If you’re going through the process of buying a car, you may have come across “doc fees,” or documentation fees. Dealers sometimes charge this fee in addition to a car’s purchase price, and it can often add several hundred dollars on top of the figure that you and the dealer agreed on. So what exactly is a doc fee? Is it a scam? And do you have to pay it? We have the answers.

What Is a Doc Fee?

A doc fee — also called a document or documentation fee — is a fee charged by car dealerships to process a vehicle’s paperwork. Essentially, a doc fee covers the cost of all the dealership’s back-office employees, from the people who handle the money to the employees who deal with the title, registration and the DMV.

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