May the Best $500 on the Hood Win
We don’t have any numbers yet on GM’s 60 day money-back guarantee, but according to GM dealers speaking to Automotive News [sub] it’s not generating a lot of interest. “If [customers] like the car, if they test drive the car, most of the people would rather have a car to keep,” explains one dealer. Which makes a certain amount of sense, and which is why dealers insist that the number of buyers taking GM up on the offer doesn’t matter. “It’s more important to talk about the money-back guarantee. It conveys confidence in the vehicles,” says another dealer. “It’s not about the deal, but rather it’s about the world-class products.” That sounds good in principle, but the reality is that it actually is all about the deal. Again. Still.
A little known fact about GM’s 60-day money-back guarantee is that you don’t have to take it. If you go that route, GM will give you a $500 cash rebate to waive your right to return the vehicle. And it’s no shocker to learn that this extra cash on the hood is a lot more enticing than the ability to return your vehicle within 60 days. Unfortunately, it also cements the reality that GM is shopped almost exclusively for a deal and that incentives are still the only thing moving the metal.
Considering how corrosive this reality is to GM’s perception-gap-fighting efforts, something has to be done. And so it’s up to dealers to not give consumers what they came for and hide the $500 option as well as they can. “Our salespeople are not permitted to talk about the $500. That is going to be disclosed in the business office,” says one dealer. “For this program to be successful, it’s more important to talk about the money-back guarantee. It conveys confidence in the vehicles.”
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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