Documentation Fees or "Doc Fees"
This fee can be upwards of a $1000 and is the most common of the fees made up by the dealerships. It is not a required government tax or fee, even though it is often lumped in with Tax, Title, and Licensing. No states require this fee. A few states do require that if you charge one customer the fee, then you must charge all customers. There have been so many problems with these fees that many states have put a cap on them.
Many dealerships will not remove this fee but the equivalent cost can be deducted from the final price. Always ask if there is a Doc Fee, and if so make sure it is included in the total price quoted. If it was not included in the total price quoted get them to drop the price by the amount of the fee.
"Doc fees straddle the line of legitimate and illegitimate. Know that you can and should negotiate the doc fee with a car dealer. Also know that the dealer will never actually remove the fee from your buyer’s order, instead they will reduce the selling price of the vehicle by the same amount as the doc fee."
"Doc fees are simply a profit center for the dealership. It’s a fee that is meant to offset the cost of non revenue producing employees at the dealership. It’s … bogus. But, dealers will tell you they legally can’t remove the fee from your purchase order, and sometimes this is true."
"A dealer may charge an optional documentary service fee in an amount not to exceed $150 in Washington. This fee compensates a dealer for the cost of titling and licensing a vehicle. It is an optional fee and a dealer may not represent that the fee is required by law. A consumer is free to negotiate a waiver of the fee. Dealers must disclose this $150 optional fee in their advertisements when stating sales prices of cars."
https://www.atg.wa.gov/buying-precautions
