Dealership Fees (Ontario, Canada)

[ontheroad]

I'm hoping someone on here can help me figure out if a dealership is trying to overcharge me for a 2023 Outlander PHEV.

I was at a dealership yesterday and was about to place a deposit on a base trim (ES). The total price I was given was over 53k (CAD), which is 2K higher than the total cost that is displayed for the exact same car on the Mitsubishi Canada website. I asked the salesperson to explain this and he said it's because of dealership fees that aren't shown on the website; however, looking at the website, most of these dealer fees are listed (freight, PDI, dealer admin fee, etc.)....the only significant fee not included on the website is a "Protection" fee which is $799. Also, the freight & PDI fees given at the dealership were $361 more than they are on the website.

I asked the salesperson if I can opt out of any of these fees and he said they are all mandatory (I'm suspicious of the "Protection" fee, which sounds cooked up).

So my questions are:

1. Am I being overcharged?
2. Are all of these dealership fees mandatory?

Thanks

[Hasenphever]

1. Sounds about right. Of the two dealerships I visited there was another bullshit dealership fee, plus one of them had a mandatory rust prevention and wheel/rim package.

2. They are in the sense that you cannot force them to remove these extras. Ontario does not have this type of law for auto dealerships.

[ontheroad]

Thanks for your input. I'm definitely being overcharged because I called another dealership today and they don't have any "Protection Fee"; in fact the salesperson I spoke with didn't even know what that was. Also, I noticed that the selling price before any fees is several hundred more than the MSRP listed on Mitsubishi Canada's website (I had thought that dealers in Canada weren't allowed to sell above MSRP but perhaps that isn't the case).

I won't go back to that dealership, which is unfortunate because they by far the closest to where I live.

[Hasenphever]

Thanks for your input. I'm definitely being overcharged because I called another dealership today and they don't have any "Protection Fee"; in fact the salesperson I spoke with didn't even know what that was. Also, I noticed that the selling price before any fees is several hundred more than the MSRP listed on Mitsubishi Canada's website (I had thought that dealers in Canada weren't allowed to sell above MSRP but perhaps that isn't the case).

I won't go back to that dealership, which is unfortunate because they by far the closest to where I live.

"Protection fee" might be a paint protection package. That's what the other dealership wanted to put on it but it wasn't mandatory like the first dealer.

[Rockwallrick]

It pays to shop around! Many dealers in the US are adding ridiculous high mark ups but I was able to find one that was willing to sell for less than MSRP.

[nrayanov]

53K for an ES? That seems high to me. Check another dealer.

[ontheroad]

Yes, definitely. Whenever I build the car on the Mitsubishi Canada website and link it to individual dealership websites (including the one that tried to overcharge me) it always comes to $51,062.69, and that's with all taxes, dealership fees and the 5k rebate. So in this particular case the dealership actually tried to charge me over 2k more than the price that was advertised on their own website!

Needless to say, I'll look elsewhere.

[ontheroad]

I have an update:

I saved the price quotes I received on the Mitsubishi Canada website, emailed them to the "overcharging" dealer and he said he would honor those prices. I wouldn't be getting a deal but at least I'd be paying MSRP. That means $51062 for a white ES or $59548 for a white SEL. Are these prices reasonable? Does anyone think I should try another dealership for a lower price?

My plan was to get the ES but there is an SEL available on the lot, whereas I'd have to order an ES. The only feature I can think of that I'd really value in the SEL is leather seats, but I'm not sure if that's worth an additional 8k...

[Hasenphever]

$59k for the SEL all in is good.

The SEL has a lot more than the ES than leather seats. Bigger centre console display, power/one-touch cargo gate, and roof rails are the biggest functional additions. There are lot of others that are more quality of life improvement, such as memory seats for driver and passenger.

If you have any needs to use to roof for a cargo box or rack then get the SEL that comes with the rails. The one area the ES is better is in headroom for 3rd row passengers without the moonroof.

[ontheroad]

Good points about the additional benefits of the SEL but I still think I'll go with the ES - I don't need roof rails and I'd rather not have the moonroof.

Do you know if $51k all in is a good price for the ES?