Overcharged prep fees are bogus. Most charge some sort of fee, but $400 is insane.
The 3 dealers I have spoken two quoted me $1399, $1634, and $1435 (CAD). That was all the fees, such as documentation fee, freight and PDI.
I actually don't have a problem with paying for freight. I mean if it is charged to the dealer by Honda (it is), and especially now they need to recoup it. When they have lots of machines to sell and are able to easily pay overhead + payroll, then it is a sales tool for them to eat it.
I would really like to know what freight they are actually paying from Honda though. I guess I could try asking.
PDI I have a bit of an issue with. I mean they are paying for the mechanic to be there anyway... though one could argue they would need fewer mechanics if PDI's weren't required. I believe they are required to report a PDI to Honda, so if there are warranty issues that Honda can't point the figure at the dealer and say you didn't do a PDI. I'd really like to know what exactly is included in PDI (
@HondaTech ?), to make a real call on this. I usually ask to see the list before I will pay for it. If it is stuff like torque lugnuts, oil filter... make sure all 4 wheels touch the ground, etc., then I'd have trouble paying for it.
The documentation fee I find BS. It is 20 minutes of paperwork.... I mean when I buy a Big Mac, I don't want to see $0.25 surcharge for lettuce assembly and a $0.11 surcharge for paperwork because someone had to ring it in the till. Those are simply the cost of doing business if you are a Big Mac retailer.
At the same time, I have no problem with a buyer trying to get the best deal, and negotiate those fees away. I just don't think there is much negotiating power to be had by the consumer right now.
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