I went to a Pontiac dealership today and test drove the G8 GT. More on that later. I've always been interested in the car but what really reeled me in was an ad I saw yesterday about the GM Value Protection Plan. From the ad, it sounded like if I tried to sell my GM product and was pissed about its piss poor resale value, GM would write me a check. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Wrong.The devil, as always, is in the details. It works like this:
1. It applies only to 2008 to 2010 GM vehicles (excluding Saabs and medium- and heavy-duty trucks).
2. It only applies if you buy the car this month (April 2009).
3. You have to have made payments for at least half of the original term. Example: Paid 18 months on a 3 year payment plan. It's unclear if all of the payments made had to be timely, as the GM webpage with the fine print is down at the time of this writing (how convenient). The Plan does not apply to payment plans that are longer than 72 months (Who the heck is making 7 years of car payments?!).
4. If you want to get money from the program, you have to buy another new GM vehicle. (Why would you when you've just realized how crappy the resale value on your current GM is?)
5. Compare the amount you owe on your car to the NADA "retail clean" price. This is the only silver lining in the deal, but wait.
6. If you owe more than the car is worth, then the Plan kicks in.
7. If you trade the car into a GM dealership, then you get up to $5,000 back. If you sell it privately, you only get $2,500.
My conclusion: Too many loopholes. Very few people will collect money from the Plan. And for those sophisticated enough to get some money back, it will be capped. The only people that will definitely benefit from this is ServicePlan, Inc., the underwriter.
CKY
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