Not only would I accept it, I’d LOVE it!
I drive an 88 Econoline van in Memphis with no A/C and windows that don’t roll down. It hasn’t even hit the 90s yet and I can barely breathe in it. Hell I’d let them paint logos all over the van if they’d fix her up with a new a/c and fix the windows.
So why should I take the car again? The car isn’t special; it’s a none too fancy, just like the car I have now, except it’s covered in crap. Why not just drive my car, instead of the crappy one? Because it’s free? If I could sell it right away, sure, but I’d have to drive it around for three years, when I’d rather drive mine. Maybe if the car had jet boosters, or something, or got 100 mpg, I’d take it.
This.
I don’t have a problem with the advertising thing, per se, but without knowing who, I wouldn’t want to take a chance on advertising someone I disagreed with.
(Of course, I, as yet, don’t have my G licence, so it’s not like I’d be able to drive the car, anyway…but in the hypothetical, I can also hypothetically have taken the final test, of course.)
Female, no. I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t be ugly, and it would be distracting to other drivers.
I can’t even abide a bumper sticker. My husband stuck one on my car – “Give me chocolate and no one gets hurt”. I was ticked, even though I agree with the sentiment. I couldn’t get it off but it’s faded now so I don’t notice it.
No bumper stickers, no magnetic ribbons, and nothing hanging from the rear view mirror.
Yes!! they are ugly!!
Yes!! they are distracting!
They are commonly flouresent green, bright yellow, or VW-orange with writing all over them. I couldnt bring myself to park it in front of my house.
(It is still a brand new car though)
Then again, on the other hand, it could be advertising that you would love to have!!!
Think your favorite baseball, hockey, or football team logos.
Or…Chevy…or Ford…or Coca Cola…or Budweiser beer ?
I couldn’t answer the question, because the hypothetical doesn’t have enough info. My current car was bought used, for cash, and mine since the day it drove off the lot. It’s still good for maybe 3 years or more, if I’m lucky. It was never worth enough since I bought it for collision-comp insurance to have been worthwhile. Just the state-required liability insurance, which would cost me exactly the same. Do I have to pay for the collision insurance? That would cost me more than I pay now. Where’s the up-side?
ETA: Admittedly, I could sell my current one, and have about the $2k current blue-book value to spend, but would that make up for the down-side of being someone’s highly noticeable billboard? Not if I have to spend that cash on extra insurance that I don’t currently need…
No way in hell. I don’t have a lot of money, but I still have a soul.
This.
And, ah, I don’t have my license and I live in London, so I have no need to.
I’m passively in favour of more public transport, anyway. I really should get around to getting that license, in spite of it.
Yup, female and I’d take a nice new mini van, even if it was covered in logos. I’m not proud.
Sure! Added bonus, I bet I will be able to find it in any parking lot, anywhere (unlike the nondescript cars I tend to drive which look live Everycar).
Same. I drive what I need to drive. And I plan for what I need to drive. I am already sick and tired of being constantly bombarded by adds and bill boards.
I have seen a couple of wraped cares around here. And only guess that they must get all the Red Bull 'or whatever is on the current market that they want. Seems pretty sad.
I’m curious if the men would have a problem if the car turned out to be a glittery pink number complete with Barbie, Tampax and Summer’s Eve logos.
There’s more than just insurance to consider. I’m not a tax guy, but I suspect the value of the car would be taxable as income, there may be other taxes due, plus the car tag–several hundred dollars in some states. The “free car” could end up costing several thousand in taxes…
I’d drive a hot pink car covered in unicorns if the price is right.
I don’t. I’d take the car, sell my current car, and never think about it again.
There was actually a company offering something similar in the Toronto area a few years ago. I thopught about taking them up on the offer, but you had to drive the car around for a specified number of hours on major routes, and go to major traffic locations like malls, presumably to expose the ads to eyeballs.
If I could restrict the broad categories of advertisements to things I like or agree with (or at least don’t disagree with or loathe), I still might, but with no control over the ads, I wouldn’t take the offer.
In a heartbeat!
Free car? frell yes I’d take it, if I didn’t like the product being advertised, I’d use it as an opportunity to badmouth said product and undermine the company in the process, nowhere in the OP did it say you had to promote the company yourself…
“see, Acme Widgets is so desperate to move their shoddy, unreliable, overpriced crap that they have to resort to rolling billboards like this, if they’re this desperate for business, I can imagine they’ll be going out of business soon, don’t waste your money on their products, they won’t be around to support them soon enough…”
Add me to the “no way in hell” list.
When I went through a bad spot financially about 20 years ago I probably would have considered it, but I would have felt like I was selling a piece of my soul at the time and would not have been happy about it.