No, not misspelled, although I can hear those of you who are familiar with post doo-wop oldies start to hum in the background as I type. Ok, let’s back up. Ever wonder where the now ubiquitous new-car window stickers came from? Was it always called just a window sticker? Just why do we need all that information anyway?
Well, hold on for the ride as we venture into government oversight 101. It may get a little bumpy.
Like many (if not all) pieces of federal legislation it started because folks with financial interest lobbied for a change. Way back in 1955 the senate’s Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee was tasked to examine automobile manufacturer’s pricing practices. It seems that various dealerships were grieved and vocal about manufacturer’s lack of pricing disclosure, and alleged that manufacturers were being abusive with their franchising policies, giving preferential treatment to some dealerships and forcing others into red-ink. And so the Interstate and Foreign Commerce committee underwent political mitosis and formed another in its likeness, the Automobile Marketing Practices subcommittee.
Like most issues that fall under federal scrutiny the resulting legislation may not have been what was originally sought. While dealerships did get their day in court, literally and figuratively, they also got the camera turned on them. Typically in Washington, once allegations start getting slung around everyone is invited to the food-fight.
On the retail end of marketing, it had become common practice that more inscrutable dealerships would fudge sale prices up by including varieties of erroneous charges. These artificial costs allowed these dealerships to appear to either mark the sale down or offer more for your trade-in, both of which can look very attractive to a retail customer. Dealerships that were forthright and worked off of actual margin couldn't compete.
Ironic, as the actual final cost would be about the same either way.
As a result of these concerns being tabled, motioned and seconded, a subcommittee senator from Oklahoma named Almer Monroney drafted and sponsored a new bill in 1958. The bill required that auto manufacturers attach a price-sticker to their product which included suggested retail pricing and the itemized cost of options and transportation. This would, it was believed, level the playing field for consumers so that they could really see what their money bought and dealerships couldn't hide behind artificial trade values. A two-bird, one-stone solution. Monroney’s bill passed, and in January of 1959 the American public started seeing the now infamous window sticker, originally known as the Monroney sticker in honor of its founding father.
Legislation can only address what it can foresee, and eventually OE’s and dealers did the financial shell-game and started working around these restrictions with varying tiered dealer-refunds, which we now call holdback. The net outcome is that once again nothing to do with pricing is as it appears, so with most domestic cars if you get fabulous “at invoice" retail pricing, you can rest assured that there are still several hundred, if not several thousand dollars left on the table.
So the Monroney sticker eventually evolved and assumed different, yet equally irrelevant disclosures such as average fuel economy and estimated annual operating cost. And that my friend is the condensed version of Almer Monroney and his ever-present window sticker.
© 2014 D.W. Williams
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