Purchaser’s On-line Systems Filing Fee

VA Dealer Alert: Purchaser’s On-line Systems Filing Fee

Virginia dealers are reminded that, effective July 1, 2003, they must charge vehicle buyers for the amount of the on-line fee charged per transaction by the electronic service provider processing a customer’s registration. Based on a letter the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association recently received from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, dealers must collect the fee from customers. Dealers may choose to absorb the fee in a discount to the customer, but the statute requires that the fee be charged, and the DMV is interpreting it that way, according to Michael G. Charapp of Charapp, Deese & Weiss, LLP, WANADAês government relations representative for Virginia matters.

To comply with Virginia law, Charapp says it is important that the Buyers Order identify this charge to the customer as the purchaser’s on-line systems filing fee. The amount must be precisely the amount charged by the on-line vendor for the transaction.

Unlike the processing fee, there is no requirement of a sign, and there is no minimum type size requirement for this disclosure on the Buyers Order. There is no requirement that this fee be preprinted, so the fee can simply be printed onto the transaction documents via the F&I computer printer. The fee is not taxable, says Charapp.

The dealership should have in place a procedure whereby a refund is generated for the customer if the on-line fee is charged, but the dealership does not process the transaction through the on-line system.

For more information, Charapp can be contacted at (202)463-9100 or mike.charapp@cdw-law.com.