Educational guide
A dealer worksheet (sometimes called a buyer’s order, pencil, menu, or deal-jacket summary) is usually a working draft of numbers — not the final signed contract. Read each line’s name and amount, not only the monthly payment. The useful work is separating what the vehicle costs, what they offer for your trade, which fees and products were added, tax, and how the payment was calculated.
If a line is unclear, ask what it is, whether it is required by law, and whether it can be removed or reduced before you sign.
Most worksheets mix several kinds of numbers on one page. Treat them as separate blocks even when the store presents one total.
Selling price or “agreed” price before extras. It may reference MSRP, a sale price, or a market adjustment.
A “discount” from MSRP is not the same as a good deal. If the worksheet price is higher than the window sticker, ask which line explains the difference.
Allowance versus the payoff on your loan. Those are two different numbers.
A high allowance can hide a high vehicle price. Negative equity (you owe more than the trade is worth) should be visible, not folded into the payment.
Doc fee, title, registration, and other store charges.
Government charges are not the same as every dealer fee. A large fee is not automatically illegal, and a printed fee is not automatically required. Verify with your state’s rules and the store’s written itemization.
Warranties, paint, GAP, theft, etch, coatings, or “protection” packages.
Optional products often look mandatory in the stack. Ask for each product name, whether it is already installed, whether you can decline, and how it changes the out-the-door total.
Sales-tax basis and rate for that store and locality.
The taxable base can include or exclude certain items by state. This page does not invent a rate for your county.
Cash price, amount financed, APR, term, and monthly payment.
A lower payment can mean a longer term, a larger financed amount, or extras packed into the loan. Payment is a result, not the whole deal.
This table is fictional / synthetic. It is not a real customer deal, not an offer from any store, and not a claim about average market fees or savings.
Ask what “out-the-door” includes, and how this compares to the sticker or advertised price.
Compare to your loan payoff and to any outside offer.
Negative equity may be rolled into the loan. Ask to see it as its own line.
A store charge. Ask what it covers and what your state allows. Rules vary.
Often optional. Ask whether you can decline it in writing.
Depends on taxable base and locality — not a claimed average.
Not the same as “price.” It can include products you do not want.
Check whether this payment assumes extras you have not agreed to.
DrivrShield’s public homepage uses a similar illustrative teaching pattern. Treat teaching figures as examples unless a citation on Sources says otherwise.
Ask for the window sticker (or equivalent) and any addendum stickers separately from the worksheet total. Do not assume a printed “sale” price is the out-the-door cash number.
Separate, as best you can, items that sound like government charges (title, registration, taxes) from items that sound like store charges (doc fee, dealer prep, “market” fees). This page does not list statutory fee caps — those differ by state. Verify locally, and see Sources for figures DrivrShield cites elsewhere.
Packages often bundle optional products. Declining an optional product is a normal buyer action. That does not by itself prove misconduct by the store, and a product being printed does not make it required.
A low trade allowance can make a discount elsewhere look larger. Ask for the appraisal and consider an outside offer for comparison. Keep allowance and payoff on separate lines.
Payment can move when price, rate, term, cash down, or products change. If the conversation stays only on “what payment do you want?”, ask to freeze price and products before shopping rate — or bring a credit-union or bank pre-approval so you can compare. DrivrShield does not pull your credit and does not arrange financing.
A lower payment can mean a longer term, a larger deferred balance, or products added into the loan. When you compare two worksheets, compare:
The out-the-door calculator can help you organize totals you already have. It does not replace reading the worksheet.
In the DrivrShield AI app, suggested wording appears under What you should ask when the AI returns those prompts — you choose whether to use them.
DrivrShield AI does not grade your specific deal. Answers are automated and not human-reviewed. Reports, worksheets, and AI explanations can be wrong or incomplete if the input is wrong.
When available, Human Deal Analysis is a separately purchased human review of one eligible proposal. Per current Order terms, that purchase includes about 30 days of DrivrShield AI chat — it is not a monthly AI Subscription and does not auto-renew. The $500 Potential Savings Guarantee applies only if that human order is expressly marked eligible — never to an AI-only purchase. See Guarantee and Pricing.