Associated Press | Chrysler Group LLC is offering a 60-day
money-back guarantee on its minivans to attract customers who may be
turned off by its financial troubles.
The Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker says buyers can get the guarantee
by trading any vehicle made by another automaker for a Dodge Grand
Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country minivan. The offer runs through
March 31.
Buyers must drive the minivans for at least 30 days. If they aren’t
satisfied, they can return them to the dealer for a refund of the
purchase price, minus registration and license fees.
Spokeswoman Kathy Graham says the offer is being made to attract people who may not consider Chrysler products. The company went through bankruptcy protection last year and has received $15.5 billion in U.S. government aid.
Anyone returning a minivan would not get their trade-in vehicle back, the van can’t have been driven more than 4,000 miles and it can’t have more than $200 worth of damage, Graham said.
Also, the customer must pay Chrysler 30 cents per mile that the minivan was driven, she said.
Graham said the offer is not targeted at Toyota Motor Corp., which has had recent safety recall problems. Instead, it’s the company trying to attract buyers who may not shop Chrysler Group vehicles because of recent news about its bankruptcy protection.
”Some of our products that are really good have been overshadowed by what’s happened to the company,” she said.
Last year, General Motors Co., which also went through bankruptcy protection and is receiving government aid, offered a 60-day money-back guarantee to get people to try its cars and trucks. The offer ended Jan. 4.
“the customer must pay Chrysler 30 cents per mile that the minivan was driven” — this Sounds more like a rental/lease program than a money-back guarantee.
Will they also charge extra if you spilled your Slurpee on the upholstery, or left Big Mac stains on the door handles? And, surely, they won’t take it back if you crash it?
If the concept is to make the purchase appear to be risk-free, it seems flawed.
Are they offering the same guarantee for Plymouth Lasers?
So, let me get this straight…you get to “borrow” their car for at least 30 days and if you determine you don’t like it, you can bring it back and pay them for using it and NOT get the car back you traded in? Say what? This is definitely a win-win situation for Chrysler. They get your money and your car. And what are you supposed to do for a vehicle at that point? Oh wait, that’s right, they figure you’ll be stupid enough to buy one of theirs since you have to leave their lot somehow.
Can I still get the Chrysler Town and Country with faux wood on the sides? If not, then forget it!
Yeah….I don’t think Chrysler’s financial troubles is what’s deterring mini-van buyers. I think it’s the fact that their minivans are hideously ugly and have terrible reliability ratings. And their competition’s design is much nicer looking, has better reliability, and priced about the same.
The company I work for used to have supplier discount on both Ford and GM products. Then our parent bought Chrysler, canceled the discounts we get on GM and Ford and saddled us with employee discount on Chryslers.
That would be great but current generation Chyrslers are worthless pieces of crap that I would not buy in a million years.
To all the other posters: What do you expect from a car company own by Nobama and the UAW?
Do NOT buy any Cryslers or GM products.
Turbo,
Please don’t refer to our wood treatments as “faux”. We prefer to think of them as “genuine simulated”. It makes us more real.
Chrysler sucked before Obama, T.O.D. … you can blame the UAW for the high prices of the vehicles though. I hope to run for President someday and my platform will be complete eradication of the UAW. Depite their troubles today, I’d say if you need a new car go Japanese (or Asian in general). American cars aren’t worth their weight and the UAW doesn’t control the Asian automakers they way they were allowed to control Chrysler and the others.
Going Japanese,
Please refer to today’s Tribune article entitled
“What’s your Toyota worth?”
I beg to differ with many people who think that Chrysler products are bad. I have a Dodge for 5 years and counting and it has only given me one…just one mechanical problem. Other than that I love my Dodge and when I have the money I’m going to make a B-Line for another Chrysler/Dodge product because they are great quality cars.
At the same time I agree with people who say that th UAW is the main reason why the American auto industry is such bad shape. The UAW to me are nothing but a bunch of uneducated people who know nothing about how to run a business. If the UAW were eradicated today, the U.S. auto industry will recover fully in just one year or less.
Anyway, I’m glad Chrysler is competeting again. I was worried about not hearing anything from Chrysler when all the other automakers are making news announcements. I have faith in Chryslser and they will come out on top.
Now Chrysler needs desperately to come up with a hybrid so it can be more competitive. Whey Chrysler does come up with a hybrid vehicle it will compete very well in quality to the hybrid vehicles that Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota have.
Minivans, heck no!
Chryslers, Definitely a NO!
all their cars are JUNK!!!! just got rid of a dodge caravan worst van i ever had..just went back to gm and i love my car,again dodges are junk!!
Excellent. Now he can pollute the world to an unheard of level. The production of photovoltaics is the single greatest producer per watt of toxic chemicals of any power producing technology. Also, the effective life of panels in real world installations makes them barely able to produce more than the energy needed to manufacture them. Good luck scaling up that technology. The key to energy efficiency is reduction of consumption. Just another case of believing that technology itself can necessarily improve our lives without intelligent application.
Non-existent customer service at Natwest and complete lack of any attempt at complaint resolution.
Hey, great blog…but I don’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader, if I can figure out how to get it to work…LOL