Hyundai's Confusing Monthly Cash-Back Commercials

After using the innovative incentive programs Hyundai Assurance and Assurance Plus to ride out the economic storm, Hyundai is touting a new program, promising that if a customer buys a vehicle before June 30, the automaker will send him or her six months of cash payments.

The ads are a bit on the misleading side, however, as Hyundai is not actually offering a new deal or adding any additional money. Rather, it’s giving consumers the option to take the cash back offered on their vehicles in the form of six monthly payments rather than one lump sum.

Say you buy a 2008 Veracruz that already has a $4,000 cash-back offer. Rather than getting a $4,000 price reduction, you can opt for six monthly payments of $666.67 to a Visa debit card. In other words, it’s a different package for the same offer.

There’s also a possibility that Hyundai is cluttering its offers and that this deal will get confused with its Assurance plan, which allows for the return of a car if the buyer loses his or her job. Why not just say, “This car will cost $4,000 less”?

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