Would you purchase a vehicle from a company that was in Bankrupcy?

[caelin]

My first car was a 49 CHevy then we got a ford 54 ford the freeze plug kept faling out so then I went to Pontiac the first brand new one we got was a 72 pontiac Then we have gone back and forth on Chevy PUs and Dodge PU vans and now I have a SUV I liked the style I saw one pullin ou of the Chey place and we had been looking I didnt like any design till I saw the Durango. And Your right the car companys have been run wrong for along time! I go for the Unions for my hubby was a lineman in the I.B.E.W out of Nashville but we traveled all over the states for work He really didnt want to stay working for TVA al the time. The hybred cars are not good for the long hau; for long trips and thing they are more for towns. Think I heard this on our news . Who wants to buy a hybred sounds like we are making a farm of hybred foods lol. Thanks for all the info hugs

[hyun-su]

It sounds like you have been loyal to the American cars. And that you have had in the past some issues with the excessive need for repairs in the Fords in the past and also the lack sometimes of being able to find the design you liked... I am glad that you finally found something that you like. I can understand your support of the unions and also your comment that they need to improve their running of those companies. Re: hybrid cars... These are the advantages of purchasing them: http://www.articlesbase.c... These are the disadvantages of purchasing them: http://www.hybrid-cars.or... I would purchase one if I could afford one and if I had an electric outlet I could plug it into... I would like to see more technological innovation so that the drawbacks of purchasing them would disappear. I do believe that they are good for the environment and also that they are good for their drivers in that they do save them a lot of money in short trips and in long trips or so I have heard. Thanks for posting... Good always to hear from you.

[osbourne]

Boy the price would keep me from buying one! And looks like they need more tech, for them to really be someting alot of people will buy. My problem would be me forgetting to plug it up lol.

[yehudi]

I work for a dealership but wouldn't really consider myself in the know. There would be no risk in losing the vehicle or registering it, once you buy it then it's yours regardless of what happens to the company it came from. The only real risk there would be if you financed in through the car company, then you may have to pay out your loan and banks typically have much higher interest than auto companies. That is speculation however. The biggest risk is that you would have a brand new vehicle with no warranty. If there is no more manufacturer then there would be no one to provide warranty coverage and repairs on new vehicles can be insanely expensive. But if you could get a killer price and service was guaranteed then it would be a fine way to go. As far as bail outs go I don't think it's the answer. Vehicle manufacturers and service centers are pretty close to an essential service these days, but like a lot of failing companies they have ridiculously overpaid CEOs etc. and they've had it too good for too long and took ultimate advantage of that. The way they are being run needs to be seriously evaluated.

[madison86]

Thanks for bringing the dealership perspective here... so financing from the car company would be an issue for some people perhaps but I have seen many dealerships handling their own financing and a lot of people getting their financing from their banks and credit unions prior to purchasing their cars... I am wondering how many times the auto companies directly handle the financing of cars. The issue of the warranty is a problem... If they can guarantee that the dealerships would still fix the cars and also insure that there is parts availability for all cars, then it would be okay. I agree. If you could get a "killler deal" then going for it would be great. I am wondering about the bailouts... If they do not come through and the Big 3 go bankrupt, do not survive it and die, is that going to be problematic... Do you think that they would survive a bankrupcty? It seems like this is the age of the anger at the CEOs... Justified anger, I agree, as these bozos have indeed been running the companies into the ground, failing to insure good products that are affordable, failing to care for the line staff, and failing to care for the environment, the world community and this Nation... I think that they are great targets for our rage. They probably would though disagree. grins.

[oz]

I should mention that I am Canadian, so my perspective may be slightly different, but probably not much. As far as financing goes, if you are buying a brand new vehicle then most likely you're going through Ford Credit, Chrysler Credit etc, they all have their own financing companies - not through the individual dealerships. You frequently see ads for 0% or .9% financing which banks can't touch. Because of this it makes me think that bail outs could be a real possibility. What happens to all that debt? Like if the huge mortgage companies in the US didn't get bailed out then what would happen to all those mortgages? If need be I think we will see bail outs or something like that. I can't imagine seeing the top three domestic auto manufacturers just disappear. Mismanaged or not, it's still pretty darn close to an essential service. Time will tell I guess.

[porter]

I should mention that I am Canadian, so my perspective may be slightly different, but probably not much. As far as financing goes, if you are buying a brand new vehicle then most likely you're going through Ford Credit, Chrysler Credit etc, they all have their own financing companies - not through the individual dealerships. You frequently see ads for 0% or .9% financing which banks can't touch. Because of this it makes me think that bail outs could be a real possibility. What happens to all that debt? Like if the huge mortgage companies in the US didn't get bailed out then what would happen to all those mortgages? If need be I think we will see bail outs or something like that. I can't imagine seeing the top three domestic auto manufacturers just disappear. Mismanaged or not, it's still pretty darn close to an essential service. Time will tell I guess.

I appreciate the Canadian perspective as your Country has had some plants which have closed down in the past, if I am not mistaken and borders Michigan as well as just because Canada is a wonderful neighbor and that I like Canadians. I am hoping that the car companies will get some assistance... Yet I am meeting people who comment a lot on the poor product quality in comparison to the cars of Toyota which tend to last much longer. I have heard that these quality problems have been remediated but am wondering if they have been... This quality issue comes into question because the people here seem less likely to want to preserve companies if they believe that they are not providing a quality product... The fact that the leaders of the car companies flew in their private jets to ask for governmental assistance did not endear them to the Congress and Senate. I am imagining that you heard about that... grins... It seems that we are in a waiting game to see what bailouts will be given and to whom. I thank you for providing the information regarding the finance companies and for correcting an error. I appreciate your post.

[jerrick]

I would like to correct you in that the oil companies are not looking for bailouts, they have had record profits thanks to the exorbitant oil prices that rose well above production costs and allowed them to make record profits. The North American automobile companies are however needing some bailouts partly because they are building huge vehicles right in the middle of a spike in oil prices. It seems to stem from a desire to make a big profit on their big vehicles when people want to save money with gas mizers. Lack of vision should not be rewarded. However it seems they will get the bailout because everyone is afraid of unemployment

[werner72]

Dear mariposamom... That was a dyslexic typo... mind was saying "car" and fingers typed "oil"... grins... It happens sometimes... You are the first person to notice that mistake so you get an "A+" for observation skills. I think that you are quite right when you say that people are afraid of the high employment... Yet I am not sure yet if they are afraid enough to give the companies a bailout. There is some question about who was at fault for their building of the SUVs as the Federal Government was granting $25,000 tax breaks for their purchase to those who said they used them for work and was only giving $3,400 to those who purchased the economy/hybrid cars... the demand for the larger vehicles was thus artificially increased by the government. The fact that the oil companies were joining the government and still to this day people like Rush L. in saying that there was no need to build economy cars and that there was no global warming and no oil crisis, did not give the car companies good information... In other words, at every turn they were set up by these folks. I think that they should have really been asking people what they wanted... And making cars that were economical and yet stylish, practical and safe for the families... They were purposefully misguided by others... and blindfolded so much by these others that they could not use their vision. I think that perhaps they deserve some assistance from the government as the government sabatoged them. I think frankly that the oil companies should have to cough up a bit to prop them up as well as they were the ones who really have caused their destruction as they kept them from going for alternative energy sources and then had the gall to raise prices too much for the consumers to want to invest in the cars.

[bearchan]

I was watching television and they were having an auto show and they have smaller, sporty and fuel efficient models in Europe that we cannot buy here in North America. Each vehicle should be flex fuel. In Brazil automobiles run on one hundred percent ethanol from sugar cane, they just need a shot of gasoline to start the car and it has an added assembly to do this. I have been commenting to myself looking at the car ads you would not think there is an oil crisis as they would all feature trucks and SUV's. Now I see one on a hybrid which says this monstrous big hybrid with all the luxuries is the way to drive, the car companies just do not get it. I am surprised at the swiftness that the financial companies that got us into this mess got such a huge bailout with little to no strings attached. I guess the Congress decided they might need more conditions afterwards so when the car companies execs showed up in their Lear jets they held them to more account.