First Car Upgrade From a Sporty Convertible to a Family Station Wagon

With two children, our two-door convertible just wasn’t in the cards. We were a real family — we needed a real family car.

We went to a Dodge or Plymouth dealership on the Gulf Freeway near Hobby Airport to shop for station wagons. My fiscally sharp wife was watching that side of the transaction carefully. Our current “on time” payment for the Dodge was $105 a month, and Kathy figured we could go $110.

We found one we liked in the right price range. We test drove it while they test drove our Dodge as a trade-in. During the test drive I had to put $5 of gas in or we wouldn’t have made it back to the dealership. Then we came back and began to negotiate.

Their opening offer was totally off the wall. We rejected it and started to leave. The salesman stopped us and asked what we wanted to pay. Kathy said, “After all considerations, we will pay $110 a month. If you can’t get there, we’re gone.”

He said, “I’ll take it to my manager,” had us sign our offer, and walked out. He came back with a different deal still out of range. A similar conversation followed, with Kathy stating our $110 number clearly.

Out and back. Out and back. Even the manager got involved. Finally I said, “You don’t want our business.” We stood up and walked out.

Before we got off the lot I remembered the $5 for gas. I went back to the manager, receipt in hand. He asked, “Do you want this car?” “Obviously we do.” Then he sealed the deal — not in his favor. “Who wears the pants in your family? Just buy the car.”

At that point he could not have given us that car. No one disrespects Kathy.

A week or so later we found a Plymouth Satellite station wagon at a different dealership.