Posted on 12/13/2008 10:08:33 AM PST by BGHater
Just over half of U.S. consumers say they won't buy a car from an auto maker that is in bankruptcy.
A new poll by Rasmussen Reports of consumer found that 51 percent said they would not buy a car from a manufacturer who is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
Thirty-one percent in surveyed said they would be "OK" buying a car from a bankrupt car maker. Another 18 percent weren't sure.
American auto manufacturers are in dire straits with Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler LLC and Detroit, Mich.-based General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) nearing bankruptcy without federal loans and help. Republicans in the U.S. Senate shot down a $14 billion federal bailout plan seeking more pay concessions from the United Auto Workers union.
Some critics of the bailout want the two troubled companies to file for bankruptcy protection so they can reorganize and restructure. Others worry that if they file for bankruptcy, consumers will have little interest in buying their cars and trucks, which would spiral them further down.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) also is in financial trouble and facing a decrease in sales, but the Dearborn, Mich., car maker is not in the same bankruptcy peril as GM and Chrysler.
Jeez I can’t understand why...
If a car salesman sold a car to every other customer who came into the dealership he'd be one happy creepy guy....errrr....I mean person.
Why would the consumers be reluctant? Guarantee no good? Repairs are iffy? Workmanship would be suspect because of angry employees?
I can assure you this... if the auto bailout gets approved... I will, never, ever buy an American car again. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way.
Anyone know where I can find a Studebaker dealer to fix the transmission on my Lark?
If the price is right.
I’m not sure I’d buy from them now, even before they may or may not go into bankruptcy. I like my Silverado’s, but would like to see things settle out before buying another. My current Silverado is a low mileage 2007 model, so I have plenty of time.
And of that 50%, only 10% probably CAN buy a car - from anyone.
Many Freepers, including this one, won’t buy cars from MORALLY bankrupt automakers that have been taken over by morally bankrupt unions and (if the Dems have their way) environmental zealots.
Just stick a chevy trany in there. They make adapters.
Makes no difference to me. I am buying a new 2010 Camaro as soon as they get released to the local dealers. I will have my Camaro. Oh yes, I will have it.
What would happen is that once the bankruptcies occurred, the Gub’ment will arrange sales in which all maintenance warranties guarantee would have to be honored by the new company.
This is a dumb survey. Of course, most folks are going to answer “no” when asked if they’d buy a vehicle from an automaker in bankruptcy. I’ll bet that they’d answer the same way if asked if they’d fly on airline in bankruptcy, yet the reality is that Americans trust their very lives to bankrupt airlines all the time. Let’s say that a bankrupt GM is selling an attractive car (i.e., the new Camaro) at an attractive price and the bankruptcy court works out some sort of warranty guarantee plan (i.e., the warranty is backed up by some entity other than GM itself), you can that few buyers will care that GM is technically insolvent.
A more correct headline would be, "Americans say they will not buy cars from reorganizing automakers". History also shows that they will do so. People seem to forget that Chrysler was bankrupt when the federal government loaned that company tons of money 25 years ago. Chrysler reorganized but Iacocca really did not fix the structural problems as many people who were shouted down back then noted. Their prediction was that Chrysler...and the other Detroit automakers...would be back in the future.
Congress insisted banks loan money to people who were not credit-worthy. We had the mortgage meltdown. Now we have Congress insisting we loan money to GM and Chrysler who are not credit-worthy because they are too big to fail. If they fail, look for smaller, more efficient automobile makers to fill the vacuum...though most likely not in Detroit a/k/a New Fallujah a/k/a As Corrupt as Chicago, Just Smaller.
It is ashame we cannot simply declare Congress bankrupt and insist all of the thugs resign, convert to Shintoism, and commit hari cari.
If it does happen, I’m looking at Toyota, Kia, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, and other non American car companies.. No bailout to the unions...
And Braniff 1 thought no one would get on an airline that was bankrupt. Continental proved that wrong.
I want to buy a new Ford. Why doesn’t the government just give a big tax break to anyone that wants to buy American? this would give the taxpayer a break and sell a lot of cars for the big three. Why is this not being discussed??
agree - I’ll never buy from Detroit again if they take the money.
They should have surveyed how many people will never buy from a nationalized car company.
Or survey how many people will buy from a company that everyone knows is bankrupt but just won’t do it.
agree - I’ll never buy from Detroit again if they take the money.
They should have surveyed how many people will never buy from a nationalized car company.
Or survey how many people will buy from a company that everyone knows is bankrupt but just won’t do it.
BUY AMERICAN
Get a Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai. I don’t think they make Kias in the US, do they?
I won’t buy cars from Union car makers period. The automakers should break the unions and we as a nation should make federal unions illegal. It is crazy that civil service unions should exist at all. They are some of the most secure, most cushy positions available in the country and I’ll assure you they will get their annual pay increases no matter what happens with the rest of the country. This past election finished the deal for me. Where I can eliminate their goods and services from my life I will. They support everything I don’t and there is no reason we should support them. What we need to do is start a campaign to change the face of unions and drive a wedge between union leadership and rank and file.
I think conservatives should protest unions for a bit to send them a message. It will hurt much worse in this economic downturn and if there is any one group of people that deserve the pain it is union members. They and those they have supported have did as much or more to destroy the US economy as any of the CEOs in the financial world. I say share the pain. There are plenty of good used cars to buy without supporting Detriot a city that should be left to die given the low class socialist population.
Boycott any company that has received a taxpayer bailout.
Maybe then our representatives will listen to us. Even if they don’t, we’ll get our revenge.
(This is why Ford is being smart not to ask for a bailout even if they need it badly. They’re thinking long range)
Same here. I don't buy socialist products.
True...
Ok, so there aren’t any dealers. There are people who repair the old girls, still:
http://www.myersstudebaker.com/
http://www.studebakersonly.com/
Larks are cool, but I prefer Avantis (c;
Definition of insanity.
This survey has a fatal flaw ~ it simply doesn't go far enough ~ like to find out what a potential buyer thinks bankruptcy is about.
There are plenty of folks around to cut you a deal on a long term warranty provided you pay for it. If GM discounts their come on price enough, then I can pay the diffrence to another party ~ who will, of course, have AIG insurance (bwahahahahah) (Gee, I' sure bwahahahahhaing a lot these days).
Frankly we should just sell GM to the US Postal Service.
Several reasons. One is that USPS has authority under the law to act as a "bank" so it could acquire GMAC and spin it off into a postal bank.
Secondly they own the largest single "fleet" in the world. Although most folks think of it as consisting mostly of long-life delivery vehicles, there are about 60,000 rural letter carriers who need light vehicles (sedans, pickups, smaller SUVs), and they can always use a new tire or two.
USPS also has about 200,000 vehicles for mounted carrier routes, and GM does produce a full line of light trucks and vans that can be used in that service, plus they produce 2.5, 3.0 and 5.0 mid-weight trucks for use in MVS service (moving mail around inside cities from MPCs to stations and branches).
GM has a line of truck-tractors. Although USPS ordinarily writes contracts with longhaul carriers who then provide their own tractors, that's not written in stone. As the contracts expire (usually annually) USPS can provide those companies with its own tractors to drive.
Now, about that $68 billion corporate debt, GM has a lot of stuff to sell. USPS has its own realty structure and has a large number of properly trained and experienced personnel nationwide that they can most likely SELL OFF the good stuff quite quickly ~ probably to other auto assembly and manufacturing companies.
We can call this proposal "Going Postal on GM ~ What's in it for you ~ What's in it for me"
You can usually get them patched up down at the Shell or Sunoco~
Because it would give the taxpayer a break and that isn’t something governments do.
They’re not buying them anyway. That’s the problem einstein.
There is help available. Plus, JC Whitney is a source of supplies. Now if you want “warranty work” you’re out of luck http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/classifiedads.asp
I wonder if the survey asked, if you would buy a car if the govt bailed them out. Suspect that wasn’t on the survey.
I'd like a new Avanti built in South Bend with parts from Indiana (all available from Naptown South from all those Japanese and Korean parts manufacturers who've moved in).
Should be doable.
I remember the first Avanti to be shown in Indianapolis. Bunch of us went down there to see it. When you opened the hood there was nothing but engine in there. You couldn't see the pavement. And it looked good besides.
Here I am saying this and I went through the windshield of a 1951 Studebaker once (and lived). You were only about 2 inches from the glass in those things.
To counter your holie than thou attitude we are replacing the Lexus with a new Cadilac!
The only way I’d consider a GM car after a bail-out would be if it was designed by master designer Nancy Pelosi. It would have to have a 3 hp Briggs and Stratton engine with a pull rope. I don’t trust an electric starter.
I won’t buy a car from any of them that partake in this “bailout”.
No problem, give your money to the japs or germans. It’s your right as an American.
If they got rid of the UAW I would but why support the DNC by buying a car. I flew in Bankrupt airlines so why should a carmaker be a big deal?
Pray for W and Our Troops
“Jeez I can’t understand why...”
Probably the same reason(s) they weren’t buying them before.
wonder how much the union paid for this survey?
Nailed it ! Well done.
Come on people,,,, it took 42 replies before a newbie gets it?
I wonder why? If they sell you a car, it’s yours. They need to ask how many of us will buy a car from a company that gets a bailout though...meaning we pay twice.
“Yeah? So that means half WOULD!”
Which is more than are buying GM/Ford/Chryslers now!!
The government wants to bail out (read: control) the Big 3 unionized automakers. In return, they (and their friends, the big unions) control what type of cars are ultimately made.
The next step is easy: Green, Environmentally Friendly Cars!
The government then makes the "usual" fossil fueled cars from competitors increasingly untenable through a series of mandates, draconian carbon taxes, and driving up the base price of gasoline.
Remember, they "own" the market on Green Cars so they have a dog in this fight. They also own the money printing presses and the power to regulate and make laws so they can do pretty much as they want.
Soon, Americans will only be driving "approved" environmentally-friendly and carbon-neutral vehicles (international and UN environmental mandates, carbon credits, Kyoto Treaties and other global entities will demand these) - for those of us who can still afford a privately owned car.
The rest of us will be economically forced into "public" transportation and "smart growth" clustered housing and employment - which means dense population areas as well. This gives an increasingly omnipotent, socialist government better political and bureaucratic control of our lives and fortunes. After all, the car companies no longer have to produce a profit. All they have to do is produce "approved" cars. Take 'em or leave 'em, at whatever price is charged...
No private car?... no personal freedom to live and work where we choose!
Most individuals will lose freedom of mobility, of course. But, so what? The government and their powerful special interest buddies will own and control that and almost everything else - so who cares what we think or do?
Whadayya think yer gonna do? Do you think we are going to out vote the socialist tribal masses of 100 million newly minted amnestied aliens, er, voters who love the new "fair" American system of their new benevolent masters where "everybody" gets a piece of the pie? Fat chance!
Imagine the entire country as political clones of Chicago, L.A., Filthydelphia, Detroit, etc...
"We can't just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert, and keep consuming 25 percent of the world's resources with just 4 percent of the world's population, and expect the rest of the world to say you just go ahead. We'll be fine. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen." - Barack Hussein Obama, 2008
Another DUH moment in the US.
Why would you buy one from them now? Or even if they get a ‘bail out’? They are financially unsound and could go bankrupt at any moment.
Bring back STUDEBAKER!
Bring back STUDEBAKER!
Bring back STUDEBAKER!
Bring back STUDEBAKER!
http://www.studebakermuseum.org/
Obama bin Lying voters burned down the factory a long time ago.
There is no debtor financing available for GM or Chrysler. We would be talking about liquidation. Millions of jobs lose all over this country in a time of a very serious recession. Some economist said this could tip us into a depression.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.