Buy One - Get The Second For $1.00

[kentuck]

I saw this advertised yesterday as I drove to my workplace. It was not a hardware store. It wasn't a mall. It was a new car lot. The new SUV was parked out front for display and someone had put the large ad on the front window of the SUV. Buy one and get the second for only a dollar? What does this say about our economy or about car sales in general?

[teknomanzer]

1. Seriously? You need to get a picture of that. n/t

[kentuck]

5. Yes. Seriously.

It was a new Hyundai SUV. But I think they also sell other models.

[napi21]

2. I've heard of deals similar to this several times now.

The last one I heard was buy a new Chrysler (don't remember the model) and get a PT Cruiser free. The PT was less than 2 years old, but it was still a good deal if you really want or need 2 cars.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. It means things are BAD!!!!

NPR was doing a news story/interview on how some car dealerships are actually doing Buy One- Get the Second For FREE! According to the person being interviewed, car dealerships are trying to get rid of as many cars as they can because they have to pay to keep them on the lot and I guess they feel like it is worth taking such a humongous hit rather than paying to keep a lot of them on the lot.

But yeah, that says things about the state of the economy and not good things either!
:scared:

My wife and I were talking about this other day and lamented the fact that neither of us are currently in the market for a new car. It would be tempting to have an extra car but I'm not exactly sure what we would do with them, particularly since neither of our oldest kids are close to needing their own car. It's unlikely that deals like THAT will be around when they ARE finally ready (at least I hope not).

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Politicians??

Nope... just cars...

Damn

[NYC_SKP]

6. It's a good thing, really.

It's a sign that the SUV bubble has finally burst.

In the long arc of economic sustainability, this was inevitable.

It didn't need to get to this point, but given the track that automakers, consumers, and regulators chose, this was bound to happen.

[justabob]

7. have seen lots of buy one get one free etc deals

There is a dealership here (DFW) that has been running this deal every couple of months for a while. TV commercials and everything. They aren't the only ones though, I have seen several incentives/promotions like this. It is a bit jarring, as you noted.

[lazyriver]

8. There was Ford dealer in NY (I think) offering a buy one get one

free (you pay only tax, title, license fees) deal on Ford pickups for one weekend only back in mid-December. I was visiting family in NJ and one of the local papers had the story. The owner of the dealership said he went from 11 sales people at the start of the year all moving cars and trucks down to just 2 and they hadn't sold anything in the first week of December. He said it was either offer an insane deal or close the doors. I never found out how it worked out for him, but he hoped to drum up some fleet truck business and get some future service work with the deal.

[ellacott]

9. A Kia dealership in my area is offering Buy one get one Free

They are saying that 2 people can go in on the deal and split the payments.
*******
Local car dealership offering buy one, get one free deal

MEDINA -- To say car sales are dragging in this economy might be too kind.


A local dealership hopes to increase sales for buyers seeing double.

Bill Doraty Kia in Medina is offering two for one. That's right. You could pick up a Kia Sedona and a Kia Sportage for the price of one.

The deal is only on 2008 models and you have to pay full sticker price on a Sedona. There's no haggling. Plus, you pay taxes on both cars while the dealer keeps all the incentives.

All in all, the free Kia is worth almost $22,000.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/watercooler/watercooler_article.aspx?storyid=104799&catid=91

[fed_up_mother]

10. Wow. That would be selling at a loss.

The profit margin is just not large enough to cover another vehicle.

I'd expect that dealership to be closing its doors soon. :(