2021 Membership Directory Final

DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES

State Grants Largest Ever Doc Fee Increase This summer, dealers will see the largest DOC Fee increase since the state began regulating the charge nearly a half-century ago. Starting summer of 2021, dealers will see the DOC Fee rise by 133%, or $100, to a new high of $175. As a result, each year, dealers will more easily recoup tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in titling and registration costs. The state first began regulating dealers’fees for storing and executing registration documents in 1972. Since then, the state has only increased the DOC Fee three times, despite ever-increasing costs. After the financial crisis of 2008, the state strongly resisted further adjustment to the fee. But GNYADA would not relent. The Association has continuously raised the issue in meetings with senior DMV policymakers and the governor and his staff. Less than three years ago, GNYADA led a renewed advocacy push for a higher DOC Fee, as it had done in 2008, preparing a cost analysis that illustrated dealers’ average expenses for handling the state-mandated paperwork process. And in 2019, DMV commissioner Mark Schroeder indicated the state would raise the DOC Fee by $75 sometime soon. At that time, Gov. Cuomo mentioned the GNYADA DOC Fee study when he spoke favorably about the dealers’request. But the DOC Fee increase did not come right away. After the state turned its focus to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, an undeterred GNYADA leadership renewed the advocacy effort again by explaining how other states continued to raise their DOC Fees, leaving New York far behind in the competitive northeast market. Without this relentless advocacy effort, it would have been hard to see a DOC Fee increase this year, let alone one with a higher $175 cap instead of $150.

HOT TOPICS 2021 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY & SERVICES GUIDE

GNYADA knows that we must continue our work to make sure dealers can recoup their total title and registration costs, as dealers in almost every other Northeastern state can do. When he quoted GNYADA’s study

in 2019, Gov. Cuomo acknowledged that even $150 would not be enough to address New York’s dealers’competitive disadvantage fully and that further adjustments would be necessary. So, you can count on this: GNYADA pledges to continue this work until the state gets it right.

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