'I Can’t Discount My Doc Fee:' New Jersey Man Purchases New Car. Then He Gets Told About the Doc Fee

"This is why people hate used car dealers. Just add in costs."

Photo by: AdobeStock

By: Madeleine Wagner

Sep 13, 2025 at 1:00pm ET

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In a viral TikTok that’s been viewed 25,300 times, car salesman Greg (@greggotcars) explains “doc fees” and other extra charges on a customer’s paperwork to show that he’s getting the best deal.

“Well, every dealership has a doc fee [to cover] your title, registration fees, and everything like that,” he explains. Then he continues, “I can’t discount my doc fee,” explaining that it’s an itemized fee and has to be kept “the same.”

At the end of his video, Greg pulls out the receipts: He shows the value of the car versus what he’s charging, using J.D. Powers’ guide. He talks about how favorably the bank will view the transaction. Then, he winds it up saying that if the customer is paying cash, he’ll knock an additional $300 off the price to “make it nice and simple.”

Opinions Abound

DavidS writes, “Dealers can discount the doc fee cost on selling price. But doc fee legally has to be on there, at least in my state. Charge one have to charge all.”

Five other commenters then jump in to debate whether or not it is “normal.”

Fartbubble offers a defense, writing, “Yes you pay title/registration but doc fee is so you don’t have to trot your a– to the DMV.” His comment continues, mentioning a “prep fee” (which we will return to). But first:

What Exactly Is the Doc Fee?

According to Reddit, the dealer documentation fee, or doc fee, is partially to pay the office staff, and partially for storing said documents. Medium-complaint-677 wrote, “Most (all?) states require that paper copies of all documents related to the sale be stored for years.”

Another Redditor did the math, arriving at a projected 250 sq ft of space with ten-foot high ceilings to store seven years of thick file folders.

The site Edmunds has a less mathematically-laden explanation. In sum, it’s the paperwork fee. Because there’s so much paperwork that comes with the purchase of a car, multiple people work on it. “And they all need to be paid,” Edmunds states.

This fee varies from state to state, and, in some places, dealers are allowed to make a profit and use this for “an additional source of revenue.”

Well, What About New Jersey?

In New Jersey, the fees are not “required by the State.” So the dealers use their own discretion when setting these fees. They can be hard to push back against, so it can be helpful to ask about those fees at the beginning of any negotiation.

OK, But What Is the Aforementioned Prep Fee?

In his TikTok, Greg also mentions a “prep fee.” Coming on the tail of the dealer documentation fee, it reflects the money he says he invests into each vehicle.

“I put a lot of money into the vehicles to make sure they’re prepped. You don’t put a dollar into it,” he says.

Greg says his prep work included installing new tires, prepping brake rotors, performing an oil change, looking over fluids, and installing a new battery.

“I mean, everything you have to do when you buy a vehicle, you don’t have to do any more,” he says.

Buyer Beware

What do you think?

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This is a fee that multiple sites suggest being wary of. Consumer Reports says the things Greg mentioned are covered by the "mandatory destination fee.” Meanwhile, another site says that in many cases, these fees are reimbursed by the car’s manufacturer.

Motor1 reached out to Greg via Instagram direct message.