CarShield is huge with the demographic I work with in my job. I see it all the time. A $1500 repair is totally beyond someone, but they can pay $100 month for the "warranty," even though they'd have plenty more than $1500 saved up if they ran their finances correctly. The CarShield target demographic doesn't have credit cards either, so that's not an option for a big repair. Plenty of them don't even have bank accounts. These folks live on SS and count the minutes until their next deposit, which often comes on a Direct Express card because they cannot have a bank account. So that's how they can handle a monthly payment, but not big repair.

Where do you work? Ecuador?

I sell final expense insurance, mostly around Phoenix, but also work in Indiana once in a while. There is a lot of overlap between the target markets for both products. I have seen plenty of people paying $140+ per month for CarShied on a car that can't be worth what they spend in a year on CarShield. But then, if they were good with their money, they wouldn't need final expense insurance.

"final expense"? Wassat?

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I read about this company a couple of years ago, the Better Business Bureau does not look favorably on these guys.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
"final expense"? Wassat?

Whole life insurance up to about $25-30k for people who don't want their funeral costs to fall on the shoulders of their kids. Demographic is 55-80 yrs old, on a fixed income or soon will be. CarShield obviously goes a little younger, but there is a lot of overlap.

Oh, none of that for me. I'll not burden my wife with such things. Cremation, and no funeral, no memorial service. Minimal fuss with the corpus. I won't be there.

If SIGforum members want to honor me after I kick, read a thread or two before posting to it.

I feel the same way. You'd be amazed by how many poor people think they have to have a fancy funeral. But I'd rather deal with people who already have insurance, as they've demonstrated a desire and ability to pay for it. If I can find them a better deal, I get paid and they get more coverage for the same price or the same coverage for a lower price.

If Car Shield didn't make a profit on the policy, they wouldn't sell it. A better idea is to set a specific amount each month to bank against the car breaking down.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I feel the same way. You'd be amazed by how many poor people think they have to have a fancy funeral.

I've noticed that. It seems to me it's symptomatic of the same things that kept them in poverty- they're just not very bright or sophisticated. The lessons that life teaches a reasonably sharp person are lost on dumb people. It is not my intention to be cruel; it simply seems to be the truth, proven time and again.

Funerals are for the living not for the dead. I am reminded of the Epicurean epitaph: Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo : I was not; I was; I am not; I do not care

Put me in a ziplock bag, and toss. Save the cash. Have a party if you will, I will not be in attendance. Same with the car policy.

At one point I worked for family who ran a very successful funeral home business. After I had been on board for a while, they were sufficiently impressed with me to offer to send me to Funeral Director / Embalmers School. Which would have translated into a very lucrative career. I passed on it. The one thing I took away from the experience is that no one will make money on my death or funeral. I have just enough insurance to cover my cremation and give my kid a little cash. No final blowout for me!

I met a Mexican lady a few years ago who had bought a funeral pre-need plan, but, as always, not read the fine print. She had financed it, I think over four years and was paying $140/mo. I think the final benefit was going to be around $6300. But, by not paying it off in four years, there was a monster finance charge that went back to day one. By the time I got to her, she was knee deep into it with no end in sight. She would have paid in about $18k for that $6300 funeral benefit. I couldn't unwind the whole thing, but was able to stop the bleeding and put her into a whole life policy for half the price that would pay $10k upon her death. She's two years in now, so it's non-contestable and will pay no matter what, as long as she keeps up the payments.

I'm in the camp that your elderly relative should just deposit that $100/month in a savings account. With minimal care, Toyotas are VERY good on maintenance costs.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
CarShield is huge with the demographic I work with in my job. I see it all the time. A $1500 repair is totally beyond someone, but they can pay $100 month for the "warranty," even though they'd have plenty more than $1500 saved up if they ran their finances correctly. The CarShield target demographic doesn't have credit cards either, so that's not an option for a big repair. Plenty of them don't even have bank accounts. These folks live on SS and count the minutes until their next deposit, which often comes on a Direct Express card because they cannot have a bank account. So that's how they can handle a monthly payment, but not big repair.

No credit card , no bank account , but they pay a monthly note ... Where did you get this bullshit ?

Lots of (primarily lower income) folks go through life without bank accounts, just using cash, prepaid debit cards, and government provided benefit cards. They often cannot get a bank account, due to being undocumented, or having burned banks before by running out on debt and tanking their banking history and credit score.

Low income areas will feature "buy here pay here" used car dealerships, who finance used cars (often higher mileage cars at high interest rates) to folks who can't get a conventional car loan. No bank account required. Instead, the buyer simply goes in person to the used car dealer every month to make their car payment, often with cash. The cars are fitted with remote shutoffs and gps devices, so if you miss a payment, the dealership simply shuts off the car until they can come repo it. They then pocket the payments you already made, and sell/rent it to the next person.

Similarly, there are various "rent to own" places that will finance furniture and electronics in a similar monthly manner, no bank account required.

And monthly prepaid cell phone carriers, where the person goes to the store or a kiosk every month to make a cash or prepaid debit card payment, or else purchases a cheap phone and uses prepaid card from a store to load minutes onto their phone.

And monthly car insurance places, where the person goes to the agent's storefront every month to pay for their insurance via cash or prepaid debit card.

See also check cashing businesses, for folks without bank accounts to convert paychecks and other checks to cash or debit cards (minus a fee).

All are very common in low income areas, where folks without bank accounts predominate. You just apparently have had little to no personal experience with that demographic.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
CarShield is huge with the demographic I work with in my job. I see it all the time. A $1500 repair is totally beyond someone, but they can pay $100 month for the "warranty," even though they'd have plenty more than $1500 saved up if they ran their finances correctly. The CarShield target demographic doesn't have credit cards either, so that's not an option for a big repair. Plenty of them don't even have bank accounts. These folks live on SS and count the minutes until their next deposit, which often comes on a Direct Express card because they cannot have a bank account. So that's how they can handle a monthly payment, but not big repair.

No credit card , no bank account , but they pay a monthly note ... Where did you get this bullshit ?

Are you kidding me? Yes, this exists and is very common. I deal with it every single day and have for years. Ever see the commercials for Chime, NetSpend and GreenDot cards? Those are the folks too young to get a Direct Express card (because not yet on SS or SSDI), but are equally bad with money, usually blacklisted by banks for running away from NSF debt. This is a huge demographic. I never heard about about until I started working in final expense. So your ignorance can be forgiven.

BTW, the first customer of mine I know about also having a CarShield subscription is a 77 y/o man. He still works as a security guard and can barely afford his rent and food. His car was down for need motor mounts, but CarShield denied the claim, something about the shop using Hyundai-branded parts instead of the generics. Of course, the work was already done. So he couldn't get his car back without paying out of pocket. Of course, he has no credit cards. He called to tell me he'd not be able to make his life insurance premium payment that month. No big deal. It's an auto bank draft thing and he had some cash value to keep his policy alive for a while. He actually called me last week in a panic, needed to get a loan against his remaining $660 of cash value or he'd be evicted. He had $15 in his bank account until his next SS deposit, which is on Aug. 3rd. I tried to help, but no insurance company is going to process something that fast. Imagine being 77, still having to work and being that broke. No idea how long he had been paying CarShield before he quit them for denying his claim.

And if you can believe this, there are still debit agents for life insurance, who go visit their customers each month and collect cash for the premiums. They give the customer a BINGO-like card and stamp it with each payment. That's a dying breed, but I've run into it before.

quote:

Low income areas are awash in "buy here pay here" used car dealerships, who finance used cars (often higher mileage cars at high interest rates) to folks who can't get a conventional car loan. No bank account required. Instead, the buyer simply goes in person to the used car dealer every month to make their car payment, often with cash. The cars are fitted with remote shutoffs and gps devices, so if you miss a payment, the dealership simply shuts off the car until they can come repo it. They then pocket the payments you already made, and sell/rent it to the next person.

Not just the “buy here, pay here” lots. Many franchised new car dealers also play that same game. Previous to the last dealership I worked at wholesaled the high mileage cars and didn’t play the “we finance everybody”game like the last one I worked at.

Last one we stocked in the parts department under part number the GPS/Immobilizer(s), several different ones dependent on who financed the car.

Dealers love those “special financing” cars.They get to sell it at a higher margin than if they wholesaled it off and normally when (not if) it’s repossessed it’s on a non recourse clause so the finance company keeps the car if it’s recovered, not the dealer. So one way or the other the POS has left the dealer’s lot and won’t come back again.