Incentive Program Comparo: GM vs. Ford vs. Hyundai
by John Neff on Mar 31st 2009 at 3:40PM 
Incentive Program Comparo Chart - Click above to view after the jump
Tumbling sales have forced every automaker to rethink strategies, and today both General Motors and Ford announced new incentive measures similar to the Hyundai Assurance Plus Program. Hyundai's incentive program began earlier this year, and is likely partly responsible for the South Korean automaker's impressive sales performance thus far in 2009. The GM Total Confidence Program and Ford Advantage Plan were just announced this morning, so only time will tell if they help jump-start sales.
Each automaker's incentive program might look similar on the surface, but there are important differences. They all offer what's called payment protection, which means that if you buy one of their vehicles and lose your job within a certain period of time, the automaker will make your payments for a certain number of months (or until you get a new job, whichever comes first).
Follow the jump to find out what sets each incentive program apart. We've also created a handy comparison chart that lays out each program's component side-by-side.
| GM Total Confidence |
Ford Advantage Plan |
Hyundai Assurance Plus |
|
| Payment Protection |
Yes |
Yes | Yes |
| PP range |
24 months |
Before 1/1/10 |
12 months |
| PP length |
9 months |
12 months |
3 months |
| Payment max |
$500/month |
$700/month |
Unknown |
| Equity Assistance |
Yes |
No | No |
| EA eligibility |
After half of loan is paid |
N/A | N/A |
| EA limit |
$2,500 on a sale $5,000 on trade-in |
N/A | N/A |
| Vehicle Return |
No | No | Yes |
| VR range | N/A | N/A | 12 months |
| VR limit | N/A | N/A | $7,500 negative equity |
| Availability | April 1 through April 30 | Now through June 1 | Now through April 30 |
GM, Ford and Hyundai each have different terms and limits for their payment protection plans, but they're basically the same thing under the hood. Where each automaker differs is what's offered above and beyond payment protection. GM offers equity assistance, which that means if you've bought an eligible vehicle and made payments for at least half the life of your loan, the automaker will pay the difference between what you owe on the vehicle and its actual value when you decide to buy a new one. This erases any negative equity from depreciation that may have accumulated, and GM will cover up to $2,500 if you sell your vehicle to a private party and $5,000 if you trade it in for another GM vehicle. Neither Ford nor Hyundai offer a similar incentive.
Hyundai, however, allows you to outright return a new vehicle within 12 months with no credit ramifications if you lose your job. Neither GM nor Ford offer this incentive, and Hyundai also covers any negative equity accumulated up to $7,500 when you return a vehicle.
While the Ford Advantage Plan isn't as robust as the other two, it does offer some of the most generous payment protection terms by covering the owner for 12 months from the vehicle's purchase date and making payments up to $700/month, the highest limit of the three.
Check out the comparison chart above, which contains everything we know at this time about each program. Also, keep in mind that these incentive programs can be combined with other deals being offered like money back and low interest rates.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tango 3:56PM (3/31/2009)
Dont' buy a f@&king car if u cant afford it!
Reply
Josiah 4:03PM (3/31/2009)
Can you afford you car if you lost your job? How long could you continue to make payments with 0 income? I would guess that your answers would be no and "not long".
Erik 4:20PM (3/31/2009)
"Can you afford you car if you lost your job? How long could you continue to make payments with 0 income? I would guess that your answers would be no and "not long"."
Really? I would guess the answers would be:
Yes, since I paid cash for the car before I lost my job
and
Forever, since the payment is $0
Tango 4:31PM (3/31/2009)
How about keeping the car you drive now
lmao im driving a 89 fiesta, ~50 mpg, 200k miles, saving for a caddy
Erik 4:44PM (3/31/2009)
Right on Tango. If everyone took that approach, we
-would not have all the bad debt problems that are bringing down our economy,
-would maintain lower, steady, sustainable new car demand with production to match
-be a lot greener with less cars going to the trash heap before their time and less energy and resources going into the production of new cars.
Justin 6:11PM (3/31/2009)
Ah the old grandpa types who think you should buy everything with cash.
Gotta love em. They pop up trolling any board where spending money is involved.
Thanks for visiting Autoblog, and welcome to 2009 where credit is an economic necessity. Now go watch some Matlock or Murder She Wrote on your 19" black and white RCA and chill out. Not everyone is in the financial stone ages.
ps: Bragging about your 89 Fiesta?
Epyx 6:29PM (3/31/2009)
Actually, I have substantial savings (for the event that I could be out of work) and could continue making payments on my car (of course it is paid off already). If you live pay check to pay check you should not be buying a new car. Priorities.
By the way I am 31, hardly a Grandpa.
Credit is ok to use if it used responsibly. Meaning, no one should be making decisions based on a safety net.
Some people are supposed to be poor based on their own foolish actions.
Erik 6:53PM (3/31/2009)
Wow Justin, you just couldn't be more wrong.
"Ah the old grandpa types"
I am 32
"They pop up trolling any board where spending money is involved."
I have never posted on any board other than Autoblog
"Thanks for visiting Autoblog"
Been reading and commenting religously for over 3 years
"welcome to 2009 where credit is an economic necessity"
No, it is not a necessity. I have never financed any of my cars.
"Now go watch some Matlock or Murder She Wrote"
Never seen either
"on your 19" black and white RCA"
Try a 32" flatscreen
"Not everyone is in the financial stone ages"
Not everyone is levereged to the hilt and on the brink of bankrupcy
"ps: Bragging about your 89 Fiesta?"
At least he owns it. More impressive than being upside down in a BMW
keep the change 8:42PM (3/31/2009)
Totally Agree. I got rid of my payment on my new vehicle and went out and bought a 6 year old car with cash. Runs perfectly.
The economic bubble was created by easy credit and too many people using it. When that bubble burst, millions of people are now crying the blues about unemployment or potential unemployment. This is what happens when you build a consumer-drive economy predicated on borrowed money. For an economy to be stable and viable in the long term, it needs to be production-driven, not consumer-driven, and consumer spending needs to be cash, not borrowed.
This will not allow for boom times, but will also not allow for recession and certainly not depression. It will not allow for your home or investments to skyrocket in value, but will not allow it to depreciate from that skyrocketed valued either. That is key. And most importantly, if you do manage to get a job at a manufacturer, it will not be a job predicated on a false economic boom. Thus, it will be a safe job for it will be a job based on a slow, but stable demand not subject to the bursting of a bubble.
Yet, our politicians want to re-inflate that bubble by bailing out companies, bailing out banks, and by encouraging people to continue borrowing more money from those banks to continue buying more products from those companies. Either they don't understand economics 101, or they are insane.
Obama talked of big change, but this fundamental change eludes him. We need to shift from a consumer-driven economy to a production-economy. We can't maintain our standard of living by borrowing money to consume goods. Sooner or later the piper has to be paid.
Matt 10:46PM (3/31/2009)
I don't know anyone personally who has bought a car with just cash, I would guess the huge majority of people use credit. Everyone wants it "now". I bought my car on credit because I wanted to "get it now" instead of waiting to save $43000 for it...
Justin 10:31AM (4/01/2009)
You don't have to be old to act like a grandpa. I'm just referring to the antiquated notion that you should not buy something unless you can pay cash for it. Thats just not a reality anymore.
And yes, credit is an economic necessity, even if you personally can afford to buy an 89 Fiesta with cash. Whether you like it or not, the entire world economy is built on it, from micro-loans in India to billion dollar lines of credit held by the car companies you religiously follow.
Just because you buy a car with credit does not mean you are living paycheck to paycheck, in many cases its more financially responsible to purchase with credit and hold onto savings.
With respect to cars I won't even get into the details of the point that when car loans are around 0% its not too bright to buy a car for cash when you can get a loan for 0% and put the cash in the bank earning interest.
Finally, Erik, you are really missing out, Matlock is a great show.
Jeremy 10:37AM (4/01/2009)
@Matt
It's not that you have to pay for the car in cash, but that you have the means to do it. If you don't even have 30K in savings what business do you have buying a 30K car? Buy a beater and save until you can afford it.
nastinupe 9:36AM (4/02/2009)
Look guys, life isn't that simple. I lost my job last year and just landed a new position that starts April 20th (yay me) I have been out of work for over 8 months. I didn't qualify for unemployment because I was a 1099 contractor and I have no wife and no kids. I never had money to save for a rainy day. I had just enough in the bank to make it through these 8 months.
Not everyone has the money to purchase a car with cash. Most people need a car just to get to and from work and many employers won't even hire you unless you have transportation. So how do you expect someone to even have money if they can't get a job?
Through credit of course. Also, look at the car company that started this all... Hyundai. Not Mercedes or Porsche or Audi or BMW. These are people that aren't buying cars to put big rims on and floss, these are people that are trying to get into an Accent or Elantra so they can get from point A to point B.
Stop being so closed minded and assuming that everyone has things handed to them.
And as far as buying really really old cars, if you live in a state where they have car inspections, most "older" cars can't past those inspections, or you'd have to spend thousands of dollars to just get them up to spec.
Mark Mitchell 3:57PM (3/31/2009)
Looks like a competition to see who can pile up the most unrecoverable expenditures in the out years when supposedly some sort of recovery may be underway. This merely kicks the can of price cuts down the road and will seem just a dumb in three years as it does now. Desperation moves all.
Reply
bc 4:35PM (3/31/2009)
No, there's still insurance for this type of situation available, and the premiums can be built into the monthly payment, just like mortgage insurance. It's really just shuffling incentive money around, looking for a package that will seem more attractive to buyers.
hyundaifans.com 3:57PM (3/31/2009)
I think GM delivered a monster this morning. Lets see if Hyundai ups the ante.
Reply
Josiah 4:04PM (3/31/2009)
Hyundai doesn't need to up the ante, it would have posted great sales even without the incentive program. Hyundai can now take the approach of Toyota (long and conservative) while they watch GM/Chrysler play catch up.
asanderson 7:16PM (3/31/2009)
Hyundai is already getting ready to deliver yet another benefit to their program... just not released yet. You should check out the company backing their Assurance Program. I bet they offer the whole enchilada backing the entire term of the loan/lease.
Frylock350 9:39PM (3/31/2009)
@Josiah,
Rest assured Hyundai will play ball with GM. Hyundai isn't Toyota, they aren't arrogant. They will mostly likely wait to see if GM's plan helps them, if it does, they'll reciprocate. They aren't stupid and they aren't too proud to take a good idea when they see it.
RandomNess 3:58PM (3/31/2009)
Why does GM only last for April? I know the government gave them a new deadline but did they just lose hope also? Seems like it'd be better for them to keep this "Confidence" thing going for more then 30 days.
Reply