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“Honey, let’s go, they don’t want to deal”

It was November, 1987. It was time to replace my 1973 Olds Cutlass Supreme that I had for 10 years. I liked my Cutlass so I wanted to get another one. This time, I focused on the 1988 4 door Olds Cutlass Ciera. This would be my first new car purchase.

I wanted to make sure I got a good deal. I did my research. At the time, this meant researching car articles in the Consumer Reports magazines at the library. In summary, you must 1) Not fall in love with any vehicle, 2) Learn the dealer’s cost and 3) Keep the deal simple. Keeping the deal simple means negotiate the purchase price first before talking about financing or trade ins. So if asked, we just said we needed to agree on a purchase price first or we told them we didn’t have a trade in. If later we decided to trade, then at least we’d know what we actually got for the trade.

My research also meant purchasing the Consumer Reports Auto Price Service for the 1988 Ciera ($11.00). This report showed the list price and the dealer cost for the base vehicle and also for each of the options available.

This was the first time I made a spreadsheet. It showed each option with the list and cost for each. Then for each car I saw, I checked which options it had so I could easily see the invoice total and the dealer cost total. My goal or “mindset” was to buy a new car at 80% of MSRP. By using percentages, it evened the comparisons when looking at cars with different MSRP’s. The dealers want you to think about the total dollars, like I want to spend $14,000 or $300 per month. Then, they’ll sell you a car for that amount that’s really worth $13,000 or $275 per month.

We visited two dealers in KC on 11/7/1987. We took all the time needed to test drive (a demo) to be sure it was what we wanted. We also listened to everything they had to tell us about their dealership, the car, etc. We never wanted to feel rushed. However, we also were ready to walk away when or if the time was right. We told them we were going to buy a new Ciera and we wanted their best price. O’Neil Oldsmobile gave us a price that was 88.55% ($12,202) of list ($13,779). Cunningham Olds gave us a price that was 88.6% ($12,043) of list ($13,591). We said thanks and left. I was somewhat disappointed. I wasn’t in a hurry so we waited awhile.

Karen’s parents lived in St. Joseph and we visited often. There was an Oldsmobile dealer there, Vic Olds. We decided to visit Vic Olds on Saturday, 12/26/87 during our Christmas visit to her parents. We also decided that maybe Karen should give some input if necessary so they’ll know we’re serious. We talked with salesman Worth and he understood we were looking for awhile and since we’d driven a new Ciera before, there wasn’t a need to drive another one. They had one on their lot with an MSRP of $14,075. The cost on this showed $12,174.

They gave us a price and it wasn’t very good. We knew it right away. Karen said, “Honey let’s go. They don’t want to deal.” We got up to leave. They stopped us after a few steps. Worth said he’ll talk to his manager. They came back with a price of $11,474, which was 81.5% of MSRP. We said that’s very good and accepted that deal. I don’t know if the deal was because of us or due to it being the end of December, or late in the day on a Saturday or because there was a $600 rebate or a combination of all the above.

We agreed to finalize it on 12/30/87 with a check from my credit union. We also said we have a trade in. I told him it was our 1973 Cutlass Supreme. He asked what I thought it was worth. I didn’t think much of that car at the time and I said $100. He said they can do that, depending on their review when they see it.

I looked up values of my old car when I got home. I found that a 1973 Cutlass Supreme with 179,000 miles retails for $900 and trade in averages $400 (NADA) with a range of $150 to $700. I realized then that I didn’t do all of my homework ahead of time. I vowed to myself not to let that happen again on another trade in. When we finalized the deal, I mentioned that trade in values on this car average $400 and go up to $700 so I should get more for my trade in. He gave me $175 for trade in instead of $100.

This was the last car we financed. We financed it through our Savings and Loan (not the dealer). We paid $300 per month for 4 years. When this car was paid off, we continued to put $300 a month into a separate savings account just for a future car purchase. We kept it until it was 11 years old and had 141,000 miles. Also, as we received raises, we increased the amount we saved each month for future cars to adjust for inflation.

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