Fees associated with the DMV, from registration and plates to taxes, are already line items most car buyers overlook until it comes time to sign the final paperwork. That’s often the first time they see numbers beyond the vehicle’s negotiated price.

The last thing dealers or their customers want is to somehow get those fees wrong and learn about it well after the car has left the lot.

What Are Vehicle Registration Fees?

DMV vehicle registration fees are collected by the dealership to cover the cost of registering a vehicle with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. These fees typically include title transfer, license plate issuance and other state-mandated registration costs.

Depending on the state, calculating these title and registration fees can be quite complex. If a dealer calculates these fees in a DMS without a system like CVR, they’ll need to rekey the data into the DMV’s system or rely on fees generated by the DMS — both of which are estimates and can lead to errors and inaccuracies.

With inefficient processes like these, eight different data points or 10 different fees must be manually reentered into the DMS. In some instances (and some states), companies like CVR make it much easier, literally.

Type the two letters “EZ” into your CVR-integrated DMS, and all the fees are calculated automatically and pushed back into the deal. That’s why the tool is called EasyFEE. EasyFEE and other DMS-integrated fee calculators aren’t available in every state, but they do help illustrate what’s possible. And CDK DMS users can stay in the CDK system throughout the entire process because the DMV fee process is embedded.

Why Error-Free DMV Fee Calculation Is Critical

The worst-case scenario for fee errors would be the need to correct fees with a customer after they’ve already signed on the dotted line and driven their car home. Imagine calling a customer to explain that they owe you more money because of an error on your part.

It’s not hard to imagine a situation like this leading to lower customer satisfaction scores and damaging the likelihood of repeat business and referrals. A dealer can decide to absorb the costs to avoid impacting the customer, but that results in a clear financial hit to the store.

An error in the customer’s favor isn’t likely to have the same negative reputational impact, but it won’t instill confidence in your finance team either. Simply cutting a check and mailing it has its own costs, and the dealership is responsible for tracking the refunded amount (if it remains uncashed) for up to three years.

And that’s just the impact on the customer; there’s also the possibility of leaving money on the table. If the fee calculations result in a higher price for the customer, they’ll be less likely to spend on other F&I products. It all affects the final monthly payment, and erroneously higher fees will push that payment higher than it should be, affecting the customer’s budget for the purchase.

The advantages of using CVR to calculate and execute fees are clear. As an industry leader for over 30 years, CVR handles over 15 million transactions and DMV inquiries annually. Learn more about the benefits of CVR.