The same dealer said the program could thin dealer profits on an average Chevrolet to between $400 and $500 from $700 to $800.

The spread, or the difference between the buying and selling price of a stock, contributes to dealer profits.

Pretax dealer profit on used cars now averages about $300 a vehicle, and that has begun to attract the attention of publicly traded companies.

Some dealers charged up to six times that price, which already includes a sizable dealer profit, the study found.

"Dealers of competing makes are looking for ways to 'Saturnize' their operations in hope of improving dealer profits and customer satisfaction," the publication says.

While the dealer profit is smaller on the designated models, the greater volume means higher revenues, he said.

The dealer profit on a two-thousand-pound car is less than $2,000.

Those paychecks reflect how important these "back end" products - warranties, insurance and the loan markups - are to dealer profits.

Beneath it are other sources of dealer profit that buyers can try to tap.

Because of the discounts, dealer profits in 1989 have been thin.