General Motors' 60 Day Money Back Promotion Shines

A lot of folks thought old Bob Lutz was crazy for dusting off the ancient automobile promotion bag of tricks and guaranteeing a 60 day money back policy on any General Motors automobile purchased. Many pundits found Lutz, who was thrust into the marketing czar role at General Motors lacking the youthful savvy that is needed to win the hearts and minds of auto buyers. I guess Lutz, in his late 70s, taught those old whipper snappers a thing or two.

It appears that Lutz’s promotion has done quite well. I like this story on two fronts. First, the results give a view of hard numbers on the dynamics of a promotion which are not often seen and secondly, the money back scheme actually sold a bunch of American made cars to satisfied buyers.

The 60 day money back guarantee offers buyers two full months to decide if they like their new drive or not. If a discontent purchaser returns the car the dealer will reclaim it and give the buyer the full price they paid (with certan conditions applied, of course).

Some skeptics thought a bunch of gum popping kids would invade Chevrolet showrooms and check out a new Corvette only to return it 60 days later much worse for the wear. This was not the case at all. Lutz, who commands the attention of a group of journalists like Moses speaking to his people, was ebullient at reporting the results.

Views on the internet of GM products has risen 15 percent since the introduction of the promotion. Over 150,000 new vehicles were sold. Within that number, the stats are pretty interesting. Only a few hundred drivers actually signed on for a new GM product and asked for the 60 day money back deal. The vast majority were more enticed by the additional $500 rebate they could obtain in lieu of the return policy.

Out of the couple of hundred that took the 60 day plan, only one car was returned, and that was due to the fact the buyer wanted to change his drive from the a manual to automatic transmission.

So without a lot of back office aggravation a lot of people were reacquainted with the GM brand. Score one for the old guy!