Upon the release of the Mustang Mach-E earlier this year, Ford fans can officially call themselves members of the electric vehicle community. The legacy automaker attached a legendary name to their newest technology and introductory electric vehicle. While the Mach-E has received some mixed reviews in its early months of ownership, it has been a relatively well-received vehicle. However, Ford still operates with dealerships, which is a big turn-off for many car buyers, and for a good reason. One Mach-E owner was excited to pick up his new EV until a $10,000 addition to the taxes and fees summary, labeled as a “Document Fee,” almost stopped the delivery of the car. However, it turned out to be a big misunderstanding and only ended up being a glitch on the Ford website.
The post was published by u/Gonzotiki on Friday evening. Titled, “Apparently our local Ford dealer thinks it’s okay to add $10K in doc fees on the Mach e we ordered,” the additional $10,000 was an addition to the nearly $6,000 in taxes, roughly $700 in License/Title/Registration Fees, and just over $200 in other taxes and fees. A whopping $16,837.99 was set to be due when the purchase agreement was signed.
u/Gonzotiki said his vehicle was a pre-order, and he was aware of “a Ford exec that said to hit him up if dealers attempted shenanigans.” That was precisely his plan, an attempt to free him of an already painful car buying process.
Instead, the future Mach-E owner opted to head to the local dealer to talk about the excessive fee, and it turned out to be good news for them.
“UPDATE! It was a website glitch!! Whew. We’re paying MSRP plus tax. And we’re getting a CA Clean Fuel Reward rebate of $1500. Sorry to disappoint! No shenanigans-it’s been remarkably smooth,” u/Gonzotiki added just three hours after the initial post.
Some might ask what exactly a Doc Fee will cover. According to Autolist, the doc fee is “charged by a dealership to process the paperwork related to a vehicle that has been sold. Primarily, the doc fee is used to cover all the expenses associated with the back-office employees at the dealership mentioned above.”
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Essentially, doc fees are up to the dealership, and considering many of these establishments will hide fees behind interesting and often unnoticeable titles, they can tend to get expensive, adding thousands to the cost of a vehicle. Luckily, many states have been able to set limits on the doc fees that dealerships can charge. The highest doc fee limit is in Florida, where dealerships can charge up to $607. The lowest is California, charging only $55 for the fee.
The car buying process is one of the most frustrating and stressful times in an adult’s life. A study from Beepi in 2016 found that 87% of American adults dislike something about the process of purchasing a vehicle at a traditional car dealership. 24% of the people who participated in the survey said they would rather get a root canal than buy a car. Furthermore, 61% of Americans feel like they’re taken advantage of at least some of the time when shopping at a car dealership, and 52% of Americans feel anxious or uncomfortable when visiting a car dealership.
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Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success.
SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas.
The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by increasing the acceleration of Starship from launch throughout the flight; 20 Starlink v3 satellites were released with no issue; the Super Heavy Booster landed safely in the Gulf of America, Ship successfully reignited engines while in space; and it also splashed down without incident in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Nevertheless, more details are coming out about Starship, and Musk is doing the talking.
Starship Will Be Retrieved in the Ocean
Musk revealed on Tuesday night that Starship would be recovered by a ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX routinely tries to recover Starship after splashdown in an effort to find out more about the flight by examining the spacecraft afterward.
We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship https://t.co/fUqUZTITO9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2026
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This helps engineers find out more about why things might have happened, allows them to examine any potential damage or anomalies that might have occurred, and increases the chances of an even more successful flight next time thanks to the additional information recovered.
Ship Could Have Been Caught by Tower Arms, Musk claims
Musk has already indicated that SpaceX will plan to attempt a catch of Starship with the 14th test flight. While this would be a major accomplishment, it would be an expected next step, considering the fact that the Super Heavy Booster has already been caught by the chopsticks on numerous occasions.
The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms https://t.co/6nbNrRfX9P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
A ship catch would be a great indication of where SpaceX stands in terms of reusability and launch cadence. A successful catch with relatively no incidents would be a good sign that SpaceX is nearing a more frequent launch of Starship, but also that the reusability of the massive rocket would be something many would expect in the near future.
It is a necessity to make life multiplanetary.
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Elon Musk has updated his timeline for when humans will walk on Mars and for when ships will simply get there.
The objective of getting to Mars has been one of Musk’s biggest goals since becoming a serial entrepreneur and realizing that time on Earth is limited. Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact.
Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.”
People on Mars in roughly 5 to 7 years.
Mars lander a few years sooner.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”
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Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added.
Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.
In fact, the SpaceX and Tesla frontman has said on at least a dozen occasions that we could be on Mars in the coming years. Musk said 2020 would be the big year as early as 2009. In 2020, he was “highly confident” of a landing in 2026, and had even said 2024 in a best-case scenario.
The point is, the range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) got an absolutely crazy price target rating from Raymond James after the company experienced a tough first few weeks following its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Despite the tumultuous start, SpaceX has plenty of believers, and the company’s massively successful Starship launch last Friday, its 13th test flight of the massive rocket, went so smoothly that Raymond James analysts pushed its price target on the company to roughly 7 times its current trading level.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The firm officially put a “Strong Buy” rating and an $800 price target on the stock. It currently trades at around $113. Its all-time high is $225.64, reaching this trading level shortly after shares first went public.
Raymond James’ price target is tied to the firm’s confidence after Starship’s 13th test flight. Analysts at the firm said it was an incremental step that reduces engineering risks, citing the widely successful heat shield test that CEO Elon Musk recently detailed, the smooth deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, and a successful in-space engine relight.
SpaceX also managed to see Starship splash down safely in the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy Booster fell down to the Gulf of America with no incidents.
It is interesting to see these launches have such a tremendous impact on the stock and what investors think of it. After SpaceX initially delayed the Starship launch last week, shares fell tremendously. Most probably did not realize that the stand-down is a standard practice, especially if everything is not perfect.
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The mission was initially aborted due to an issue with Raptor engines. This was resolved, and Starship launched last Friday after another delay on Thursday, which was caused by weather.
Now that analysts have seen what SpaceX launches are capable of and how impressive the feat is, firms are adjusting their price targets accordingly, making it known that they have high expectations for the space exploration company.
Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch
Elon Musk updates the SpaceX timeline for Mars
