Have your eye on a 2009 Hyundai Genesis sedan, but are worried about your job situation? Hyundai to the rescue! In cooperation with Walkaway USA, Hyundai is introducing an unprecedented offer for new car buyers: If you lose your job in the first year of ownership, simply return it for little or no cost to you. Called the Hyundai Assurance Program, it’s good for the first year of ownership, and is in conjunction with Hyundai’s already excellent warranty program.
The basics are this: If you find yourself laid off, disabled, without a driver’s license, transferred overseas, declaring personal bankruptcy or, y’know, dead within the first 12 months of ownership, the Hyundai Assurance Program
- 2009 Hyundai Genesis
will pay difference between the trade-in value and what’s left on the loan, up to $7,500. There are a couple of caveats: You must have made at least two regular payments, and have to take care of any payments due before filing a claim. If the $7,500 doesn’t cover the entire difference, you have to make it up yourself. Regardless, it’s not a bad deal, and since the lousy economy is one of the factors driving car sales into the sewer, this kind of assurance might actually help perk up sales.
On the other hand, it’s not entirely without risk. It could be that sales will rise, but Hyundai will wind up saddled with a bunch of cars that people suddenly couldn’t afford to own. A similar thing happened with Mitsubishi and its zero-zero-zero financing scheme a few years ago, and it nearly ruined the company. Still, hats off to Hyundai.
