FoxAuction Buy Fees and Transport in True Cost
How wholesale dealers put buyer fees, internet fees, inspections, storage, transport, floor plan interest, and recon on the VIN, and what that does to a dealer-to-dealer flip.
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The hammer price is not the cost of the car. Buyer fees, an internet or simulcast fee, a post-sale inspection, storage or a late fee, transport, daily floor plan interest, and recon all belong on that VIN. On a dealer-to-dealer flip, real margin is the sale price minus that all-in total, so a spread over the hammer can still be a thin deal.
The Invoice, Not a National Fee Card
Checked November 9, 2026.
Published dollars and example dollars stay separate
Manheim, ADESA, OPENLANE, and ACV do not publish one national buyer-fee table a dealer can copy onto every car. This page states a dollar amount only when that amount is on a public page fetched for this guide. Every other dollar in the worked example is labeled hypothetical. Your rate sheet, the Buy Fees button on that listing, and the fee summary on the purchase are the numbers that go on the VIN.
This is for wholesale dealers who buy at Manheim, ADESA or OPENLANE, and ACV and sell dealer to dealer, in Texas and across the US. FoxDMS is for dealers anywhere in the US. Sources, checked November 9, 2026: Manheim Simulcast Help, the Manheim Late Payment Policy (effective December 4, 2022), the Manheim PSI product page, ADESA’s buy-fee help page, ADESA’s purchases help page (updated September 9, 2025), OPENLANE’s fees article (October 3, 2024; its footnote dates a competitor survey September 25, 2026), ACV’s pricing page, and ACV’s Terms of Service (last updated June 1, 2026).
Seven Costs That Belong on the VIN
Name the line, then put that dollar on the car that caused it.
| Cost | What it is | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer fee | The auction’s charge for the purchase, usually tied to the price and sometimes to your account. It is not the hammer. | Auction Fee on that VIN. |
| Internet or simulcast fee | An extra line when the bid was online or in Simulcast. It sits on top of the location buyer fee when the auction charges both. | Auction Fee on that VIN, as its own line. |
| Post-sale inspection | A buyer-paid inspection ordered at the sale or inside that auction’s window. You owe it whether the car passes or fails, on auctions that sell one. | Auction Fee on that VIN. The checklist and the published Manheim bands are in the post-sale inspection guide. |
| Gate, late pickup, or storage | A charge for leaving the car, picking it up late, or a late payment. The amount is on that purchase’s fee summary. There is no single national gate fee on the pages reviewed. | Auction Fee on that VIN, for the dollar the invoice names. |
| Transport | The carrier bill, or that car’s share of a load, or the fuel and time when the car rode on your own truck. It is not part of the buy fee. | Transport on that VIN. |
| Floor plan interest | The lender’s daily cost while the car is still floored. It keeps running until the payoff date, including days after you have already sold it if the floor plan is still open. | Calculated per vehicle. See floor plan tracking and the floor plan interest calculator. |
| Recon | Mechanical work, body, parts, and detailing you pay so the car is ready for the next dealer. | Mechanic, Body Shop, Parts, or Detailing on that VIN. |
A pack fee is different. It is an internal amount the dealership adds so overhead has a place in the profit view. The auction does not bill it, and the buying dealer does not pay it as a line on your invoice. Keep it out of the auction-fee total. A claim fee or a credit from a later dispute belongs on the same VIN under Arbitration/Settlement. The filing rules are in the auction arbitration guide. The full stack is true cost per vehicle.
Fee Figures That Are on a Public Page
Checked November 9, 2026. If a cell has no dollar, the page did not print one.
| Charge | What the public page says | Dollar amount on that page |
|---|---|---|
| Manheim buyer fee | Simulcast Help says a small buyer’s fee applies to each Simulcast purchase, in addition to the normal buyer’s fee charged by each Manheim auction. It does not print the location buyer fee. | No national buyer-fee table. |
| Manheim Simulcast fee | The Simulcast on Mobile FAQ says the mobile fees match traditional Simulcast, and states: “our standard $50 Simulcast buyer fee still applies.” | $50 per vehicle, on top of that auction’s buyer fee. It is not the in-lane buyer fee, and it is not an ADESA, OPENLANE, or ACV fee. |
| Manheim late fee | The Late Payment Policy, effective December 4, 2022, applies at Manheim facilitating auctions. It is not currently applicable at Mississippi and Massachusetts auctions. Aging is in business days and starts on the latest of the sale date, the title received date, or the arbitration resolution date. That date is day one. The fee is assessed if payment is not received by the end of business day 3. Buying privileges are suspended after business day 4. The same page states a different calculation for Canadian customers on vehicles located in Canada. | 3% of the sale price plus the buy fee, and any other charge added to the vehicle price (PSI, DealShield, and similar charges). Minimum $40 and maximum $400. Enter the dollar on the invoice. This guide does not turn that sentence into a second example. |
| Manheim PSI | The PSI product page prints a national table by purchase-price band and says pricing may vary by auction location. The $50,000-and-up row says to add $50 per $10,000 and does not print a base price. | For a purchase price of $10,000 to $19,999, a 7-day walk-up PSI is $190 and a 14-day walk-up PSI is $215, if that location uses the national table. The rest of the grid is in the post-sale inspection guide. |
| ADESA / OPENLANE buy fee | ADESA’s help page says the Buy Fee Schedule is the Buy Fees button under the current bid on the vehicle details page. OPENLANE’s October 3, 2024 article says the buy fee is based on the purchase price and includes title transfer and escrow, and that the fee rises as the price rises. The article does not print the schedule. | No dollar table on those pages. |
| ADESA gate pass and fee summary | The purchases help page, updated September 9, 2025, says each purchase has a fee summary and that a vehicle release form and gate pass can be printed once payment is received. | No gate, storage, or late-pickup dollar amount. Use the fee summary for that VIN. |
| ACV fees | The pricing page says the fee schedule has moved. The terms, last updated June 1, 2026, say fees can include a buy fee, a sell fee, a transportation fee if the buyer elects ACV Transportation, a late payment fee to the buyer up to the total buy fee when payment misses the due date, and a title-support fee when the customer requests it. Unless ACV agrees otherwise, payment is due within two business days after the winning bid. The current schedule is at the logged-in fee page those terms name. | No public dollar amounts on the pricing page or in those terms. |
Before you bid, open that listing’s fee button or your rate sheet and add the buyer fee you will actually pay, a PSI only if you will order one and you have that auction’s price, a transport quote for that lane, and the floor plan interest for the days you expect to hold the car. A transport quote you have not booked yet is an estimate. Replace it with the invoice when the car moves.
How to Allocate Each Line
One car, one set of lines. A monthly total does not tell you which flip made money.
Hammer is the purchase price
The winning bid is the purchase price. Leave the buyer fee, the simulcast fee, and the PSI off that field. If the purchase price already includes fees, the car’s auction fees get counted twice.
Split a multi-car auction bill by the invoice
A sale-day statement often lists several VINs. Enter the buyer fee, internet fee, PSI, and any storage or late fee on the row that names that car. If a fee is truly shared and the invoice does not split it, divide it by the cars it covers and write down the method in the note. Do not spread one car’s PSI across the load.
Transport follows the cars on the truck
Use the carrier’s per-VIN amount when the bill has one. When one check covers four cars, each VIN gets one fourth, unless the carrier priced them differently. Your own truck is the same idea: fuel and time for that run, divided by the cars on the trailer. The next run is a new bill.
Interest is per day, on the floored amount
Floor plan interest is not an auction fee. On an interest plan, FoxDMS uses purchase price times the annual rate divided by 360, times the number of days. The floor plan interest calculator divides by 365, and it says so. Use your lender’s day count when you compare a statement. Days run until the floor plan payoff, not until the wholesale sale, if the unit is still unpaid. Days spent waiting on a title are still floored days. The clocks and the buyer’s options are in auction title delays for wholesale dealers.
Recon and pack stay in their own buckets
A brake job is Mechanic or Parts. A detail is Detailing. A pack is the dealership’s internal overhead, not a check to the auction. Mixing the pack into Auction Fee makes the auction look more expensive than the invoice and hides the overhead.
One Wholesale Buy, With the Stack On
Every dollar in this section is an illustration. None of it is a Manheim, ADESA, OPENLANE, or ACV fee schedule.
Example (hypothetical)
A dealer wins a car at $11,400 and sells it to another dealer for $13,200, 21 days later. The buyer fee, internet line, PSI, transport, and recon below are made-up invoice lines so the arithmetic is easy to follow. The $75 internet line is not Manheim’s published $50 Simulcast fee. The $160 PSI is not the $190 or $215 on Manheim’s national table. The 9% APR is not a market rate. Interest uses a 360-day year, which is how FoxDMS calculates an interest plan: $11,400 × 0.09 ÷ 360 = $2.85 per day, and $2.85 × 21 = $59.85.
| Line | Amount | On the VIN |
|---|---|---|
| Hammer (purchase price) | $11,400 | Purchase price |
| Buyer fee | $380 | Auction Fee |
| Internet or simulcast line | $75 | Auction Fee |
| Post-sale inspection | $160 | Auction Fee |
| Storage or late pickup | $0 | Picked up on time. A real fee summary would replace this zero. |
| Transport | $285 | Transport |
| Recon | $300 | $220 Mechanic and $80 Detailing |
| Floor plan interest, 21 days | $59.85 | $2.85 per day on the $11,400 purchase price at 9% and a 360-day year |
| True cost | $12,659.85 | Hammer plus $1,259.85 of lines above it |
| Dealer-to-dealer sale | $13,200 | What the buying dealer pays |
| Apparent margin | $1,800 | $13,200 minus the $11,400 hammer |
| Real margin | $540.15 | $13,200 minus $12,659.85 |
The flip still makes money in this example. It makes $540.15, not $1,800. The $1,259.85 that sat on top of the hammer is most of the spread. Another 14 days on the floor plan, at the same $2.85, adds $39.90 and leaves $500.25 if the sale price does not move. A hypothetical $250 pack is internal overhead, not an auction charge. After that pack, the example’s margin is $290.15. The pack does not change what the auction billed.
If the same car had needed another $600 of mechanical work, true cost would be $13,259.85 and the $13,200 sale would be a $59.85 loss. The hammer-only view would still show an $1,800 win. That is the wholesale flip the fee stack changes: the sale can clear the bid and still miss the cost. The six-cost view, including pack and arbitration credits, is in are you making money on each car.
Keep Every Line on the Car
FoxDMS keeps those amounts on the vehicle. True cost is the purchase price plus the expenses. Calculated floor plan interest is added when the Floor Plan expenses on that car add up to zero. A manual Floor Plan expense is used instead of the calculated amount, so the two are not stacked. Dealers across the US use the same web app, including in a phone browser.
Plans are priced per dealership and billed monthly: Starter $39, Growth $79, and Command $199 (see pricing). A credit card is required. You won't be charged for 14 days. Support is email at support@foxdms.com. Growth and Command include Priority Email Support. QuickBooks integration is coming soon.
Auction Fees and Transport: FAQ
What sits on top of the hammer price?
The hammer price is the winning bid. On top of it, a wholesale buy usually adds a buyer fee, an internet or simulcast fee when you bought online, a post-sale inspection if you ordered one, storage or a late fee if the car stays or the payment is late, transport for that VIN, floor plan interest for each day you hold it, and recon. A pack is an internal overhead amount, not a charge from the auction. Checked November 9, 2026.
Do Manheim, ADESA, OPENLANE, and ACV publish one national buyer-fee table?
No. Manheim's Simulcast help page says each Manheim auction charges its own buyer's fee. ADESA's help page says the buy fee schedule is the Buy Fees button on the vehicle details page. OPENLANE's October 3, 2024 fees article says the buy fee rises with the purchase price and includes title transfer and escrow, and it does not print a dollar table. ACV's pricing page says the fee schedule has moved, and the terms point to a schedule inside a logged-in account. Use the schedule on the account you buy with.
Is Manheim's $50 Simulcast fee the buyer fee?
No. On the Simulcast help page, checked November 9, 2026, the mobile FAQ states a standard $50 Simulcast buyer fee and says mobile fees match traditional Simulcast. The same page says that Simulcast fee is in addition to the normal buyer's fee charged by each Manheim auction. Enter both lines on the VIN. The $50 figure is not a buy fee for an in-lane purchase and it is not ADESA, OPENLANE, or ACV pricing.
How do you split transport across cars on one load?
If the carrier's invoice names a dollar amount for that VIN, enter that amount as Transport on that VIN. If one bill covers several cars and does not split them, divide the bill by the cars on that load and enter each share on its VIN. A trip in your own truck is still a per-car cost: the fuel and time for that run, divided by the cars on the trailer. Do not leave the whole month of transport as one overhead number.
How does this change the margin on a wholesale flip?
Apparent margin is the dealer-to-dealer sale price minus the hammer. Real margin is the sale price minus true cost: hammer plus every line allocated to that VIN, including daily floor plan interest. In the hypothetical example on this page, a $13,200 wholesale sale against an $11,400 hammer looks like $1,800. After the example fees, transport, recon, and 21 days of interest, true cost is $12,659.85 and real margin is $540.15.
Which expense category gets each cost?
Enter the buyer fee, internet or simulcast fee, post-sale inspection, and any storage, gate, or late fee the invoice assigns to that car as Auction Fee. Enter transport as Transport. Enter recon as Mechanic, Body Shop, Parts, or Detailing. A claim fee or a credit belongs in Arbitration/Settlement. FoxDMS calculates floor plan interest per vehicle. If you also type a Floor Plan expense, the manual total is what the car uses, so do not enter both.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information, not an auction’s fee schedule and not legal advice. Your auction’s current schedule controls. The worked example is hypothetical. Checked and last reviewed November 9, 2026.
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Daily interest while the car is still floored.
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What a PSI covers and the published Manheim prices.
Read moreAuction Arbitration
Sale lights, deadlines, and claim costs.
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Daily interest per vehicle until payoff.
Read morePack Fee
Internal overhead, separate from the auction bill.
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Read morePut the Fee Stack on the VIN
FoxDMS tracks per-VIN auction fees, transport, recon, and daily floor plan interest for wholesale dealers. A credit card is required. You won't be charged for 14 days.