all states, especially in states like Georgia that do not have a regulatory cap on doc fees. If one has any kind of spine they can always walk away, but who wants to waste time getting to the actual offering price as the starting point for negotiation?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As another GA resident I concur the doc fees are not "illegal". I have been paying them on my cars for years and they go up all the time. On my 21 CX5 I paid $799 in "administrative fees". I still had to do my own tag work....
 
As another GA resident I concur the doc fees are not "illegal". I have been paying them on my cars for years and they go up all the time. On my 21 CX5 I paid $799 in "administrative fees". I still had to do my own tag work....
If you paid the $799 on top of the advertised price, you got got. And the thing of it is, I'm sure the vast majority of people don't do their homework, and don't realize that this is the law, so the majority of stealerships do constantly get away with it.

Assume the car is $20,000. If they want to charge a "doc fee" of $799, then the price of the car on the paperwork had better be $19,201.

You will never, ever win with a car dealership. Ever. They do this dance 10 or 15 times a day, you do it maybe once every 5 years, maybe. It's like playing Chess with a Grandmaster: you don't stand a chance, so just do your research and try to hold on as best as you can.

What is the maximum amount a car dealer can charge in "doc fees"? reads in part:

"The Georgia Attorney General Office’s position is that only government fees such as tax, title, tag and Lemon Law fees may be excluded from advertised vehicle prices. Any other amounts of money that the dealership collects as part of the sale – including, but not limited to, dealer fees and previously installed dealer options – must be included in the advertised price. ... Failure to include a non-government fee in an advertised price is considered an unfair or deceptive practice, and therefore a violation of Georgia law."
 
I would probably wait it out. I read that many cars are showing up with no power lift gate or Bose stereo due to the chip shortage,. They give you a monetary credit for the missing items but the stock Mazda stereo is pretty crappy. I also feel that would make for a less desirable car down the road if you went to sell or trade it..

The Blose audio system is worse than the base system, but in different ways.
 
Congratulations ch3no2 !

We're picking our Signature up tomorrow after beginning the search back in January... finally getting an allocation from our dealer for the color we wanted in April.

Then the delays began for:
1) the 3-week Mazda production line shut-down
2) another delay waiting for a RORO
3) extra-long transit from Japan
4) extended 18-day stay in port

You can ask your dealer rep to keep you posted on the progress of your build, following it through the various stages from allocation of its VIN to final arrival at the dealership. It may be frustrating if you hit snags in the timeline as we did, but at least you can adjust your expectations even if you never know the reason for the hiccup.

Enjoy the anticipation!!
 
If you paid the $799 on top of the advertised price, you got got. And the thing of it is, I'm sure the vast majority of people don't do their homework, and don't realize that this is the law, so the majority of stealerships do constantly get away with it.

Assume the car is $20,000. If they want to charge a "doc fee" of $799, then the price of the car on the paperwork had better be $19,201.

You will never, ever win with a car dealership. Ever. They do this dance 10 or 15 times a day, you do it maybe once every 5 years, maybe. It's like playing Chess with a Grandmaster: you don't stand a chance, so just do your research and try to hold on as best as you can.

What is the maximum amount a car dealer can charge in "doc fees"? reads in part:

"The Georgia Attorney General Office’s position is that only government fees such as tax, title, tag and Lemon Law fees may be excluded from advertised vehicle prices. Any other amounts of money that the dealership collects as part of the sale – including, but not limited to, dealer fees and previously installed dealer options – must be included in the advertised price. ... Failure to include a non-government fee in an advertised price is considered an unfair or deceptive practice, and therefore a violation of Georgia law."
Nope.... The car wasn't advertised in the first place. I found it on the web site, called and negotiated a deal. There isn't anything illegal about the dealer adding an admin fee. Just the way its done in Georgia. Same thing happened with my '20 Frontier. The fee varies from dealer to dealer but they all have one.
 
I am not good at these things, I grew up in a different country, culture etc, but I have a problem with the concept of paying a fee, admin fee, when you buy something. I just don't get it. When you go to the supermarket and buy whatever, a bread, they do not ask you to pay an admin fee for buying that bread. Why is it different with cars?
 
supply and demand oriented economy :)
, "available credit" and "I want it know" mentality.
if people were paying with cash only it might have been different.
 
Because car dealers have deep pockets that they use to give bribes, er I mean "campaign contributions" to politicians so they can keep their state sponsored monopolies.

Car buying is one of the many instances in America where there absolutely is not capitalist free market. Hence, the stealerships can charge whatever they want with impunity, because they are politically protected.
 
Because car dealers have deep pockets that they use to give bribes, er I mean "campaign contributions" to politicians so they can keep their state sponsored monopolies.

Car buying is one of the many instances in America where there absolutely is not capitalist free market. Hence, the stealerships can charge whatever they want with impunity, because they are politically protected.
Except in a downturn/recession, then you'd be surprised how fast some of those fees disappear when they need to sell a car.
 
Florida, Texas, Arizona and others are major wild wild west " no rules apply" states. Avoid them at all costs unless you want to be royally ripped off
 
Back