As strange as it may sound - I ask them to exclude all taxes and fees to reduce variability and have more of an apples to apples comparison. Taxes & fees are we

As strange as it may sound - I ask them to exclude all taxes and fees to reduce variability and have more of an apples to apples comparison. Taxes & fees are well defined, but in my experience, dealers try to sneak in a decent "service fee" in there. One guy tried to sneak in as much as ~$600 I think, which I found amusing. It just helps to reduce noise and focus on a single number; they'll do all the DMV work for you for free.