Dealer fees are charges added by the dealership to the manufacturer’s retail price of the vehicle. They go by various names, such as preparation fees, documentation fees, transportation fees, etc. Anything that is not part of the vehicle’s base price or an option is probably some kind of dealer fee.
At Carvana, you never have to deal with unsubstantiated “bogus” fees. However, the additional fees assessed at a traditional dealership can quickly change the way you feel about the car you are purchasing.
There is one thing you have to come to grips with—license, title, and registration fees are the same for all consumers, based on the ZIP code where they live. These are state fees, not dealer fees, and are merely collected by the dealership and sent to the state.