Texas Car Dealership Will Give Away Cars If It Rains
What's a great way for a car dealer to get attention during a drought? Offer customers a free car if it rains. No, the dealership owner won't be standing out front in a poncho, handing out keys to everyone who passes by on the appointed day. It's cleverer than that.
First, the car needs to already have been purchased:
People buying a Nissan Altima at World Nissan between July 15 and August 1 will get a full refund of their purchase price if two inches of rain is measured at a nearby airport, according to "Big Al" Ortiz, the dealership's new car sales manager. The base price for a new Altima is around $20,000. Though he did not provide exact numbers, Big Al said the offer is bringing a lot of people into the dealership, whether they buy an Altima or something else.
Two inches of rain during a drought is pretty unlikely, and the dealership is insured in case rain actually does fall. Still, it's a cute gimmick, and a good way to take advantage of bad weather.
If It Rains August 8th, A Texas Car Dealer Will Give Away Nissans [Business Insider]
(Photo: johnmarchan)
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In other news, the whole Sioux nation received new Altimas today after gyrating around a fire in front of World Nissan.
If someone was already thinking about buying a car, a promotion like is is likely to get them going.
I bet people have tried to break into that airport and help the rain gauge a little ...
I am really curious how they define "purchasing" -- since many people tend to lease new cars.
Time to dust off the old cloud seeder...
Time to do some cloud seeding!
Too bad they're not in the Hartford area, where we've gotten 12" of rain since June 1st and are predicted to get 3 to 4 more tonight. Gyaaad.
How much does cloud seeding cost? Less thank 20K?
@TinkishDelight: Yeah, at least meatballs are squishy. Can you imaging being crushed by a falling Nissan?
@edbro:
Well what you do is go in on a cloud seeding with like 50 other people, and you all buy Altimas.
This reminds me of when Jordan's Furniture in MA ran a promotion that refunded people's purchases if the Red Sox won the World Series; that was also considered extremely unlikely, but it happened. Jordan's won a lot of positive publicity and loyalty from that.
@Chmeeee: I'd take the monsoon here in Hartford over the droughts in Dallas. At least it's much more comfortable temperature-wise. I'll take 70's over mid 90's any day.
Maybe for Hartford they could do the inverse here... if we DON'T get 2 inches of rain they'll give us cars..
Well I wouldn't really call 2 inches of rain during a drought "bad weather" but this is a really clever idea. I always like hearing stories of people getting creative when they're in a tight spot, and then having that creativity be rewarded.
If the dealership is smart, they bought some kind of insurance policy to cover the likelihood that 2" of rain falls during that period...
There are insurance companies that specialize in those kinds of things - like when a golf course has a "make a hole-in-one, get a new car" promotion. The golf course pays, say, $500 for an insurance policy that would pay out $20,000 for a new car in the event that someone made a hole in one. You can buy an insurance policy for just about any kind of thing you can think of...
@reishka: Yes please! 70s! There have only been seven days this month in Austin with a temperature below 100. :( :( :(
In case anyone is wondering how the dealership can afford to do this, they purchase prize indemnity insurance to cover the cost in case the unlikely event occurs.
@TCama: I was wondering how much pressure you'd need in a hose and how good your aim has to be to hit the rain gauge at the airport... but that's the super-villainy side of me in conflict with the regular-villainy side of me that just wants to push the needle.
@ICherub: Yeah, there's a lot of this kind of thing going around now but none of them will match the incredible nature of that promotion. That promo couldn't possibly have gone better for all parties involved.
Anyone want to chip in and rent on of these with me?
A car dealership here in Colorado did a similar thing earlier in the year. It did actually rain on the day in question, but not quite half of what was needed for the give-away. Still, I'll bet there were some pretty excited people that day when it was raining. ;)
Every year in Hoquiam, WA there's a jewelry store that has a similar deal. If you by a piece of jewelry in December before Christmas, and we have a white Christams (i.e., it snows Christmas day), then your jewelry's free. For those of you (that is, all of you) who don't know, Hoquiam is right on the ocean. We haven't had a white Christmas in the 16 years I've lived there.
To be painfully honest, it's been one of the driest years on records for South Texas. Folks just flick a lit cigarette butt out the window and you got a major brush fire raging in short order. Water supplies are drying up, especially the water tables. Rationing is not in effect, but it's only a matter of time.
I would KILL for just a 1/2" inch of rain right about now.
And 2" in SA might come if the fall/winter monsoon season kicks in, but it looks mighty poor on the chance it will happen.
It's like those jewelry places where they refund the price of the engagement ring if it rains on your wedding day.
My buddy's company is the one who provides the weather insurance policy on these. Well, it's a derivative contract, but it functions like insurance. Cool stuff.
They partnered with Orbitz a while back to guarantee vacations were sunny and were a hit there too.
It's actually World Car Nissan, not World Nissan. There are just down the street from my shop.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Well, now isn't that ironic.*
*No, it's not ironic at all! It's just a coincidence! That's NOT irony!
/internets
A hurricane would be the only likely option to deliver that much rain but I dont think there will be one to hit in the next week.
@Corporate_guy: Agreed, but I have a friend who has no ability to think for herself and always leases her cars because her father and mother always did. Then she proceeds to complain every time she wants to go somewhere that she can't drive more than 12,000 miles per year without getting a penalty.
@Sam Brougher: My uncle's jewelry chain does this. I think he only has stores in the Northeast, though.
The place where we bought our wedding rings is doing a similar deal. If it rains 1+ inches at the Columbus airport on our wedding date, we get $2000 back.
Oh, and we purchased the rings BEFORE we knew of the deal, so it was not a factor.
When I lived in NC, one of the car dealerships there ran a similar deal. It was in March, and if ANY NC school got into the final four, your car was free.
@coan_net: Would be funny if that deal would happen in Montreal, Quebec...
We've been having rain nonstop for the past 3 weeks
@chatterboxwriting: Tell her to rent for big mileage trips. It is cheap. I usually can get a week for $150 and then all the wear/tear and other costs (oil changes, etc) are on the rental company. This is also something to consider for vehicle owners who own a vehicle with bad fuel economy.
They do that in Rochester. The Source Jewelry will refund your entire purchase if it snows so many inches January 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
@Corporate_guy: Let me tell you why my first new car was a lease. I graduated from college back in May. Like most recent college grads, I didn't have a long term full time job, loads of cash saved up, and I have lots of school loans.
In the end, I was able to get a 2009 Toyota Camry which has an MSRP of just over $24k for $2000 down and $200 a month for a 45,000 mile 3 year lease. Some quick math tells you that I'll pay $9000 total over the next 3 years for that car or just over $8/day.
Now in 3 years, I have 2 options: 1) buy the car for $12.1k which means my total price of the car is $21.1k (~12% off MSRP) or 2) give it back, pay whatever they want for the excess miles and damage and get a nicer car because I hope to have a nicer paycheck by that point.
There are good reasons to lease a car. Most people do it so they can have new cars with warranties every few years and others do it because they like the lower payments even though they get nothing in return.
@MarvinwasaLunatic: Don't be so sure of that. Where I live (East Texas, we're in the middle of a drought too) we had exactly 2 inches come down earlier this week: [www.wunderground.com]. All it takes is one large thunderstorm to stall over an area for a few hours for a couple of inches of rainfall.
Mid 90's? I'm in Dallas and it has been +100 every day for the past month. Even on that one day it rained a little (wtf). :(
Hell... it has been raining so much in New Jersey this summer that I'd really love to have a drought! No free car necessary.
There's a dealership in the Boston area that's making 12 payments for your car if the temperature reaches 96 or 98* on some day at the airport here.
@me and the sysop: I used to live in Rockwall and FlowerMound, and I looked up what their temperatures have been, out of curiosity. I may miss the people, but I definitely DON'T miss the heat. We may be humid, but at least we've been sub-80's.
Best Tag Ever.