The worse you drive, the bigger the deal
GM is offering free insurance if you buy a new car in the Pacific Northwest. That's a great deal if you're a terrible driver.
This post comes from Des Toups at partner site CarInsurance.com.
If you're a Northwesterner with a bad track record on rainy days, General Motors has found an innovative way to lure you to a Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac dealer: free insurance.
The automaker will pay the cost of a year of auto insurance through MetLife for retail buyers in Washington and Oregon through Sept. 6. Post continues after video.
What's that worth? For an insurance-friendly single 40-year-old with no violations, perhaps as much as $2,000 or so on a racy Corvette Z06, or as little as $1,000 on the sedate Buick LaCrosse. That's according to the average premium data provided by Insure.com. (Check out the most and least expensive cars to insure.)
But for a busy Seattle family with two teenage boys -- one of whom has a speeding ticket? We ran comparison quotes on a shiny new 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ. The lowest premium we found was $4,890 a year; the highest was $10,300.
Every insurer calculates rates differently; our comparison did not include MetLife rates but did survey seven national carriers who do business in the state. Premiums in Washington tend to run a bit higher than those in Oregon.
We couldn't find any restrictions in the fine print that would eliminate high-risk drivers, and MetLife says any driver who qualifies to buy the car automatically qualifies for the insurance. Customers are free to decline the policy, but the price of the car would be unaffected, GM says.
Limits under the policy are fairly generous as well -- well above the legal minimum requirements for each state, and MetLife doesn't deduct for depreciation if a new car is totaled in the first year.
Chris Perry, vice president of General Motors marketing, was one of the forces behind Hyundai's wildly successful lose-your-job, return-your-car program.
More on CarInsurance.com and MSN Money:
Wow, is the United States really that narrow minded? Here we have an article about an American company trying to increase sales and continue to be an American company. All the posts are about bail out money, which by the way I remember reading somewhere that GM paid all bail out money back!
Now, what was wrong with the bail out? Look at the big picture, how many people nationwide does GM employ? How many smaller companies rely on contracts with GM to make product to continue to employ their employees? My industry is connected to the auto industry, and don't think for a minute I wasn't scared for my well being during the whole mess.
The big picture is that thousands of jobs (whether we like the unions and politics or not) were saved by the bail out. Bail out money was repayed! If we didn't bail out GM, how much money do you think the 1000s of employees would suck up in unemployment benefits? And to finish, I never heard of anyone repaying unemployment :(
Think up people, instead of the "never buy a GM" mentallity I see here, why not buy a GM? It's America, if we don't invest in America, then we deserve what we get. You keep buying your Toyotas and sending money to the orient. And before you start yelling about all the manufacturing plants these foreign companies have here in the states, remember all the profit still goes to Japan!
I WOULD BET THAT IF YOU HAD WORKED FOR GM OR CHRYSLER YOU WOULD BE THE FIRST ONE TO SCREAM "BUY AMERICAN".
You mean like the liberals out there (especially teachers and college professors) who drive foreign vehicles? How come they aren't supporting their union "brothers". Even the DNC chairwoman Wasserman doesn't even drive American. Why should I? Even Ford uses Mexico to make a good many of their cars. Where's the outrage for that?
I'd took advantage of the deal but it's not in Texas and I bought a new Chevrolet in Jan. 2010 that I'm very proud of. I would have bought another Saturn if O'Bumo hadn't been in the process of putting one of our best bets against the friggin Japs out of business. I've had GM cars from every generation since the thirtys and never-never have I had a problem with any one of them that was not my fault. Unlike other brands Subaru/NissanHonda/Toyota, VW and English Ford. Bunch of crap that I could never depend on. My first car was a Ford with a cracked block. Ford early flathead V8 engines had a habit of cracking so I stayed away from Fomoco until the late 90's. They are now made quite well but I still prefer GM. An automobile is basically the same no matter where it comes from or who makes it. Maintenance is the key to a dependable car but there are quality problems with some makes as of late Toyota comes to mind.
But yes to the free insurance, fuzzy dice for the mirror, free lunch, but you've probably heard they ain't no such thang.
YOU ANTI GM PEOPLE ARE ABSOLUTE IDIOTS. YOU RATHER GIVE OUR MONEY AWAY TO FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS THAN KEEP IT HERE. AND DON'T GIVE ME THAT "THEY'RE BUILT IN AMERICA CRAP"!! WHERE DO YOU THINK THEY SEND THE MONEY. YOU WOULD RATHER MAKE SURE YOUR EMPLOYING SOMEONE OUTSIDE THE US THAN HERE AT HOME. I WOULD BET THAT IF YOU HAD WORKED FOR GM OR CHRYSLER YOU WOULD BE THE FIRST ONE TO SCREAM "BUY AMERICAN". I AM NOT A UNION SUPPORTER AT ALL BUT I WOULD SURELY RATHER SAVE AN AMERICAN COMPANY AND AMERICAN JOBS THAN WATCH IT FAIL. BESIDES WHATS A FEW BILLION HERE TO SAVE JOBS WHEN WE GIVE BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AWAY TO GOVERNMENTS THAT WANT TO SEE US ALL DEAD. HOPE YOU FREAKING CHOKE ON YOUR TOYOTA!!!
SIGNED,
AN AMERICAN
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