The Dealership

A few years back I had a fairly new Pontiac Grand Prix lease, about one year old. We got a brochure in the mail from a Chevy dealership offering to pay off our current Pontiac lease and put us in a new Chevy lease. The brochure also said, "We'll give you $5.00 bucks just for stopping in". We were skeptical that they could pay off our current lease because we had only had the car a little over a year of the three year lease. But we figured, if they can pay off this lease and put us in a new one with lower payments, then we would go for it. So we went down there to see. They couldn't pay off the current lease, so we took our $5.00, "just for stopping in", and went about our day.

In the mail recently, we received a brochure from the same Chevy dealership stating that they were looking for 2007 Pontiac G6's to fill some order or something. The flier went on to say that they would pay off our current lease no matter what we owe and that they'll put us in a new Chevy lease. And it also says, "Get 5 scratch off lottery tickets just for stopping in".

I have a 2007 Pontiac G6. I'm not looking for a new car, nor do a want one. I love the car I have. It's red with a killer sunroof that I begged my husband to let me have for the extra (unnecessary) cost that it was going to add to the monthly payment. I don't want to get rid of this car. I just got it last year.

But my husband said, "well... if they can pay off this lease and we can get you another new car with lower payments... then it's worth looking into".

So we proceed to the Chevy dealership, that is right next door to the Pontiac dealership, where both of our cars were purchased in 2007. A salesman meets us at the door and hurries us over to his desk. We show him the brochure and he asks "So, what kind of car are you looking for?" Right away, I answer... "I'm not looking for a new car, but you guys sent us this brochure about buying off this lease and putting us in a new one."

The dealer asks "How many payments left of your current lease"?

My husband answers "23".

The guy just about fell out of his chair.

"23 payments?! We can't pay that off."

My husband said, "Well that's what we figured, but you guys sent "US" this brochure".

So the dealer takes the brochure to see which moron in marketing or advertising sent it to us.

He comes back very quickly and says, "I'm sorry folks, we can't help you at this time". And then he proceeds to give us our 5 - $1.00 lottery tickets, "just for stopping in".

I won $4.00 on two winning tickets.

Then I proceeded to call my parents (both retired from 40 plus year careers at General Motors) to tell them that I think I know why GM is loosing profits.