Before You Start. See Overview: Software Costs â Capitalize vs. Expense. For invoices having a combination of eligible and ineligible costs, a reasonable attempt to split the respective costs should be made and rationale should be documented. See Overview: Buying and Accounting for Capital Equipment for information on hardware expenditures.
Instead, you're focused on the price you pay overall, and if the dealer wants to include a doc fee in that price, then so be it. For instance, say you have a $30,000 budget and you're looking at a $28,000 car with a $500 doc fee. Add in a 7-percent sales tax, and this car costs $30,495.
TrueCar.com has compiled a list of average doc fees charged in each state. The data is from July 2011. They found the highest doc fees to be in the Southeast region of the United States with Florida having an average doc fee of $607. The lowest doc fee is found in California, with an average fee of only $55.