Tales From The Cooler: Throw In That Used Caliber And You've Got Yourself A Deal
The Mitsubishi dealership in Easley, South Carolina is aiming for new business by offering a free gun with the purchase of any new or used vehicle, according to Columbia’s Channel 10.
Having firearms on hand during the negotiation process is probably not a good idea, so buyers at Mitsubishi of Easley are given a $250 gift certificate redeemable at Sharp Shooters Gun Club and Range in Greenville.
This is the second South Carolina Mitsu dealer in the news recently for a dubious sales scheme. Indicted Spartanburg Suzuki dealer Paul Gibson also lost his Mitsubishi franchise when he filed for bankruptcy as he faced having to reimburse hundreds of car buyers that his stores had defrauded.
Many of you told us that the Initial Quality per J. D. Power.
The end result is a desperate dealer body that resorts to cheesy giveaways to move the units to their low FICO score customers. It is no surprise that Mitsubishi is consistently at the bottom of Power’s Sales Satisfaction surveys.
So would a free firearm incentive entice you to buy a car? Or is it simply Robert Farago’s wet dream?
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God,Mitsubishi is doomed if this is all their dealer network can come up with for sales incentives in South Carolina.A free rifle,or shotgun? Big deal.This is like some car dealer in France offering a couple of cartons of smokes, or a case of wine with every Peugeot or Citroen purchase.
This is old hat. I know of a dealership in Jacksonville, Florida that was doing this same thing back in 1990. Only difference is that they actually gave you the gun and not a certificate; it was offered on the purchase of a pick-up truck. It probably wouldn't fly today (but it might); it's just target marketing to a demographic that likes that sort of thing. And no, those kinds of incentives don't interest me.
This sort of thing could end badly if the dealership if one of those bait-and-switch finance places. "Your 1.9% loan didn't go through, but we can still get you that new car for 9.8%. You can just come back and sign the new paperwork. Otherwise, we'll have to repossess the vehicle... You already have the shotgun, and a case of shells? Um, tell you what, we'll make good on the original loan."