Go to Butler, Missouri and you'll find Max Motors, an independent car dealer that specializes in (i.e. only sells) American cars. Yup, under one roof you can buy a Buick, Cadillac, Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Jeep or Pontiac. Your guess is as good as mine if they sell Korean-made Aveos, Mexican made Fusions or Canadian made all sorts of stuff. Oh wait, I checked, they do. But that's not why we're telling you about Max Motors. No, we're telling you because through May 31st if you buy a new car from Max Motors you get your choice of free gas card or handgun. That's right, Max Motors is aware of both "the gasoline and crime problem [sic] in America." And while to some throwing gas at a gas problem and guns at a crime problem is like throwing fire at a fire problem or fat at a fat problem, Max Motors sees it different. Explains sales manager Walter Moore, around Butler people believe in "God, guts and guns," though they aren't handing out free Bibles or chitlin's. As you would (probably) expect, 80 percent of the customers are opting for the gun. And hey, why not? I just traded my Colt Python .357 Magnum for $250 worth of scotch and bourbon. The only drawback we see is that you don't get the gun immediately (you have to pass a background check). Max Motors might be inadvertently setting up the world's most ironic carjacking.
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I wish I lived in or near Butler, Missouri. I like it…
man what a gimmick. is the car dealer actually a federally licensed gun dealer?
or is the car dealer just giving a gift certificate or coupon to a local gun store.
but the gimmick seems to have worked. How else can a measly 300-500 dollar gift card from a dealership generate so much publicity?
lame.
Long live isolationism!
Brilliant stunt. Everyone is giving him free space/airtime, including CNBC of all places.
Or perhaps you can use the gun to get free gas…
I’ll take the gas. $250 won’t buy you a decent hand gun. Maybe a cheap Eastern bloc model. It would be like buying a Chinese car. Kudos to the dealer for devising a better PR gimick than Chrysler’s $2.99 a gallon offer [and cheaper too – and they say them rednecks is dumb :)]
Buy a new car, go straight to a drive-by…BRILLIANT
CNBC just reported that 90% of the buyers take the $250 coupon toward the purchase of a gun.
Handgun? For defense? Nah… for defense, you want a pump shotgun. You’ll never even need to fire it.
When perps come a-callin’, just chamber a round.
Bad guys don’t linger when they hear that sound.
I love it! Now that is real American! :)
For the dealer: Very Smart
… for all the free pub and other reasons listed above, plus (in all liklihood) it’s more cost effeective for him. Customer gets a $250 coupon for a retail item that the dealer bought in bulk at wholesale.
For the customer: Not So Smart.
Dealers already work pretty hard to comingle all the various pieces that make up a deal into one large ball of confusion.
…the price of the car …the value of the trade …the financing …the “back-end” add-ons …the crap* that gets packed (*Crap being the technical term for sound deadner/undercoating, VIN etching, and paint/fabric protector).
Now you throw in “Free Stuff”. Whether it’s free gas, guns, or vacations to FL, this just further serves to muddy the deal and confuse the customer.
Um, say Jonny, you got anymore guns for sale/trade? I like your prices. .357s are nice accurate weapons incidentally. If you enjoy fine machinery and are lucky enough to live in a country that hasn’t disarmed its’ law abiding citizens, you ought to try shooting a good handgun sometime. Like motorcycling it takes some practice to get good at it, but well worth it. I would frankly admit it would take more than a $250 coupon to get me to buy a Chevy, hell, that’s barely a down payment on an AR-15.
Haven’t you guys seen Bowling for Columbine? I shouldn’t be surprised – a bunch of real reactionaries on this board – like the Chief of Police of Malibu ;)
Anyway, one scene depicts a Minnesota(?) bank’s promotion where new account holders received rifles as a bonus. Maybe marketing mavens at Max Motors monitor Michael Moore’s movies.
@CliffG, but Jonny does live where they’ve disarmed the citizens: California
Is this really a good idea in litigation happy America? I can see how this would backfire. (Sorry!)
Haven’t you guys seen Bowling for Columbine?
Oh yes, the leftist gospel according to a fat, lying turd. How could we have missed it.
With the cost of a gallon of gas, you might need that gun to protect your tank!! Brilliant marketing, too. I haven’t seen so much free publicity since the topless “Boob and Lube” service!!
Oooo, I have to wait 6 days? But I’m angry now!
First… you get a coupon for a purchase at a gun dealer. You still have to wait for the permit.
Second, this is a brilliant campaign. Look at all the free publicity. There is no way he could have bought this much advertising.
Re: Michael Moore. Take everything he says with a huge dose of salt. He doesn’t let facts get in the way of his ideas. The bank/gun thing on his film? Fake. The bank gave you a coupon. They didn’t hand you a gun like he did in the film. That was all staged to make the bank (and the US) look bad.
Third… I’m not sure what kind of gun you are gonna get for that kind of money. Not one that I would trust.
In my part of Missouri you get your gun the same day.
Aren’t you supposed to wait until your car is junk before you shoot it? Oh wait, i just read the list of marques they sell.
Zingeh!
Handgun is a cheap Kel-tec .380 bleh
Mind you, neither the gun nor the gas are technically ‘free’ – they’re just included into the price of the car.
Still, a brilliant marketing ploy. I doubt they would have sold as many cars, or guns without grouping the two together.
Now if only they would offer better cars with nicer guns… How about an Aston with a nice English side-by-side shotgun?
I wish I could just embed the image in the post, but here is a link to a picture of a pawn shop north of Houston (Spring, TX) that I used to drive by regularly:
Guitars, Guns, Gold!!
My coworker and I used to joke that All Pawn’s “three G’s” were almost everything one could want in life.
Johnny, are you Canadian, trying to be funny, or both? Why would putting a firearm in the hands of a law-abiding citizen exacerbate crime? Also the guy who gave you $250 worth of Scotch and Bourbon for your Python ripped you off. He should have given you at least $800 worth of booze. Why don’t you head over there and fix his wagon, oh right, he has the Python.
Detroit-Iron:
I’m half Canadian and trying to be funny.
1) Well, everyone starts off as a law-abiding citizen at some point. Plus, like, other people can pick up the gun right? My point is that there is nothing wrong with guns, but if you think they help solve the “crime problem” you’re deluding yourself. Americans have more guns than anyone, and more people in prison.
2) Yeah, I had my .357vappraised at $750. But I’ve known the guy I traded it to since I was 3-years-old. So, I figured I’d cut him a deal. Hell of a hand cannon, though. I secretly miss it. Just don’t tell my girl.
Jonny Lieberman: My point is that there is nothing wrong with guns, but if you think they help solve the “crime problem” you’re deluding yourself.
Solve it? No. But they can ameliorate it…just google various firearms rights blogs and start reading.
Jonny Lieberman: Americans have more guns than anyone, and more people in prison.
The gun may not stop the criminal from commiting the crime…but it can definitely stop him or her from completing the crime.
If a person stops a crime with a gun – either by shooting the person, or holding him or her at bay until the police arrive – the authorities generally send the perpetrator to prison (if the perpetrator is still alive). That is where criminals go (or should go).
Firearms prevalence and crime rates don’t correlate particularly well anyway. There are safe places with esssentially no legal firearms ownership (Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong) and safe places with private and relatively prevalent firearms ownership (Northern Europe, Switzerland, perhaps Canada, depending on your perceptions thanks to a spate of organized crime-related killings)
I think the more people in prison part in America may be independent of the guns. Y’all just seem to like putting people in jail for some reason. Not the most affordable option. The US has roughly three times the number of guns per capita compared to Canada (or France) and nearly seven times the per capita incarceration rate.
Not a smart plan! Considering the mediocrity of virtually everything they sell, why would the offer a gun? Buyer’s remorse and a suicide weapon, not good! I’d keep an especially close eye on Sebring buyers. =)
Even worse, just wait until they try to get rid of the lump and learn the hard lesson about domestic vehicles resale value. It’s a “Drive-By” waiting to happen!