As many veteran car buyers know, the retail price is not the same amount that ends up being listed at the bottom of a bill of sale. For instance, if the MSRP of the car you are about to purchase is $21,000, you may actually pay $22,000.
This happens due to additional (pre-tax) fees that dealers charge their customers. Some fees are mandatory, while others are optional – but that is not always made clear.
Research and vigilance play a key role in making sure that the consumer does not overpay. The following list provides some guidance in this respect.
Mandatory
Mandatory additional fees apply to all vehicles in every single province. These fees are usually unavoidable. Anything else that is added on top of these fees (aside from the HST) is optional.
a. Freight
Freight is essentially the price of shipping a vehicle from the location of production to wherever it will be sold. To determine the freight fee, a manufacturer has to calculate the average cost of transporting a particular make and model to a Canadian dealership and apply the amount to all of them – regardless of where in the country they are being sold. The reason for this is to make sure the freight charge for each make and model is the same nationwide.
Most dealers tend to combine freight and PDI into a single fee on a bill of sale.
b. PDI
PDI (or Pre-Delivery Inspection) is the price of doing a maintenance check of a vehicle when it first arrives at a dealership. Every dealer is obligated to check their cars to make sure they are ready for the road. Unlike the freight fee, this amount is determined by the dealer, not the manufacturer.
Most dealers tend to combine freight and PDI into a single fee on a bill of sale.
c. Air Tax
Air tax, or Federal Air Conditioner Excise Tax, is a $100 fee that the government of Canada applies to all vehicles with onboard air conditioning.
d. Tire Tax
Tire tax is a provincial fee applied to any vehicle purchased from a dealership to fund a nationwide tire recycling program. Though the charge varies from province to province, it usually falls between $20 and $30.
e. Regulatory Charges
Car dealers in Ontario and Alberta charge government-imposed regulatory fees administered by OMVIC (Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council) and AMVIC (Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council). The OMVIC fee is $5, while the AMVIC charge is $6.25.
f. Block Heater Installation
Dealers sometimes charge a fee for installing a block heater, the purpose of which is to keep a car’s engine warm in cold temperatures to ensure it starts. Installing block heaters is a requirement in parts of Canada with colder winters, where temperatures are continuously below 0°C, but not in any of the southern provinces, such as Ontario.
Optional
While mandatory fees are unavoidable, optional fees can be excluded completely, if they are not desired.
a. Admin Fee
Administration is a fee dealers charge to cover expenses such as licensing, arranging insurance documentation, processing a loan or lease with a financial institution as well as activation of satellite radio, Bluetooth and other similar in-car devices.
While this charge is usually negotiable on the sale of most cars, dealerships that sell luxury vehicles tend to make it mandatory.
b. VIN Etching
Etching is a fee dealers charge for the service of imprinting a vehicle’s VIN onto its windows. The purpose of this exercise is to reduce the vehicle’s value and in turn prevent thieves from stealing and reselling it. This service is NOT required for any vehicle in any of the provinces.
c. Nitrogen-Filled Tires
The cost of adding nitrogen to a vehicle’s tires. This service is required only if you are purchasing a sports car, because nitrogen improves drivability, safety and fuel efficiency when driving at high speeds.
d. Rust Protection
A fee for applying some form of rustproofing. While this service can be beneficial, it is NOT required.
f. Extended Warranty
An extension to the standard manufacturer warranty that dealers sometimes offer before a vehicle is purchased. It is possible to buy an extended warranty at any time, which means that car buyers are not obligated to do so right away.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at any time or access our free dealer cost report.
Updated on March 26, 2013
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Updated on September 16, 2019
Unhaggle is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to this Site. This Privacy Policy applies to the Site. This Privacy Policy does not apply to other websites to which we link.
Information Collected: In order to access this Site, you must first complete the registration process. During the registration process, we collect personal information such as your name and email address. Once you complete and submit your registration, you have opted-in to receive email communication from Unhaggle.
We also collect personal information when you choose to use certain other features of the Site, such as making purchases, we require you to provide additional information such as your phone number, billing addresses and credit card information, and we may request additional personal information such as your shopping preferences and demographics.
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We use personally identifiable information in order to give you a more enjoyable convenient shopping experience and to help us identify and/or provide information, products or services that may be of interest to you. We use your personally identifiable information to support and enhance your use of the Site and its features, including without limitation: fulfilling your order; providing customer service; tracking email invitations you send; and otherwise supporting your use of the Site. We may also track your past purchases to provide you with a personalized profile of your shopping history. In addition, we may notify you about new services or special promotional programs, or send you offers or information.
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In addition, you may update, change or correct your personal information or preferences by sending an email to [email protected].
While we make efforts to accommodate requests to restrict our use of your information, we reserve the right to delete all or any portion of customer information if we are not able to reasonably accommodate a requested restriction.
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If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Unhaggle Inc.
20 Queen Street West, Suite 2800
Toronto, ON M5H 3R3
Canada
1-866-215-7868
[email protected]