AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Chrysler Offers "Employee Pricing Plus Plus"
Your chance at a Dodge Viper?



Starting tomorrow, Chrysler will unroll a big promotion, "Employee Pricing Plus Plus". Traditionally, employee pricing - usually 7.5 to 10% below MSRP - is a pretty good deal. Zero percent financing, that's also a good deal. Rebates up to $6,000? again, a pretty good deal. Put them all together, and at first blush, you have a fire sale. That's what Employee Pricing Plus Plus is, employee pricing plus thousands of dollars cash back, plus 0% financing. This is even sweeter on paper than a Ford promotion that ended earlier this month which offered employee prices plus rebates, but generally did not offer 0% financing.

At second glance, it's not as much of a big deal as at first it appears. The first thing to remember is that demand has been so slow lately, that sales prices were pretty close to employee prices before the promotion, and that's with several thousand dollars worth of rebates thrown in to sweeten the deal. I couldn't even find any information regarding what model actually qualifies for the $6,000 rebate. Information on the Kicking Tires blog suggests that most models will only have a grand or two in cash back.) On the other hand, 0% is something that Chrysler had not been able to offer for some time. In fact, it appears it was made possible by a $1.5 billion loan that Chrysler financial received from the US Treasury at the same time Chrysler received it's $4 Billion lifeline. I expect every customer who receives the 0% loan to write a thank you note to every taxpayer. The key on the financing offer is what kind of credit score it will take to qualify for the free money. On expensive cars the 0% financing can end up being the biggest difference maker. For example, if you finance $40,000 at 6% interest, you'll pay $2,400 in finance charges the first year alone. At 0% interest you pay (anyone? Bueller?) zero.

If you are a UAW-LSP attorney looking for a car to drive to work, this could be your chance to get a Dodge Viper. You can tell your spouse that you just have to buy one, because the 0% financing will save you $12,000. (Don't believe me. Check out Consumer Reports' auto financing comparison calculator.) If you try this pitch, let me know how it works.