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Home > Monday Morning - Before the Call

Monday Morning - Before the Call

May 20th, 2013 at 01:39 pm

At this point, while I wait for dealership to open, I'm still not sure if I want to keep the Fiesta or not.

It's possible, IF he takes off the $199 etching fee, that I will keep the car.

However, I found something else that concerns me.
On my copy of the window sticker for the 2012 Ford Fiesta SES, there are 3 options shown. One of them is an extra $820 for the comfort upgrade package, which includes the heated seats, alarm and some moldings.
I went back to Ford Motor Co. website and “built my own” 2013 Fiesta Titanium. (The Titanium is the new name for the highest model in the Fiesta line; it replaced the SES). I noticed that the heated seats, alarm etc are all included as STANDARD in the 2013 model. So why am I paying $820 for it in the 2012 model????

The dealer may respond yeah it’s included in the 2013 model, but it’s more money, too. When I finished “building” my car online using all the same options and add-ons that are on the 2012 Fiesta I purchased, it came to $19,994 (which includes sales tax, all incentives and my trade-in value), so that’s about the same as the $20,000 price that I negotiated with the dealer.

It’s that $20,000 figure that, when broken down on the sales agreement, includes the $199 for etching.
I remember the dealer saying at one point when the cost was down to $20,426, what will it take for you to buy this car? If we bring it down to an even $20,000, will that seal the deal? I agreed.

So now they may say, look, what do care whether it includes etching or not, because you’re still paying a total of $20,000, which I am. It’s just that when they wrote it up on the purchase agreement, they list the price of the car at $19,280, sales tax $1188, conveyance fee $399, etching $199 and transfer fees (DMV paperwork) $101.

I can’t figure out why they chose to list the car price as a lower figure on the purchase agreement and included those extra fees in there when they could have just said $20,000 for the car, period, since that’s what I said would work for me.

2 Responses to “Monday Morning - Before the Call”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1369056569

    I understand your point of view. I'm sure this is a required form (for state or Ford I don't know) for the dealer, those fees are their costs, and they need show their expenses in some way likely for accounting purposes. It is not very friendly from a customer point of view...it creates confusion after the price is agreed upon.

    Good luck today...whatever you decide to do. Smile

  2. PatientSaver Says:
    1369058818

    CCFree, I agree that this form is required by the state, but that's because the conveyance tax and etching charges are widely used by dealers to line their wallets and there have been a lot of complaints. Just google it and you'll see what i mean. The state of CT has very specific laws concerning how the etching charge is offered. It's required on the window sticker as a separate line item (it wasn't) and they're supposed to inform the consumer of it. I was not.

    These fees are NOT their costs! Etching can be done at no charge or at most $20, by your local police department.

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