Does GMs Total Confidence Plan Give you the Confidence to Buy a GM?
Back in January, I detailed the Hyundai Assurance plan, which basically would allow you to bring your vehicle back, get full value for it, and walk away from your loan in the event of a ‘life changing event’. Considering the economic circumstances, I thought it was a clever marketing pitch at the time.
Recently, GM has one-upped Hyundai with the ‘Total Confidence‘ promotion. This, shortly after their CEO, Rick Wagoner, was ousted by the Obama administration and their warranty received government backing. It’s been a busy week for GM.
What is the GM Total Confidence Plan?
It consists of four things:
1. A 5 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty
In commercials, GM compares this warranty to Honda and Toyota’s lesser 5 year, 60,000 mile warranties. Now, fully backed by the government.
2. Family Protection
1 year of OnStar service standard on most vehicles. I’ve never had OnStar on a vehicle – and can’t really speak to its worth.
3. Vehicle Value Protection
If you trade your vehicle in to the dealer and pay off the loan, you can recover the difference up to $5,000 and if you sell your vehicle in a private sale and pay off the loan, you can recover the difference up to $2,500 towards your next GM vehicle.
4. Payment Protection
Here’s where GM comes up with a slightly different variation of Hyundai’s Assurance plan. If you lease a 2008 through 2010 vehicle and lose your job during the first two years, GM will make your payments up to $500/mo. for 9 months.
I like that GM is coming out with a promotion that speaks to the current economic situation and uses aggressive advertising to compete with Honda and Toyota. This plan is fresh off the heels of the announcement that the federal government will honor GM and Chrysler warranties on vehicles purchased after March 30, during the ‘restructuring phase’. This should help these companies overcome the fear of buying their vehicles should the companies go into bankruptcy.
Is it Enough to make you Consider a GM Vehicle?
Is the Total Confidence plan in addition to the government backed warranty enough to make you consider a GM vehicle for your next purchase? I am anxiously awaiting all of the ‘no, they need to make better vehicles’ replies – so let’s hear them, and some originality as well.
Related Posts:
- Hyundai will Take your Car Back (Most of the Time)
- The Tata Nano is a Market Changer, but would you Buy it?
- How to Save on Auto Insurance
No, I just had this conversation with my dad who is looking to lease a new car and he said he wouldn’t buy from GM.
They probably do need to make better cars.
But if the government backs it up, aren’t we all essentially paying for it? So one way or the other, it is still coming back to us.
If i said let them fail, well that idea just won’t do the greatest good. I mean sure the crap clears out but how about the industries that are affected by it and the many employees.
That payment protection kind of sucks because its not guaranteed to be available for you and you don’t know if its 500 or less.
And realistically, you will be paying a few hundred dollars each month for the car plus another few hundred for insurance.
So if you lose your job, you are screwed either way.
How about a “No, I have a perfectly fine car already” reply?
My 2002 Ford Escort still runs great and I plan to keep it for another 100,000 miles or so . . . .
That is, unless I get rid of my car when I move to Chicago, in which case I won’t be replacing it with another car! I’ll be using public transportation (or, heaven forbid, my own two feet!) instead.
@ Tom – yeah, I guess if you’re not working, you don’t have to do much commuting anyways. You could cancel your insurance, and never have the car leave the driveway, while GM pays the bills on it. =)
@ Stephanie – Agreed.
Hell no!
The car companies are GOING BROKE and they are offering ASSURANCE PROGRAMS?!?!
So broke people are telling me to FINANCE a new car. Really? Is anyone really this stupid? Should anyone take their personal finance advice from an industry on the brink of collapse and poised to brink a national economy with it?
Ah, I think I’ll pass… unfortunately too many folks remain challenged enough to think it’s a good idea.
No way! I’ll never buy an American vehicle again.
I own three Honda vehicles (a ‘91 Civic, and ‘03 Element, and a ‘96 Magna) and I have spent absolutely nothing on after warranty repairs for any of them. There’s no comparison to the $10,000 or so I spend on after warranty for my 3 Pontiac vehicles prior. It’s funny a friend of mine has an American made Big Dog motorcycle that’s 10 years newer then my Honda Magna and he’s already spent about $5,000 more then I on after warranty repairs.
American vehicles may have been top notch in the 60s and 70s but they’ve been in decline ever since. I guess that’s what you get when you put more money and effort into paying employee benefits (overtime after only 30 hours, and 80% layoff pay to name a few) then you do into the reliability of the vehicle you’re producing.
thanks for share. i can learn much more
Oh well this is not really a practical idea to buy GM in time of crisis.
Al, I see you are a proud American
Not a chance…
Even though I think that GM has made great strides over the years in quality, with all the issues they are facing I wouldn’t even consider it. How could I justify buying a car from a company that is basically owned by the government?
I agree with Al. My wife and I both have Honda cars. We recently bought a Honda Civic. We never once thought about buying a GM car.
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