Why American car companies are failing

Cars, Autos, Horseless Carriage, Wheeled Buggy -- whatever you want to call them. Talk about them here!
Post Reply
User avatar
Aardor
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 1443
Joined: July 23, 2002, 12:32 am
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Phoenix612
Location: Allentown, PA

Why American car companies are failing

Post by Aardor »

http://consumerist.com/5162727/jeep-inc ... 00-in-cash

To Summarize: Young adult attempts to buy a jeep with a check, but can't get the car listed on the site, and different salesmen try to get him to jump through hoops, then pay $5000 more for the car.

I have heard many stories like this regarding buying American cars. I realize that "American cars" is a generalization, but from my own experiences of buying a car (German, BMW), and being with my parents buying a car (Japanese, Honda and Toyota), I have never experience anything close to this. Obviously, the person selling the care was still a salesman, but they were a ton more honest about how they were screwing me/my parents over.

Anyone else have a terrible experience like that guy?
User avatar
miir
Super Poster!
Super Poster!
Posts: 11501
Joined: July 3, 2002, 3:06 pm
XBL Gamertag: miir1
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by miir »

I had heard good things about the quality of Jeep vehicles
Haha, Jeep is pretty much rock bottom when it comes to quality and reliability.
This guy is an idiot.
I've got 99 problems and I'm not dealing with any of them - Lay-Z
User avatar
Truant
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 4440
Joined: July 4, 2002, 12:37 am
Location: Trumania
Contact:

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Truant »

Quality of Jeep vehicles has been well known to be terrible for a good number of years.

That said, American automakers are losing money, and have been for several years now. They have been selling less cars, and continuing to output high profit vehicles that are sitting on lots as consumers have shifted to more economy minded, fuel efficient vehicles. It's fairly easy to draw a conclusion that American auto dealers are also being affected by this. If the producer is moving less units, the distributor of those units is losing money as well. As such, the dealerships are doing anything they can to squeeze a few more bucks out of those few units they do sell in an effort to offset their diminishing revenues and increasing inventory costs.
User avatar
Aardor
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 1443
Joined: July 23, 2002, 12:32 am
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Phoenix612
Location: Allentown, PA

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Aardor »

miir wrote:
I had heard good things about the quality of Jeep vehicles
Haha, Jeep is pretty much rock bottom when it comes to quality and reliability.
This guy is an idiot.
Oh yeah, the jeep buyer is definitely an idiot. I mean, the salesman almost convinced him to finance the car and pay more money for it for some instant cash back twice.
User avatar
Funkmasterr
Super Poster!
Super Poster!
Posts: 9005
Joined: July 7, 2002, 9:12 pm
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Dandelo19
PSN ID: ToPsHoTTa471

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Funkmasterr »

A few thoughts:

I have also heard of the lack of quality of jeeps, but a friend of mine has the SRT 8 one, and my girlfriend has a Compass, and neither one of them have had issues with their vehicles at all, so I guess they aren't all bad.

Also, while I'm certain this wasn't the dealers intention, the kid should have gone with the financing and was too stupid to realize this. He could have taken the financing and got the cash back, then paid the loan off in full the next day. The only catch would be if they charge a fee for paying the loan off in full, which is entirely possible, but judging by that story I doubt he even considered this.
User avatar
Aardor
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 1443
Joined: July 23, 2002, 12:32 am
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Phoenix612
Location: Allentown, PA

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Aardor »

Funkmasterr wrote: Also, while I'm certain this wasn't the dealers intention, the kid should have gone with the financing and was too stupid to realize this. He could have taken the financing and got the cash back, then paid the loan off in full the next day. The only catch would be if they charge a fee for paying the loan off in full, which is entirely possible, but judging by that story I doubt he even considered this.
Except the financing was more than the money he had, even after the cash back, and more than what the care would have cost assuming he had paid for it up front.
User avatar
Funkmasterr
Super Poster!
Super Poster!
Posts: 9005
Joined: July 7, 2002, 9:12 pm
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Dandelo19
PSN ID: ToPsHoTTa471

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Funkmasterr »

Aardor wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote: Also, while I'm certain this wasn't the dealers intention, the kid should have gone with the financing and was too stupid to realize this. He could have taken the financing and got the cash back, then paid the loan off in full the next day. The only catch would be if they charge a fee for paying the loan off in full, which is entirely possible, but judging by that story I doubt he even considered this.
Except the financing was more than the money he had, even after the cash back, and more than what the care would have cost assuming he had paid for it up front.
The 7k more for the financing was assuming he paid it over the full life of the loan, so that 7k was the interest that would have accrued over whatever the terms of the loan were.
User avatar
Aardor
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 1443
Joined: July 23, 2002, 12:32 am
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Phoenix612
Location: Allentown, PA

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Aardor »

Funkmasterr wrote:
Aardor wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote: Also, while I'm certain this wasn't the dealers intention, the kid should have gone with the financing and was too stupid to realize this. He could have taken the financing and got the cash back, then paid the loan off in full the next day. The only catch would be if they charge a fee for paying the loan off in full, which is entirely possible, but judging by that story I doubt he even considered this.
Except the financing was more than the money he had, even after the cash back, and more than what the care would have cost assuming he had paid for it up front.
The 7k more for the financing was assuming he paid it over the full life of the loan, so that 7k was the interest that would have accrued over whatever the terms of the loan were.
The $31,732 was the amount the loan was applying for, which I did not think included interest over 5 years, but I could be wrong.
User avatar
Funkmasterr
Super Poster!
Super Poster!
Posts: 9005
Joined: July 7, 2002, 9:12 pm
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Dandelo19
PSN ID: ToPsHoTTa471

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Funkmasterr »

Aardor wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:
Aardor wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote: Also, while I'm certain this wasn't the dealers intention, the kid should have gone with the financing and was too stupid to realize this. He could have taken the financing and got the cash back, then paid the loan off in full the next day. The only catch would be if they charge a fee for paying the loan off in full, which is entirely possible, but judging by that story I doubt he even considered this.
Except the financing was more than the money he had, even after the cash back, and more than what the care would have cost assuming he had paid for it up front.
The 7k more for the financing was assuming he paid it over the full life of the loan, so that 7k was the interest that would have accrued over whatever the terms of the loan were.
The $31,732 was the amount the loan was applying for, which I did not think included interest over 5 years, but I could be wrong.
If that's the case, that doesn't make any sense. I thought if I remember correctly that they told him that price was for the wrong car or something when they called him back.
User avatar
Truant
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 4440
Joined: July 4, 2002, 12:37 am
Location: Trumania
Contact:

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Truant »

Dealers will absolutely over finance you if you're not smart enough to catch it. Generally speaking, you should never, ever finance through the dealership.
There are a whole slew of "dirty" tactics they will try to pull. There was an article/blog posted here a year or two ago where a guy recounted his experience of working as a car salesman and all the tricks/tactics the dealerships try to pull over on potential customers. Let me see if I can dig it up and link it.

edit. Found it. Kyoukan!
User avatar
Aslanna
Super Poster!
Super Poster!
Posts: 12372
Joined: July 3, 2002, 12:57 pm

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Aslanna »

$32k for a Jeep... wtf. over!
Have You Hugged An Iksar Today?

--
Fairweather Pure
Super Poster!
Super Poster!
Posts: 8509
Joined: July 3, 2002, 1:06 pm
XBL Gamertag: SillyEskimo

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Aslanna wrote:$32k for a Jeep... wtf. over!
Amen.
User avatar
Chidoro
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 3428
Joined: July 3, 2002, 6:45 pm

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Chidoro »

GM was tied up with profits in high margin vehicles that people don't demand as much any longer. In addition, GM pays tons and tons of money for fucked up and outdated pensions to former employees. According to a NYT article a read a week ago, GM has five times the number of pensions than they do current employees.
Chrysler just makes shit vehicles. They have and had a shitty pipeline for ages. Their disappearance would not be that earth-shaking.
Ford has been kind of flexible and reactive to the market the last few years. People still want F-150's and Mustangs. The Taurus, Focus and Escape have all improved. They dumped the shitty Jaguar and Lincoln and Volvo brands have legs.
Fyndina
Gets Around
Gets Around
Posts: 73
Joined: July 7, 2002, 9:17 pm
Location: DFW

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Fyndina »

I just picked up a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, decked out with everything except the V8. Paid 19K for it. 5K miles later still happy with it. My family here has 4 Jeeps besides mine, my dad has a 2008 Grand Cherokee with the diesel, put 80K miles on it the first 6 months with zero problems.
Ardel i'Fallegar, Wizard long dead

Fyndina i'Fallegar, L60 necro, Veeshan
Aateni i'Fallegar, L65 SK, Veeshan

Korte i'Fallegar, L43 Illusionist, Lucan

Gun Carrying Liberal
User avatar
Tyek
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 2288
Joined: December 9, 2002, 5:52 pm
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: Tyekk
PSN ID: Tyek
Location: UCLA and Notre Dame

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Tyek »

We have 2 jeeps, plus I just got one for a company car and all 3 are great. No problems with the one over 100K miles, just basic maintenance.
When I was younger, I used to think that the world was doing it to me and that the world owes me some thing…When you're a teeny bopper, that's what you think. I'm 40 now, I don't think that anymore, because I found out it doesn't f--king work. One has to go through that. For the people who even bother to go through that, most assholes just accept what it is anyway and get on with it." - John Lennon
Gonzoie - Luclin
Almost 1337
Almost 1337
Posts: 697
Joined: April 7, 2005, 1:11 am
Gender: Male
XBL Gamertag: tjevolved
Location: Key Largo, Florida
Contact:

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Gonzoie - Luclin »

Tyek wrote:We have 2 jeeps, plus I just got one for a company car and all 3 are great. No problems with the one over 100K miles, just basic maintenance.
my '92 Cherokee Laredo is pushing 180k miles with all original engine parts, except the starter i replaced last week. I haven't had a single problem except my power antenna fuse blowing so it doesn't retract anymore.
Darttanion Romances, 70 bard (Retired)
Gonzoie Eatsalot, 65 Druid (Long been Retired)
User avatar
Aabidano
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 4861
Joined: July 19, 2002, 2:23 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Florida

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Aabidano »

Biggest problem I've see with Jeeps is the owners, you've got to do all the maintenance or they go to crap.
"Life is what happens while you're making plans for later."
User avatar
Noysyrump
Way too much time!
Way too much time!
Posts: 1201
Joined: January 19, 2004, 2:42 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: Why American car companies are failing

Post by Noysyrump »

Chrysler and GM have picked thier target demographic. They figure most people who buy new cars replace them in 3 to 5 years. So, they do not need to make them last longer than that. 60 - 100k is all they are expected to do. Wich, apparently has worked for them for the last 60 years. Now after that 60k thats when they go to hell in a hand basket. Door handles fall off, glove boxes stop closing, mirrors rattle, and transmissions explode. Seriously GMs have the worst transmisiion and drive train failure rates of any auto company. I have seen astro vans with 30k come into the shop with bad differentials, S-10 pickups needing thier 3rd transmission at 50k (both items should NEVER fail). Total crap. But people keep buying them. Morons.

Ford, they are not as bad, but still not as good as any Jap car out there. The Japanese take far too much pride in thier work to build crap. That's why I always recomend the big jap three when somone asks me what to buy. The jap cars wont be having those troubles until 300k milage. thats the difference. So dont say "I put 50k miles on my car and it's fine". Come back when you put 300k on it. Oh wait you couldnt.
Sick Balls!
Post Reply