Glossary

Making sense of dealer-speak.

Dealer Holdback: A small percentage of a vehicle’s cost that a manufacturer pays back to a dealership after the vehicle has been sold. This is what allows dealerships to sell vehicles at invoice price or below and still make a profit.

Dealer Incentives: Special offers from car manufacturers to their dealers—which are usually passed on to the customer—to encourage sales in a slow market or when excess inventory builds up.

Dealer Invoice: The amount a manufacturer charges its dealers for a car.

Handling Charges: Charges—usually negotiable—added to the purchase price of a new car to cover the cost of preparing the car for sale after its transport to the dealership.

Destination Charge: The amount charged for transporting new cars from the factory to the dealership. The destination charge on the dealer invoice is not negotiable, but you should never pay any added destination charge tacked on by a dealer, unless you've requested and agreed to such a charge for a vehicle that must be transported a long distance from another dealer.

Documentation Fee: Charges intended to cover the cost of processing the paperwork involved in the sale of a car. Many fees charged by dealers are negotiable.

Rebate: A partial refund on a new-car purchase offered by the manufacturer or dealership in order to increase sales. Rebates can either be deducted from the purchase price or refunded by mail after the sale has been completed.

Ex-Factory Price of Car: It is the price Car Dealer pays to Manufacturer to lift the car from them i.e. it is the price at which a car manufacturer sells the car.  Ex-Factory Price Terminology is not so common as it is between the Manufacturer, Dealer.

Ex-Showroom Price of Car: Ex-showroom Price of Car is the price at which a car dealer sells a car to Retail Customers which includes Dealer Margins, Transportation costs and applicable Excise, State Taxes and Octroi Charges. Ex-showroom Price is called the basic price of the asset exclusive of any registration, insurance or loadings.