Walking to dealership after agreeing on MSRP sale, What should I watch for now?

Doc fees are capped at $85 in California. The only other legitimate fee in California is a tire fee of $8.75. There is a $20 smog abatement fee on new gas vehicles, that would not apply to an EV purchase. There is usually a electronic vehicle registration fee of about $30. This fee is not a required government fee.

The salesman may be reluctant to provide an OTD cost since sales tax is based on where the car is registered and varies widely.

And with the fancy software they pay big money for they can calculate that. (May need specific address in Louisiana because parishes suck)

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I know the finance folks have the fancy software, but I do not think most sales folks use it or typically provide OTD prices.

Ask them to just deliver the car to you. They will have the contract printed up and ready to go prior to your delivery and you donā€™t need to waste time at the dealer.

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Depends. Some stores will let sales staff desk their own deals and some wonā€™t.

Tell them you are bringing a cashiers check and need the total to the penny. Whether you get that cashiers check or not is up to you but at least you have the total.

In CA all they need is the zip. Itā€™s generally fairly consistent across most of each county but absolutely can vary by town/township.

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Zips in CA sometimes stretch across town lines. I know every time I go in I have to tell them to add the local city tax to avoid the contract getting kicked back as my zip defaults to LA county tax without the extra 3/4% city supplement since the zip covers both in and outside of the city limits.

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I used to run back from Irvine BMW when leaving my car for serviceā€¦and run backā€¦haha! It was 6-7 miles too as I was nearer to the coastā€¦

LA is a bit of a different bird with unincorporated areas and such. But itā€™s more the exception. But point taken.

Why canā€™t you find a dealership that can do everything remotely or whatever the current word for people-less delivery? Like when you settle everything over the phone/email/online and have the car delivered to your door?
If the car is new and not rare/custom - any dealership should be able to do it.
You may even order one from another state and have it delivered. It may cost you less than walking-in to the dealership that refuses to give you OTD price.

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As others have stated - its absolutely normal to expect an OTD price in writing with a summarized breakdown.

If they wonā€™t provide that itā€™s likely they smell blood.

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Just curious, did You get there yet?:upside_down_face:

Itā€™s probably MSRP and taxes and doc fee but theyā€™ll make him crack going over the extras in the finance office. Im sure heā€™ll agree to paying $999 for Armor Shield Coating to protect his new investment.

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Its funny how dealers take so long to remove something from a contract because its complicated but in finance they can add-on 1000 things in a matter of seconds :rofl:

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I had a similar situation for my last car purchase (MSRP, no addon or market adjustment).

I walked in and they were ā€œreadyā€ for me. The finance guy was trying to chit chat with me, sounding very friendly. I was trying to read the documents and he was trying to wrap it up quickly but said, please stop me and ask any questions to make sure everything is correct. Then I noticedā€¦ the total number on the first page looked too high, $2-3k higher that my calculation in my head with taxes and doc fees and finance charges. So I looked at the second page closely again and there was paint protection package and some other stuff that I couldnā€™t tell what they were. I pointed it out and mentioned my deal that the sales guy made with me. The finance guy said the paint protection film was already applied to the car and couldnā€™t remove it (from what I could tell, there was no special coating on the car) and asked me to sign but at the same kept saying feel free to ask me any more questions and stared at me uncomfortably. So I said, I had a deal and canā€™t sign the paperwork. He then got up and talked to the salesperson and confirmed the deal and printed a revised contract. It really left a sore taste in my mouth. I signed and left with the car. If you are financing from the dealership as part of your deal, make sure they are not jacking up your loan rate by finding out typical rates big banks and credit unions in your area offer ahead of time. I noticed mine was 0.25 percent higher but was no big deal since I was planning to pay it off quickly.

So my advice to you is, READ THE ENTIRE CONTRACT. MAKE SURE your sales guy gives you the out the door price with breakdowns BEFORE you go to the dealer and make sure the numbers match when you get there. Keep all email and texts with your sales guy to show the finance guy (the salesperson might be out ā€œsuddenlyā€ on the day you have an appointment). If you could e-sign ahead of time, that is even better since you will have no staring eyes pressuring you to sign paperwork quickly. And enjoy your new car.

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not yet. It is for a bolt . They are willing to do msrp, they finally sent final pricing before stepping inside the dealership. So looks like no 2k-3k armor coating, or useless add-ons at all.

Watch our for Finance.

I swear those guys have advanced degrees in ninja add-ons.

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