I got (yet) another mailer from the local Chevy dealer today asking me to bring in that "Used" car of mine. And look over their inventory for a new car to replace that "Used" car I own.

Heck there was even a hand written note from the owner of the dealership.
"RJ,
I'll pay top $ for your trade!"

TOP DOLLAR?????????????? TOP? DOLLAR?

Let's see. Top dollar for a trade in like my '06 Monte is right at $8558.
I still owe $8530 on the car. A difference of: $28.00

What would I do with a whole $28?
Buy a new car?
Send the windfall to Uncle Obama. Tell him to apply this amount to my part of the national debt?

Now I'm afraid to take my car to the dealer for the (again) dead battery. They may keep it?
"Well RJ. We have no idea where your car is? We saw it yesterday? It was setting right there. Maybe elves stole it?"

 

I got one of those before, threw it right in the trash.

 

I got one this week too. I also pitched it.

 

Even though it may look like a hand written note (probably a post-it note), it's not. It's a marketing ploy to make you think you have the "big shots" attention (I've seen crap like that show up in the mail quite a bit, key tell tale sign, the paper is still flat, no grove from a ball point pen or bleed through from an different style ink based pen AND the post-it is flat with no curl, rather delicately removed from the pad). Yeah, I over analyze.

Anycase, without the title and your permission to do so, your car can't magically disappear when you take it in for service (otherwise, they get BIG problems).

A friend of mine recently (about a year ago) got a letter from a local new car dealer that said "Since you have been such a loyal Pontiac customer, we're offering you a year of free oil changes on your 1994 Formula Firebird". His Firebird has about 60-70K miles on it and owned that car since it rolled out of the showroom floor in '94. He was stunned, as he did not buy the car from this dealer (but we think this dealer bought out the shop he did buy the car from). He did infact take it in for his free oil changes and they honored it. No hassle, no problems.

 

A dealer around here has a radio ad stating that "... gas prices will soon reach $5/gallon..." and that "... used truck / SUV values are quickly depreciating due to rising fuel costs." They finish by trying to convince listeners that the best solution is to quickly trade in used trucks / SUV's now before they depreciate further and buy a new, more efficient truck / SUV from them.

Um.... no thank you. My old gas-guzzler that is paid for will still cost me hundreds less per month than a new, more efficient vehicle with new vehicle payments. Nice try though...

 

Exactly my argument. I've had vehicles with not so great gas mileage, but then I didn't have a car payment on them either.

 

Haha, RJ... sounds like they're out to get you. At least they care, right? Until times get good again, atleast.

Sparky.. my dad held on to a 1995 Chevy Suburban that used to get 14-15 mpg city, and had 250,000 miles on it... and was getting dwon to 10-11, and claimed the he could pour a lot of gas in it before he could buy another car. It finally got to the point wehre my mom didn't trust it anymore... and we got an '07 Odyssey in mid '08.

 

A salesman at a local Chevy dealership keeps trying to get me, "out of that old Monte Carlo and into a new Camaro SS". I just finished paying off my Monte and other bills. You want to give me a few grand for my Junior edition? No way I'm going to commit to a $46,000 debt. (that's how much a camaro 2ss with options cost in canada) Plus taxes, insurance, and such. Forget it. I'm keeping my Monte.

The dealerships want to get us into brand new cars. But don't really want our Montes either. They tend to be traded away at auction to used car dealers because of their age. They'll keep the special edition Montes for a while. But "regular" Montes get quickly shipped off the lot.

Basically, my point is this. By the time we're done paying off the new car they're pushing on us, they won't want it either. "congratulations, you just paid 40k for that car... it's now worth 6k".

 

Just buy a 2 year old used car when the time comes

 

Exactly. That's why lease returns are so popular with many people. The car is 3 years old and a fraction of the price.