What’s the catch?
by Fraser Martin on Wednesday, 15 August 2007
This Jeep advertisement is like all advertising for motors. It is designed to attract attention and to shift metal. By providing this offer the company is looking to make the car that they have in stock more attractive in terms of their pricing and I think they have achieved that.
My personal view is that of all the American brands of 4x4, these machines are the best ones.
They all have a very high degree of off-road ability and even the Patriot and the Compass models, though neither is designed as an out and out off-road vehicle, both have quite smooth and good driving abilities.
I have driven all the cars on this advert at some point or another and I can certainly say that they all do the jobs that they are designed to do.
A cynic might point out that the advert shows a top-level car yet displays the price at which certain models of this particular car start at.
But it's normal practice to show the best of your model range in your adverts even if the one that you are pricing is not necessarily the best in the model range.
The offer advertises free insurance on selected models only. I phoned up Trading Enterprises to find out what this means and the offer is basically on models that the company is more interested in moving. So for example there would be no need to give free insurance on the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, because practically every single one that comes into the market is sold almost instantly.
You don't need to make a car any more attractive if you don't have any trouble in shifting it, and that's pretty much good for any product.
Customers should therefore enquire before buying one of these cars whether they are covered by the free insurance offer.
The figures that are in the advert are actually based on a zero down payment so there's no hidden agenda there - it really is possible for the customer to write the cheques and drive the car away provided that the bank providing the loan is happy with their credit.
They are offering a five-year instalment plan which is quite generous. Obviously the more you require to borrow and the longer the period over which you repay it, the more it could cost you in interest. And the truth of that is reflected in those figures.
If you make a down payment and you do it over fewer months then these figures are going to change.
Of course you will pay more interest if you pay for the car over a long period - particularly if you are not giving a down payment - because the bank is taking all the risk.
Overall though there don't seem to be any obvious catches to this deal.
Fraser Martin organises motoring and car launch activities. He also takes part in car testing events.
You can get in touch with Fraser Martin on PO Box 21348, Dubai, UAE.
Tel: +9714-285-4728,
Fax: +9714-285-1823
Email:
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