Buying a new car ? READ the fine print.

We had our 2010's bill of sale filled out and printed with a Toyota Canada letterhead, agreed on. The field "documentation fee" indicated "included". They then reprinted it with a dealership letterhead, a mere formality, so they said. I noticed the bottom line had changed, so took a closer look: "documentation fee" had been revised, from "included" to "$295".

They were actually incensed that I took acception to this, gave the impression they were doing me a favour, to undo this. I guess when you're caught with your hand in someone's pocket, a good offense is the best defence?

This was Open Road Toyota, Port Moody, always happy to give them the publicity.

 

There are no printable words to describe how I feel about car dealers. I've taken to negotiating backwards, and being willing to leave.

When I bought my Prius, the deal went like this:

I am willing to give you $X + my trade.
I don't care how you value my trade-in.
I don't care what fees you choose to tack on.
I don't care what fees you choose to leave off.
I don't care if you only make $100 on the deal.
Either you accept my trade + a check for the amount I've stated for your car, or you don't.
I came here in a car, I will leave here in a car. It's up to you whether I leave in my car or in your car.

 

Good Luck with the new car!

For what it's worth, I view the dealer-added options with the same disdain, but I've also been young and in love before so I know what it's like....

I'm pretty famous for not letting dealerships TOUCH my car after I buy it.
The last time I bought a car (in 2009) I didn't even let them detail the car. I inspected it, accepted it, signed a few papers, drove off the lot and the car has never been at the dealer since then. I've also managed to keep my CFO's car (a 2012) out of the dealer's clutches, although she did let them detail the car after we signed the papers.
This particular dealership does not offer a maintenance package AFAIK, and it's about 70 miles away.

There are 4 dealerships less than a mile from my office, and one of them (Chevy/GM) I tried to buy a car from twice, and the another one (Ford) probably three times......even though I'm not a fan of the brand, specifically.
Both of these dealerships tried the "maintenance agreement" scam on me, but the conversation came to a stuttering stop when I told them that they could do anything they wanted to to their dealer stock, but once I signed on the dotted line that they were not going to be allowed to touch MY vehicle until and unless I exhausted all other options first.

When you get a chance, let us know how the '18 is working out!
It's refreshing to see a hybrid that looks like something that an adult would own.....

 

The first and only car I ever bought new (I was recently out of college, it seemed like a thing to do) was a Mazda, for which there were several dealers in my area. I had particular options I was (and wasn't!) looking for, making it not very common in my region.

The first sales lady I sat down with was super nice, and I explained that I was planning to check other dealers too, but I wasn't going to judge solely on price; I was looking for more a holistic feeling I might get about each dealer's whole operation, service dept, etc. She was helpful enough to warn me that there could be some, less scrupulous, dealers around who would find out the configuration I wanted wasn't common, and if they found a car in the region that matched, they might put a hold on it so other dealers wouldn't be able to sell it to me, and I'd have to buy it from them.

I hadn't really thought of that, so I thanked her for being so helpful and telling me about that, and later in the week I visited various other dealers to see what holistic sense I got from them.

They all could find the car I was looking for in the regional database, but they couldn't get it for me, because the first lady had a hold on it.

It took about two weeks of waiting them out, plus explaining to her manager how their dealership just got scratched off my list for any business whatsoever, before they released the hold and I was able to buy it through the other dealer I settled on.

-Chap