No Way — Hyundai!

Here’s another ridiculous “bail-out” offer.  Hyundai has announced they will allow a customer to buy a new car and then return their Hyundai vehicle if they experience “an involuntary loss of income”, i.e., lose their job within 12 months of purchasing one of their ten new vehicles.

Just a few details.  Hyundai will absorb up to $7500 in negative equity for buyers who walk away from their loans.  Let’s see – the MSRP on a basic Sonata sedan is $24,050.  So if a year from now you turn that baby back in, they may decide it’s worth only $12,050 – which is about what a year old Sonata is selling for now.  If you had paid $2000 in payments during that year, and they absorb the $7500 “negative equity,” you would still owe $2500.  And now you have no car and bad credit.

I’ve got a better idea:

• 1. Pay cash for your car.
• 2. Start your own business. Be like Hugh Jackman’s character in Australia – “No one hires me, no one fires me.”

Here’s a 1998 Mercury Mystique I purchased recently to help one of Joanne’s young friends who is just making a new start.  It’s flawless inside and out – cold air, great mechanical records.  I paid $800 and then another $330 for new tires.

                               

Why would a person put themselves in a position of double jeopardy:  a job that may not last and a car where you know you owe more than it’s worth from day one.  There are better options.