Traded-In: These "Used" Senators Sold Out The Troops for Auto Dealer Cash

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/traded-in-these-used-sena_b_589361.html

If you have a yellow "Support Our Troops" sticker on your car - or even if you don't - you should know the name of the Senators who just traded in our troops, their families, and our military readiness for the easy cash offered by auto dealers. There's no rational policy reason for this exclusion: It's special interest politics, pure and simple. These Senators acted against the objections of military leaders and Gen. Petraeus' wife Holly. But they're not just voting to hurt soldiers: Every American who buys a car on credit is likely to suffer if this "instruction to Senate negotiators" prevails.

Call it "clunkers for cash." Auto dealers are generous with their campaign contributions, both individually and as a group. And they're usually community leaders, active and influential in local politics (and local campaign giving). The National Auto Dealers Association, the lobbying group for new and used car vendors, called the tune and these solons danced. Take a look at the Association's leadership and then ask yourselves: Would you buy a used Senator from these men?

You know why Americans place car salespeople at the very bottom of the list when asked to rate professions for honesty and ethics? Probably because they've bought a car. And they don't know the half of it. They may not have heard about about the "dealer add-in rate," for example, where dealers are allowed to add points on the interest rate and keep it for themselves (i.e. quoting you 10% interest when the bank's only charging 8%, and keeping the difference.) The Center For Responsible Lending estimates that these markups (which they rightfully call "kickbacks") cost consumers $20 billion a year and added $647 to the price of each vehicle (pdf)

They also may not know about the way dealers handle "gap insurance" for cars, which pays the difference between what your auto insurance covers and the remaining cost of your loan if a car is totaled. Dealers reportedly charge three times as much for this insurance as credit unions.


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