Why don’t you ask the SELLER what their “Document Fee” means?
In my experience…it is a charge for the Dealer’s employee to go to the courthouse to register Title, pay Sales Tax, pick up the license plate (if req’d) and obtain the Notary-Public’s stamp on the Documents.
You can ask them to “waive” that fee…and they ”might” do it…. IF you are willing to drive to the courthouse YourSelf and do these things… OR…they might waive the fee and still perform those tasks in-order to still complete the sale….(after-all, their employee will not make multiple trips to the courthouse for only one sale….they’ll wait until the end-of-the-week and do several vehicles all at once to save employee-cost….and is why you’ll have to wait a week to ten-days before you get your Title and Plates, etc.)
Personally, I pay the Document Fee….because I have better things to do that drive downtown, pay for parking, stand in line at the courthouse…. to be told I was in the “wrong line” ….go to the Annex, pass-thru “Security” one more time…. etc etc etc.
Some repair-shops have picked-up on this practice of charging “Fees”…. by adding 3% to your repair invoice for “shop supplies” like hand-cleaner, shop towels, grease, etc.
(I always absolutely REFUSE to pay those…stating that those items are their “costs of doing business”….and the shops eventually “drop” or “absorb” them.)
I suspect some day restaurants and coffee-shops and beer-joints will start charging “fees” for napkins, salt/pepper, knives/forks/spoons, and water glasses.
