Premium Pricing, Just For You

As I explained in this post, a co-worker of mine got into an accident. She totaled her car, and now has to buy a new one. She would like to replace the make/model she has now with the same. Let’s say it is a “legacy car” because it runs on gas. It is not a hybrid, an electric, or a fuel cell powered car.

My co-worker lives in Ft. Lauderdale, and does her car shopping around Miami. She learned something interesting this week. The new model year of “legacy cars” qualifies for premium pricing: as incentive to people to buy environmentally friendly cars, the dealerships are raising the price of gas-consuming cars so that the incentive to buy green cars increases. Hey, if both types of car cost the same, why not go green, right? Well, unless you are now priced out of the new car market completely. And, wait, aren’t almost all used cars “legacy cars”…?

Ah, yes, I forgot what “green” really symbolized: the money to be made by the auto dealerships. Yes, it is their perogative to earn a profit, but to screw the public at the same time under the guise of environmentalism is quite…er…familiar. Which makes these benevolent car dealerships the Idiots of the Week.

Runner up for the Idiot of the Week: some 50-something dude whose lawnmower stopped working, so he shot it. Yep, with a shotgun. How’s that for using your noggin’? (I have no link to the story; I saw it on Earthlink’s news site last week, but did not copy the link.)

I won’t get in trouble for saying “noggin”, will I? Just askin’.