Dealer wants money for License Plates

Lmanaro · June 13, 2015

I signed a lease agreement on 5/23/15 through Collection GMC of Beachwood in Ohio. On the finance paperwork there is clearly a fee of $33.95 that is listed for license plates as well as the tax doc fee, tag, etc. The dealer called me up yesterday and said my plates are in and that it would cost me $44.95 and I would have to pay for them.

I have leased many cars through BMW, Ally, and now GM Financial. This is the first time the dealership is asking me to pay additional money for license plates. USUALLY, the initial plates are included.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Higgs Boson · June 13, 2015

Bring your bill of sale for your truck and show them the line where you already paid for registration when you bought it.

if they screwed up and should have charged more, like maybe they are custom plates? then they want the balance? hard to say for sure since every state is different but just ask them what's up.

Lmanaro · June 13, 2015

Bring your bill of sale for your truck and show them the line where you already paid for registration when you bought it.

if they screwed up and should have charged more, like maybe they are custom plates? then they want the balance? hard to say for sure since every state is different but just ask them what's up.

The plates are generic. I know in Ohio the fee is a little higher for truck plates. I just thought it was weird that they wanted money.

ember1205 · June 13, 2015

If it were me, I would point out that there's a line item on the agreement with a fee associated. If they don't provide what you've been charged for, you won't take delivery and they can rip up the agreement.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · June 13, 2015

Ya the only thing I can think of is maybe they didn't charge enough at the beginning. This is the 1st I've heard of a dealer doing this. When I got my '14 they put the plates on and that was it. I know here in NC all registration fees for a passenger vehicle was the same, but now they charge more for being a truck because you use it to haul and tow. It list my truck as "Private/Property Carrying" so now the fee is $51 and some change where it used to be $26 rather it was a car or truck as long as it was a normal private plate and not a "weighted" plate. So if they're not screwing you then maybe they charged you for a car and not a truck.

To be honest, if it was my dealership I would just wave that cost if they're just asking for the difference if they charged wrong. It's their fault if that's the cast and really $45 isn't a big deal. Other than that, they could just be trying to screw you over.