‘Let me get this straight’: Expert catches dealership charging an unexpected fee. Then he asks them to explain it
If you’re intimidated by going to the car dealership, TikToker Tomislav Mikula (@tomislavmikula) has you covered. The popular car deal negotiator recently put out a video with over 700,000 views. In it, he argues with a Mazda dealership over reducing unexpected fees.
The video
“This negotiation—you’re about to see a dealership try to charge a BS fee that I have never seen a dealership try to charge, and how to overcome it," he says.
The video cuts to footage of Mikula in a desk chair with a microphone, clearly speaking to someone over a call. The bottom half of the screen shows a visualizer moving to the audio of the call.
The call begins with Christian, a car salesman at an anonymous Mazda dealership, introducing himself on the other end of the call. Mikula identifies himself and alludes to a prior conversation about pricing that they held off-screen.
Negotiations start
Introductions out of the way, Mikula brings up his main issue: the dealership’s “pre-delivery service charge.” He asks Christian what this charge is.
“That is a fee that just, uh, runs with the pre-delivery,” Christian starts. He says that, when cars arrive straight from the factory, the dealership has to unwrap them, check them, clean them, and run a diagnostic test.
“[The pre-delivery fee] just covers all of the service costs that have to do with that,” he explains.
“Do you guys, like, pay somebody in particular to do that?” Mikula asks. He adds that, when he was a car salesman, it used to be his responsibility to check cars for damage. He asks if it’s outsourced now or whether it’s still done in-house.
Christian responds that the dealership’s “internal service department” takes care of the pre-delivery service.
“OK, and that’s to wrap the plastic off and to program the car,” Mikula clarifies, “which you would have to do no matter what to sell it.”
Christian reiterates the importance of “removing everything, cleaning,” the diagnostic, and the “pre-delivery inspection.”
“And you’re saying that service charges you $445 to do that to the sales department?” Mikula asks in a monotone. When Christian responds in the affirmative, Mikula simply states, “That’s insane.”
The issue with inspections
Mikula claims Christian’s dealership is the first he’s ever heard of a Mazda “pre-delivery service” and points out that the pre-service tasks are fairly basic, if inconvenient.
“[Unwrapping the plastic] is annoying. Don’t get me wrong,” Mikula allows. “Unwrapping some of the plastic sometimes gets sticky, but you do that for the protection of the car. I’ve just never heard…”
As Mikula trails off, Christian chimes in and says that the pre-delivery inspection is more complicated than that. He notes that it involves “both the technological parts and the mechanical parts.” And the main purpose is to make sure the car is functioning.
“And just to make sure I’m on the same page,” Mikula interrupts. “If a dealership isn’t charging me this, they’re not doing all this extra work? You guys are going above and beyond, extra, what is required by Mazda to put the car in the lot?”
Christian says he can’t speak to the inspection processes of other dealerships, and Mikula continues. He states that, were the inspection somehow more intense or involved than those of other dealerships, he could maybe understand the fee.
“The problem is that if there’s damage to the car, the only reason you guys are doing that is so you can charge that back to Mazda, and you guys don’t eat it,” Mikula explains. He repeats the point, then finishes, “That’s the whole reason that process gets taken place. So me, as a consumer, eating a charge on that is insane.”
Mikula tells Christian that he’ll pay the fee, but only if the dealership knocks an equal $445 off the price of the car itself. Christian agrees to talk to his manager about it. Mikula then brings up that he’s been negotiating with a dealership in Daytona that doesn’t charge a pre-delivery service charge.
Discounts and Daytona
“Was the overall price better than Daytona?” Christian asks. Mikula says he didn’t get that far in negotiations before the call. He notes that while he is considering buying from the Miami dealership, he would prefer to stick closer to home.
“I can go to Daytona. I can go to Orlando,” he says. “Or we can stay local. This is one or the other. I prefer not to go to Miami, but I know I can get 10% off in Miami without even thinking about it.”
At the mention of the 10% discount, Christian jumps back in. He notes that the dealership did get Mikula slightly more than 10% off the MSRP, or Manual Suggested Retail Price. Mikula tells him that he wanted the discount outside of the pre-existing rebate.
“The rebate’s Mazda’s money, not your money,” he says. They continue to negotiate, and Mikula, after calculating all the fees the dealership makes a profit on, concludes that the discount is actually 7.3%. The video ends with Christian excusing himself to go speak to his manager about a potentially higher discount rate.
Commenters weigh in
“Let me get this straight,” the top comment began. “They are charging a fee to make sure they sell you a working undamaged product?”
Many commenters asked similar questions.
“Isn't that the cost of doing business making sure the car is undamaged?” another user asked. Someone was quick to reply and correct her about how egregious the fee actually was.
“No because manufacturer pays them for the damage received,” the other user replied. “They never lose money on it.”
“Manufacturer already pays the dealer to do the PDI,” said the second-most-liked comment.
“PDI,” in this case, refers to pre-delivery inspection.
“This dealer is trying to double dip,” they added.
“Charging a PDI fee is wild. They can’t even sell the car without doing a PDI… some of these dealers… smh,” a different user echoed.
Some users shared a different, but no less confused perspective on the fee.
“I work at a Mazda and honestly that fee makes no sense at all,” said a self-proclaimed employee. In her replies, an ex-employee elaborated on nonsensical car dealership fees.
“I used to work for a Mazda dealership and the [Finance and Insurance departments] always charged an extra 2k on every new car,” they said. “They called it a “market adjustment”. Lost many deals with that.”
@tomislavmikula Stop with all the BS fees! #carbuying #newcar #dealership #delivrd #carshopping ♬ original sound - Delivrd
Is the pre-delivery inspection covered by Mazda?
According to Lyle Romer of Car Buying Tips, the PDI is already factored into the list price.
“On many vehicles, the cost of doing the PDI is already included in the MSRP,” Romer states. He adds that, when it is, buyers can usually find proof on a window sticker stating as much.
Like Mikula, Romer advises customers to take a hard-line stance against outstanding PDI charges.
"We believe that all 'dealer prep' or PDI charges be negotiated out of every deal, regardless of whether or not the manufacturer includes it,” he says. “When you go to a retail store, you don't pay a separate charge for the product to be unboxed and put on the shelves. That expense is included in the price.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Mikula via Instagram and TikTok direct message, as well as to Mazda via email.
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