In early January, in order to stimulate car sales in a weak economy, Hyundai announced a novel program called Hyundai Assurance.  According to the TV commercial :

“Right now, buy any new Hyundai. And if, in the next year, you lose your income, we’ll let you return it.” (There is unreadable mouse print in the ad when those words are spoken.)

While this may sound like a refund program to some, it is not.

*MOUSE PRINT:

This is actually a lease cancellation or loan cancellation program, and does not apply to customers who buy their cars outright.  In essence, they will let you return the car, under six specific circumstances, and will cancel your continued indebtedness.  There is no refund of any money.

In particular, they look at what your car is worth when you turn it in, and compare it to what you owe.  Hyundai will waive up to a $7500 difference, and you have to pay the rest.

Under what circumstances can you return the car?  These are the six reasons:

Involuntary unemployment, physical disability, loss of driver’s license, international employment transfer, self-employment personal bankruptcy, and accident death.

Written like an insurance policy, each of these reasons has a list of limiting qualifications. For example, to qualify for the unemployment benefit, you have to be employed full time for at least three months before and after the policy begins; you have to be approved for state unemployment insurance (or an alternative option); you can’t be self-employed, have retired or resigned, or have gotten a new job; etc.

How does Mouse Print* know all these deep details?  Certainly not from watching Hyundai’s television commercial or reading their website set up specifically for this program.  When Mouse Print* asked the plan administrator for all the terms and conditions and legalese, we were directed to go to any Hyundai dealer.  Calling a nearby dealer, the sales manager acknowledged he did not yet have the terms and conditions to give to customers and only had a flowery brochure.  Even initial contact with Hyundai’s press relations folks turned into a dead end.  Finally, a copy of the terms and conditions  [pdf] was provided by the plan administrator’s PR person.

No potential customer who is going to spend $15,000, $20,000, $30,000 or more should have to beg and grovel with company officials to learn the details of a program being promoted via a multi-million dollar ad campaign.  In the end, if you meet the nitpicky qualifications, this is a good bit of free (non) insurance to have when buying a new car given our uncertain times.

When it comes to shopping for travel, the price that catches your eye is not always the price you pay. And rarely is it lower than advertised.

Hotwire.com is a site that offers discounted airfares, hotel, and car reservations by not disclosing what airline, hotel or car rental agency you are contracting for until after you pay. (It is like Priceline without the price guessing games.)

On it website, Hotwire advertised car rental rates as low as “$13.95 with no hidden fees.”  Just beneath that it listed Boston with rates as low as $5.95. What a deal!  Clicking on that link brings up the typical pricing form where you enter dates of travel.

For a one day rental from March 28 to March 29, the system returned the following price:

Yes, it is $3 higher than the lowest price, but it still a great deal. The asterisk after “$8.95 per day” goes to this:

*MOUSE PRINT: 

* Rates are shown in US dollars. Total cost for Hotwire Discount rates includes applicable tax recovery charges and fees.

Indeed, this is more good news — $8.95 is price you really pay. Or is it?

*MOUSE PRINT: On the next screen, the truth is revealed:

Adding the taxes and fees makes the total cost of the car triple the advertised price!

Unfortunately, the problem of advertising incomplete prices is not limited to Hotwire. Most car rental companies, airlines, cell providers, and cable companies attract you with seemingly low priced packages only to relegate to the fine print or your first bill what the true total and complete price really is.

All these services have extraordinarily high fees, charges, and taxes added to the promoted price which can bring the total to 30%, 40% or more than advertised. Here’s a novel idea: companies should make the price you see be the price you pay! 

With much fanfare, Chrysler recently announced that it was the first automaker to offer a lifetime powertrain warranty on most of its vehicles starting July 27th.

Our trusty mouse wanted to see the fine print of the warranty, just to make sure they weren’t pulling any fast ones. A visit to the Chrysler website provided virtually no details about the warranty, let alone a copy of it. For that you are directed to your local dealer:

*MOUSE PRINT:

A visit to a local Chrysler dealer proved just as frustrating. They had no copy of the warranty. One salesman said it would be in the owner’s manual when you bought the car. Another salesman pointed to a few lines on a new car price sticker claiming that was the warranty. How cheesy.

Next, our trusty mouse called Chrysler’s customer service department to ask that a copy of the lifetime warranty be sent out. After much checking, the call center operator said that she was “not empowered to do that.”  How about emailing it?  The answer was no to that too. “How do I get a copy?”  “Go to a dealer.”  “The dealer doesn’t have it yet?”  “Go to another dealer.”

A second dealer was contacted, and it had no copies of the warranty either.

Not yet giving up on the customer service department, we emailed an inquiry to them using their webform.

A senior staff representative responded:

Thank you for contacting the Chrysler Customer Assistance Center regarding the Lifetime Limited Powertrain Warranty.

Terms and conditions of the Lifetime Limited Powertrain Warranty should be available through any Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep dealership to customers purchasing a vehicle with such a warranty. If your dealer is unable to provide this information, you may wish to seek the assistance of another authorized dealer. The information cannot be dispensed electronically.

As a last resort, we contacted the media folks at Chrysler, who were the only ones able to provide a copy of the Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty. [.pdf]

It is essentially the same as their previous “7/70″ powertrain warranty but without the requirement of having to pay a $100 deductible for each repair. The new lifetime warranty picks up after their regular “3 year/36,000 mile” warranty expires.

*MOUSE PRINT:  The only two restrictions are that the warranty is not transferable if you sell the car, and you must let Chrysler do a free inspection once every five years within 60 days of your anniversary date.

It is a shame that Chrysler is making it difficult for car shoppers to learn the terms of their new warranty before  purchase particularly when they really have nothing to hide.

Finally, there is a car dealer that doesn’t play games. In its brilliant and funny video, Clay says that other car dealers have found “seven ways to bend you over and [stick it to you], but at Clay family dealerships we take a different approach.” 

The ad goes on to say “there are a lot of names for what goes on in a dealer’s showroom — hosed, cheated, scammed…” But, at Clay “we’ll show you each of the seven hidden ways car dealers take you,” “we’ll explain tricks like the bait and switch,” and “this is how cars should be sold — honestly, proudly, nakedly.” 

With the bad reputation that so many car dealers have gotten over the years, no wonder this dealer wants to try to set itself apart from the crowd. And, it is refreshing to hear that a car dealer really wants to be honest and open.

Now back to reality. Here is an ad from one of the Clay dealerships that appeared in the Boston Globe on April 28, 2007:

*MOUSE PRINT: While the ad says that one can “buy for $22,702,” this Nissan, the smaller print above indicates that this artificially low bargain price was only arrived at by subtracting the buyer’s down payment of over $3000.

A down payment, whether in cash or trade, is never a discount off the price, but rather it is a means of partial payment of the total selling price. In this case, the real selling price is almost $26,000 (or maybe more), not the $22,702 represented as the “buy for” price.

To be fair to Clay, most car dealers in the Boston area play this same game of advertising a manipulated low price. That doesn’t make it right, but does make it common (unfortunately).

That said, if you are going to advertise the despicable nature of the dirty tricks played by other car dealers, why engage in one yourself? 

Can you really get a brand new 2007 Mazda worth over $21,000 for less than $10,000? This local car dealer apparently uses the new math to come up with this bargain.

*MOUSE PRINT: The dealer assumes you will make a $9000 down payment either by cash or trade and deducts that from the MSRP to create an artificially low advertised price. [Boston Globe, September 10, 2006]

Here is another example from a different dealer.

Talk about an eye-catching price for a brand new Mazda Tribute. It is just over $10,000 for a $22,000 car. How in the world is that possible?

The answer is, it isn’t possible, unless you play with the numbers.

*MOUSE PRINT: The $10,090 price assumes a cash down payment or trade in worth $5500 to arrive at their artificially low advertised price. [Boston Globe, July 30, 2006 and net ad]

Here is how they work the math:

MSRP: $22,590
Cash or Trade in: -$5500
Discount up to: -$7000
================

Advertised Price: $10,090

These dealers are deliberately treating a form of payment — a cash down payment or a trade in — as a discount from the price. What you put down is never considered a discount from the price.

With their kind of logic, a home builder could advertise a $400,000 house for only $10 (assuming you also agree to give him a $399,990 down payment).

This type of advertising is reprehensible. What do you think?