There are all kinds of asterisks on that ad.. Kind of like the pucker they'll invade if you try to get that deal.

What, so the second vehicle is in my name? So what happens if I default on the first one? Free car?

Second to last line of the fine print on the left hand side: "Not responsible for typographical errors".

I'm looking more at "must finance through CFS with approved credit." You have to take out a loan and you have to get it through them.

See, the sad thing is if they just had these aggressive prices to start alot more people would be buying American cars. But no. They have to price them just below honda and toyota despite the fact that they aren't nearly as desirable. If these sort of prices were around last time I was shopping for a car, I probably would have taken the savings and bought American.

@Geekybiker: If you factor in the cost in repairs to a POS car, is it really cheaper?

Wait. I think I just had a stroke.

They're making you take a loan for this? I thought the whole purpose behind a sale like that would be to liquidate, raising cash and lowering inventory. And they're stipulating all-debt instead of all-cash in a deteriorating credit environment? They realize that default risk is INcreasing, right? That you can't make profits on in-house credit because of the risk, because there's no market for debt securities?

Yeah. I'm pretty okay with letting this industry fail.

My favorite trick is where they list the stock number in small type after some price several thousand below invoice. Then, when you call them up, of course that unit sold, but hey hey, come on down and they can show you similar cars.

Another bad part of the "deal": you have to buy the first truck at dealer list price. For the 2-door truck that is $25,290, but if you buy one they'll sell it to you for $10,998. Looks like they take their bulk pricing tips from Target.

I'd bet $100 that they don't fulfill that deal even once. Not one person will be able to get that deal. Not one. I guarantee it.

Very simply, they probably don't have any of the single cab models in stock to give away. They don't have to have any either. They can always claim that "You just missed the last one!"

I remember a few years a Daewoo dealer was doing buy one get one free cars.

We all know how well Daewoo turned out... :o(

Skimping on the quality of their lowest line of vehicles is one of the worst mistakes the American auto industry makes. First time new car buyers who bought things like Ford Focuses and Chevy Cavaliers and Dodge Neons... when those things go tits up just after the warranty expires, you think that buyer is going to buy another one of your products? No, he's going to learn his lesson and buy a Civic, then an Accord, and then an Acura or Lexus.

They committed infanticide on their customer base by selling junk entry level cars.
Am I off topic?

The trick here is that the first Ram is being sold at the full list price, which almost nobody (except the terminally naive) pays.

In many dealerships, between factory/dealer incentives and salesman desperation, you can buy a full-sized turd like a Dodge Ram for over 50% off the list price.

@Pete Gaines: Oh, sorry, did I say turd? I meant truck. Whoops. How silly of me.

Bottom left:
Prices & discounts include all consumer rebates & incentives. Prices plus tax and license. Offers available on select models. Some offers may require financing through Chrysler Financial with approved credit. Offers valid on the day of publication only and cannot be combined. Due to early publication deadlines, factory programs and incentives may change without notice. Not responsible for typographical errors. Pictures are for illustrative purposes only.

Bottom right:
Prices plus tax, tag, title and dealer installed options and include all factory rebates & incentives, including Lease Loyalty. List price = M.S.R.P. + dealer installed equipment. Must finance thru CFS with approved credit. Offers valid on the day of publication only. Advertised offers cannot be combined and are not available for [report?], Not responsible for typographical errors. Due to early publication deadlines, factory programs and incentives may change without notice. Must present this ad upon arrival at University Dodge to receive advertised offers. Pictures are for illustrative purposes only.

that's certainly a lot of wiggle room. i especially like the whole "only valid on date of publication". gotta remember that one.

@failurate: One of my friends had a Cavalier, after a few years driving between home and college it started to make a weird CLUNK noise whenever they turned.

Turns out the engine mounting bolts SHEARED OFF and the only thing holding the engine in place was the transmission. After hearing that (whilst considering a Cavalier) I bought an Elantra.

href="#c9051982">techstar25:

My friend , you are right. And that is EXACTLY the kind of bullshit pricing/financing/rustproofing/floormat hustle that have ruined the big 3's relationship with their customers.And they wonder why thoughtful,informed buyers won't buy their cars and trucks.

BTW - it was nice to see the big 3 chieftans up there in Washington begging for money like homeless bums trying to score a ham sandwich.They are not humble,but they were humbled by having to go hat in hand to a skeptical congress. The only thing missing was the foldable cardboard sign :

Homeless-Hungry- need billions to cover up my mistakes.Please help. God Bless !

@ADismalScience: the dealer gets paid $$$ if you finance thru their bank, that's why the incentives are tied to financing. dealerships don't handle the risk associated with financing - that's the responsibility of (in this case) CFS, so they don't really care about default risk or profitability of debt portfolios.

all they care about is offering you a discount so long as someone else is willing to make up the difference.

@mac-phisto:

Right, but the fact that the banks are still incentivizing the creation of debt securities over incentivizing liquidity is a deeply curious choice.

Okay, so I know that EVERYONE loves a BOGO, but seriously! Who really needs 2 vehicles? That means that:

1) As stated above, you have to take out a loan through them to pay for it. Okay, that sucks, but doable. Just take out a second loan through someone else and pay of their loan in full the first month a payment is due.

2) You now have 2 vechiles to insure! Now, with the rising default rate, and how consumers are skimping, who is seriously going to buy 1 car, then be happy to get a 2nd one (which MOST consumers don't need) in which they now have to pay for even more insurance on? WOO HOO for 2 trucks with < 20MPG Highway!!!

Sounds like they are trying to give away a 2nd vehicle free so that consumers are flooded with brand new single cab vehicles in which is at their expense to try and sell if they don't want (which I doubt many will).

Wouldn't they just be better off dropping the price on the vehicles by like 15% (Quad) and 30% (Single) and hopefully sell them at that? They'd make more money than by giving one away, and they could still require a loan through them...

wow, what a coincidence. I'm a consumerist reader and my agency actually did that ad and University Dodge is our client.

Thanks for the cool post. And yoou all should go out and get these trucks while gas is so cheap!

This is a sucker add. The dealership has no intention of honoring these deals, and the sales people will in fact feign ignorance of them even if presented with the add take directly from the paper.

I fell for one of these a few years back. Went into the dealership with it in my hands and asked "where are the cars for (whatever ridiculous price was offered)." The sales person looked at the add, asked me "so, what sort of car are you looking for?" and then proceeded to sell as usual. When I insisted on looking at the cars advertised, he said "I have to go check with my manager about that." And then he never came back. After waiting fifteen minutes, I saw him showing another customer around the lot. So I left.

@bagumpity:
Note - not the same dealership (not even in the same state).

A long time ago, by friend's dad bought three buicks, for his business...they gave him a free YUGO. Which I drove proudly! The cars name was, for all intents and purposes,an electric car, because it wouldn't retain a charge in it's system so had to be plugged into a charger whenever it wasn't actually being driven.... And, it really was made of some composite cardboard- like material. I loved that little POS.

@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: "and by free, we mean JK ITS NOT FREE LOL"

@ADismalScience: how else does a finance company like CFS make money besides peddling debt? it's all they do - consumer/dealer loans, leases & insurance.

they don't have the same need for liquidity as retail banking operations - what they need is asset growth to increase their income. liquidity would only hurt that.

@friendlynerd: Didn't they turn into Suzuki?

Before we know it, it's going to be the TaTa Ram.

@Pete Gaines: lulz... I wonder if you could resell the freebie and make back what you would've saved had you just haggled the original truck's price down.

@bagumpity: Car salesmen are scummy. They'll lie through their teeth and say anything to get the sale. I used to hate buying cars. But once you realize that you kind of hold a lot of power (you can always get up and walk away, which they DO NOT want) you can call a lot of the shots. If they don't cooperate, there's always another deal a mile away.

@Snarkysnake: you have a point, but i read an inference that foreign car dealers are somehow better than the big 3 dealers & that's just not the case across the board.

@ShrijaniMaia: What do they do when gas stops being cheap?

@ShrijaniMaia: what the wha??

A Kia dealership in the Atlanta area has ran a "BOGO" (BOGUS, more like) ad more times than I can recall. The most recent deal was- purchase a new Kia Amanti (basically a Korean Buick, emphasis on the "ICK"!) and they'd throw in a "FREE" Kia Rio base sub-compact (without A/C, radio, power steering). The Amanti stickers for $26k but currently has a $5k rebate- they sell for $18k ($8k off MSRP) if anyone actually wanted to buy one.

The fine print of the Kia dealer's ad shows that they keep all rebates, the Amanti sells for FULL sticker price (their sticker after they add $3000 of paint sealant and pinstripes) and the deal MUST be financed through their preferred lender at an insane interest rate! They don't lose as penny and they get rid of two cars at once. To add insult to injury, the Amanti (with a $26k sticker remember) is only worth $13,500 trade-in the moment you drive it off the lot!!!

Chrysler vehicles probably have comparable abysmal resale value by now....assuming they could resold, which would require a buyer.

@downwithmonstercable: Doubtful. Even with 10 miles on the odometer, the depreciation as soon as you drive it off the lot is enormous.

@failurate: Nope, you're right on target.

I had an ex who was a bit older than me (yes, dumb, I know,) and he and his two sons would have nothing but Ford trucks. The ex had to fix his truck constantly.

In many other ways he wasn't too bright, thus the "ex" status.

For the two sons it was understandable. They crashed badly on a regular basis, so they totaled trucks before they had a chance to break down.

The sad thing is, even with prices this cheap... I would still rather buy a Toyota, Nissan, or Honda. Just shows you how much some of us value american made cars.

@rugman11: Ok, so just put 99% down. Then pay the other 1% off before it's due.

@mac-phisto:

I Drive an Audi, and a few years ago, I had a Ford. I can tell you that the shopping experiences were night and day. The American car dealerships seem to be all about drawing you in with an attractive price and making sure you pay for every add-on and upgrade while following you around and making sure that you sign on the dotted line that day. European dealerships are much lower pressure and allow you to make a choice while being helpful and informative. I helped my sister by a VW last year and was shopping Porsches before our current downturn, and my experience was similar at all 3 places.

@ShrijaniMaia:

And yoou all should go out and get these trucks while gas is so cheap!

That one phrase represents everything I despise about Americans as consumers. WTG!

There's a dealer doing that here, too. Buy a Pacifica, get a PT Cruiser free.

I would rather pay full price for a Tundra or Titan before taken two basket case trucks that will eat me alive with maintenance costs.

Looks like I won't be getting rid of my '06 Titan anytime soon since the new Titan will just be a re-badged Dodge.

@mac-phisto: Not to mention the "List Price = MSRP + Dealer installed equipment". Nobody pays MSRP price, but now your adding the $200 floor mats, $500 fog lights, $1000 underbody coating, etc

@rugman11: CFS is Chrysler Financial Services, the way that you get those great 0% interest loans when you buy a Dodge. If your dealership was not on Chrysler's sh*tlist it used to be easy to get those loans with decent credit.

@jurijuri: I see only two problems with that offer. First you have to buy a Pacifica. Second, they stick you with a PT Cruiser.

@downwithmonstercable:
GM bought what was left.

Daewoo Leganza = Suzuki Verona
Daewoo Nubira = Suzuki Forenza
Daewoo Lanos = Chevy Aveo

The part that makes me laugh is the 5% of Accessories. They're giving away a whole second truck, but they'll be damned if they're going to throw in free pant-saver floor mats.

@chenry: 5% OFF.

@Stonecutter:
I would actually drive a PT Cruiser if it weren't for the engine choices. You can have a coarse, underpowered, thirsty 2.4L or upgrade to a fast, expensive turbo version.

If they threw a decent 4-cyl in it or even a small v6 I'd consider it.

@nsv: That sounds like my ex, who never properly maintained his cars, and he wondered why they would drop dead after only 2-3 years.