- If a fix works, why not bring it back when everything else feel like it’s breaking?
- Hyundai received kudos for its Assurance program during the Great Recession, so it’s bringing a modified version back during the coronavirus pandemic.
- This time, the luxury arm Genesis gets in on the action as well, with both offering 90-day deferred payments for new purchases and six months of payments covered if you lose your job.
During the 2008–2009 recession, Hyundai launched what it called the Hyundai Assurance Program, which promised people who financed or leased a new Hyundai that they could return it within a year with no impact on their credit. It was a different kind of incentive for the brand, and the response was so positive that the promotion hung on for over two years and the automaker was named the Marketer of the Year by the readers of Ad Age. Ford and GM chimed in with similar programs at the time, too.
Now we’re in another period of massive upheaval thanks to the coronavirus, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Hyundai has brought its Assurance program back. The details are different now, but the message of supporting its customers remains.
Here’s the Deal
In 2020, instead of promising to buy back your vehicle, Hyundai is instead offering up to six months of payment relief for people who buy or lease a Hyundai between today and the end of April and then lose their jobs. The first payment is also deferred for 90 days for those shoppers.
Hyundai’s luxury brand, Genesis, was not around in 2009, but the automaker now apparently thinks that even people who are shopping with a bigger budget might get hit by COVID-19 fallout. That’s why Genesis is getting its own version of the Assurance program, called Genesis Cares Job Loss Protection.
For Genesis, the six-months-of-payments program applies to anyone who purchases a new Genesis vehicle between today and April 30, 2020. The customer has to finance or lease it through Genesis Finance and then experience an “involuntary job loss” any time this year. On top of this, anyone who buys a new 2019 Genesis G70 and finances it with Genesis Finance in that same time frame can get their payments deferred for 90 days.
For Hyundai buyers, the deal is pretty much the same; just replace Genesis Finance with Hyundai Capital and, for the payment deferment part, sub out the G70 for any of the following: Santa Fe, Tucson, Elantra, Elantra GT, Kona, Venue, and Accent.
For both brands, the deferred payments only kick in if you’ve financed at a zero percent annual percentage rate. The job-loss payments are available through December 31, 2020.
The return of the Assurance program is due to the “extreme uncertainty” and anxiety that the coronavirus is having on customers, José Muñoz, the president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America, said in a statement. “Bringing back the job loss protection program in this unprecedented time will allow our customers to have one less thing to worry about if something unexpected happens to their employment status,” he said.
