> and "documentation fees". My favorite part of this one on my recent used auto purchase is how clear it is the dealer didn't even do their job here. The vehic

> and "documentation fees". My favorite part of this one on my recent used auto purchase is how clear it is the dealer didn't even do their job here. The vehicle had been traded in to the dealer. The title was made out to "The Estate of <Former Owner>", and person who signed the car over to them very clearly wasn't the name on the title (which you might expect, as estate indicates a death) and had not even so much as a common last name. The dealer sure seemed to know this was an issue at some point because someone had written "POA" next to the signature... but there was no power of attorney documentation that came with the title and other paperwork, and when I contacted the dealer about it they clearly had none of this paperwork in spite of the trade-in having been completed 6 weeks earlier. In fact, it took 4 emails just to get the paperwork guy to understand the actual problem (he thought I was complaining they hadn't signed the title over to me), and once we reached that point, it took them a few days to provide a POA document for an entirely different person than the person who signed the title over to them -- they literally did not understand the assignment. It's almost two months from when I purchased the vehicle, and still trying to get documentation puzzle pieces put together, and it's just in the last week I got them to send me the temp tag for the car (they forgot to put it on before I had the vehicle delivered, and didn't notice when I'd mentioned the problem earlier). This isn't some random guy with a half-developed lot where inventory is mostly consignment either -- this is a Toyota dealership (Suburban Toyota of Troy) that's part of a franchise of dozens of dealerships across several states (Suburban Collection / Lithia Motors). It's almost funny now that I thought that indicated an extra level of professionalism when this situation has turned out to have a lot in common with title jumping. And when I told dealership I expected them to refund the doc fee (among other remedies), the response I got was a reality denying "we have provided everything you need to register the vehicle in a timely manner," which isn't true now let alone two weeks ago when they said it. In theory I'd be willing to pay some documentation fee for the privilege of knowing that everything is clear and when I walk into state offices to register my car, it'll happen. But at this point, it's clear that's a theory and incentives are against dealerships actually caring and would remain that way without escrow. I suppose there's always state regulators and small claims court.