Preps for Negotiation at the Chevrolet Dealer

Well, we're taking The Lord's Day off from car shopping, and playing with our grandson.

But that doesn't mean I can't do a few things after worship...!

I actually got my rear-in-gear today and repaired the peeling headliner in the Jeep. I peeled it back a little bit further so I could get better access to the back side of the fabric, and the foam underlayment that it had peeled from. Sprayed both sides with some 3M "#45 General Purpose Spray Adhesive", let both sides get tacky, and smoothed it all out with a very small (SLW calls them "peanut rollers") paint roller, and holy smokes, you can't tell it had ever peeled back!

Also cleaned up the insides some more, the console area, the areas between the seats, and used one of my detailing brushes to clean out all the nooks and crannies on the dash and console. And I hung two "Little Pine Trees" with the "New Car Scent" in the car. Tomorrow morning I'm running it through the car wash at the gas station, and picking the "Full Monty" selection when I punch in what I want.

And I gathered up the title, registration, and other legal things, and put them in a big envelope. We won't need it for a few days, but it saves a last minute scramble.

So tomorrow after noon after his Daddy picks up TLG, we're headed to the Chevrolet dealer to work out a price, see how bad they'll bend me over on the Jeep, and either thank the man for his time, or sign the papers and get the ball rolling. We've estimated what we're pretty sure is a "Fair Price", based on all the discounts GM is offering, and what other dealers are advertising as their "Special Price", or "Internet Price" on very similar vehicles. And I've done some research on what my Jeep is "worth" using the Kelly Blue Book website, and some other resources, as both a Trade In and sale to a Private Party. There's quite a spread between the two, but the number KBB gave me as a trade-in value are very close to what I was expecting.

I'll let SLW handle the "Finance Guy", as she's quite astute in these things. The salesman had mentioned the Finance Rate for "Well Qualified Customers" was 3.4%, and that's about 1% less than our three Credit Unions are offering. Considering we're also going to put down a nice chunk of change, and our credit scores are well North of 800, we might be able to do better, but that remains to be seen.

WSF has been an invaluable help to us in this, and we're in his debt.

UPDATE - Got the Jeep washed, and as long as I was out, got the oil and filter changed. It's needed the oil changed for way too long now, and it's still not a 100% Sure Thing that we're trading it, but it needed it to be changed, the local "Grease Monkey" place had all three bays open, and I was In-N-Out in 30 minutes.

We'll be headed out to the Chevy dealer as soon as SLW gets back from running some errands.....