Lincoln News: Lincoln's Used-Car Subscription Program Not Doing So Well

[William Maley]

Lincoln launched a pilot program for its own subscription service through Ford's Canvas earlier this year in the Los Angeles and the San Francisco areas. Unlike other programs that offer new vehicles, Lincoln's program offered off-lease vehicles that ranged from 2015 to 2017 model years. This allowed Lincoln to offer lower prices than competitors - prices ranged from $500 to $950 plus variable pricing on the amount of miles per month. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lincoln's subscription service isn't doing so hot.

“I’ve been surprised how few people are genuinely interested in that type of ownership. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said this is the next big thing. A lot of people are struggling to make the math work,” said Lincoln’s director of marketing, sales and service, Robert Parker.

Parker explained that most of the customers who signed up needed a vehicle for a short time like searching for a new vehicle or needing something to get them around while their car was in the shop. 

“The amount of people coming out after one or two months is very high. It’s just kind of an interim process,” said Parker.

Lincoln is going to be making some changes to their program, although it is unclear what those might be. Parker threw out the suggestion of involving Lincoln dealers in the service, along with expanding vehicle ability.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[smk4565]

You can lease a brand new Lincoln for $300-400 a month first off.  And secondly, maybe after one month in a Lincoln they couldn’t wait to get a different car.

[daves87rs]

Cancel the program already.....

[Drew Dowdell]

DUH! They picked the two markets that are the most import heavy. 

[Drew Dowdell]

if the costs weren't so high, I'd consider it myself. It's basically like renting a car. 

[riviera74]

When will people learn?  Car sharing is a BAD IDEA!  I don't care which marque does this but NOBODY should share a car. . . . . unless you are in a place for a week or two.  Cars are NOT smartphones or magazine subscriptions.

[Drew Dowdell]

6 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

When will people learn?  Car sharing is a BAD IDEA!  I don't care which marque does this but NOBODY should share a car. . . . . unless you are in a place for a week or two.  Cars are NOT smartphones or magazine subscriptions.

Why? It's just a long term rental with insurance and maintenance built in.  If someone like GM did it at reasonable prices (fat chance) I would get into it. Swap cars twice a year, have an AWD SUV in the winter and a Camaro in the summer.  Or if I know I'm going to be doing a lot of hauling, get a truck. 

[regfootball]

^^^ interesting idea.  Camaro in summer when there's no snow.  AWD in winter.  I like the thinking.

[A Horse With No Name]

16 hours ago, smk4565 said:

You can lease a brand new Lincoln for $300-400 a month first off.  And secondly, maybe after one month in a Lincoln they couldn’t wait to get a different car.

Probably the most true thing you have said in 10 years of reading your posts. BRAVO!

14 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

DUH! They picked the two markets that are the most import heavy. 

....and going to get more import heavy. Peoples buying habits are not going to change.

14 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Cancel the program already.....

...and shutter the plants.

11 hours ago, regfootball said:

^^^ interesting idea.  Camaro in summer when there's no snow.  AWD in winter.  I like the thinking.

Agreed.

13 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

if the costs weren't so high, I'd consider it myself. It's basically like renting a car. 

if it flies F#$%@ or floats....you are better off renting it. True for race cars, true for regular cars.

[David]

Love the fact that I have not had a auto payment in years. Scaled down my auto stable so I have the following paid for awesome auto's.

• 1994 GMC Suburban SLE 402 V8 Custom powertrain / suspension
• 1999 Dodge Durango SLT 4x4 w/ 5.9L V8
• 2006 Escalade ESV Platinum
• 2008 Trailblazer SS AWD

Since I hold onto my auto's, I see no value to me in subscription service of never ending payments. I also see no value in swapping auto's every 2-3 years like my brother in law does with 2 or 3 year leases. I will stay with buying and upgrading my auto's to meet my needs and holding onto them. Next purchase will be an EV when one comes out that the wife loves and wants to drive for her work.

An Auto OEM worst nightmare are buyers like me.

 

[ccap41]

^ Preaches for EV's to take over the world. 

[A Horse With No Name]

I prefer Klingons to EV myself. If something is going to take over the world it should at least be interesting.

[regfootball]

3 hours ago, dfelt said:

Love the fact that I have not had a auto payment in years. Scaled down my auto stable so I have the following paid for awesome auto's.

• 1994 GMC Suburban SLE 402 V8 Custom powertrain / suspension
• 1999 Dodge Durango SLT 4x4 w/ 5.9L V8
• 2006 Escalade ESV Platinum
• 2008 Trailblazer SS AWD

Since I hold onto my auto's, I see no value to me in subscription service of never ending payments. I also see no value in swapping auto's every 2-3 years like my brother in law does with 2 or 3 year leases. I will stay with buying and upgrading my auto's to meet my needs and holding onto them. Next purchase will be an EV when one comes out that the wife loves and wants to drive for her work.

An Auto OEM worst nightmare are buyers like me.

 

your solution works good for you, and other solutions work good for others.  You are buying insurance for 4 vehicles, and parts and maintenance on those.  The risk for many who are not repair savvy and if a particular vehicle is not reliable, is that they may cost more to repair and maintain.  Fuel costs are worth considering too.

I've had a few vehicles where i have paid them off and then mysteriously after that happens then the AWD malfunctions, or the tranny threatens to die etc.  50% chance you'll win that scenario and 50% chance you will lose.

I don't mind for a few years right now when we put huge miles on our vehicles, to lease.  We travel to relatives a lot and so I like the peace of mind of a newer vehicle with warranty etc.  And I get the best miles out of that vehicle.  (We rode our town and country hard and put close to 50k miles on it and I didn't ever even put brakes or tires or anything on it.  Had I bought it at lease end, the monthly would have gone up quite a bit and I would still be looking at maintenance costs.  It is tempting to find a used vehicle that you can bet the future on and not have payments, but that's a bit of a roll of the dice.  Mostly though, used vehicles with life cost an arm and leg too.  

If the lease terms are ok I am fine with that, but what is more of a loss are those that buy and then trade often, that is where you take the bath on paying for all that interest, depreciation, sales tax, etc.  And an example of a minivan.  I am never going to want to own it long term, my needs will change.  So buying is not even smart in that degree.

Edited September 25, 2018 by regfootball

[David]

2 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I prefer Klingons to EV myself. If something is going to take over the world it should at least be interesting.

Lots of interesting EVs coming my friend, trust me! :D 

16 minutes ago, regfootball said:

your solution works good for you, and other solutions work good for others.  You are buying insurance for 4 vehicles, and parts and maintenance on those.  The risk for many who are not repair savvy and if a particular vehicle is not reliable, is that they may cost more to repair and maintain.  Fuel costs are worth considering too.

I've had a few vehicles where i have paid them off and then mysteriously after that happens then the AWD malfunctions, or the tranny threatens to die etc.  50% chance you'll win that scenario and 50% chance you will lose.

I don't mind for a few years right now when we put huge miles on our vehicles, to lease.  We travel to relatives a lot and so I like the peace of mind of a newer vehicle with warranty etc.  And I get the best miles out of that vehicle.  (We rode our town and country hard and put close to 50k miles on it and I didn't ever even put brakes or tires or anything on it.  Had I bought it at lease end, the monthly would have gone up quite a bit and I would still be looking at maintenance costs.  It is tempting to find a used vehicle that you can bet the future on and not have payments, but that's a bit of a roll of the dice.  Mostly though, used vehicles with life cost an arm and leg too.  

If the lease terms are ok I am fine with that, but what is more of a loss are those that buy and then trade often, that is where you take the bath on paying for all that interest, depreciation, sales tax, etc.  And an example of a minivan.  I am never going to want to own it long term, my needs will change.  So buying is not even smart in that degree.

I can understand and respect where you are coming from. For me, the lifestyle I have lived growing up and shown my own kids, a minivan would never work. My kids also could never use a car or minivan as the lifestyle they also live requires an SUV. From winter sports to offroading, camping exploring the world, they accept the lower fuel efficiency and added maintenance for the versatility an SUV gives them.

[Drew Dowdell]

Same reason I grew up in 4x4 wagons (Suburu GL and Dodge Colt Vista)... we were always out camping and such.  The "wilds" of NJ where we went weren't enough to warrant a Suburban, but if we really needed to get somewhere the Colt Vista couldn't, my dad's F250 could do it.

That said, my dad couldn't help taunting a show-off Wrangler driver who was on a lightweight off-road course.  Put the Colt Vista into 4WD and started following him around the course with 2 kids in carseats in the back. 

[frogger]

Cars should be so reliable now, I'm ok with driving one 15 years, ~180,000 miles+.  Probably  I've just been lucky with current ride and the next one will need warranty service or something other than the basics in that time.  I'd rather build up equity, spend on travel and family, retire by 55 than spend on new vehicles.  Maybe my parent's first generation immigrant cheapness made its way to me as I get older.  For the life of me we cannot get them to enjoy their $$.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[regfootball]

8 hours ago, dfelt said:

Lots of interesting EVs coming my friend, trust me!

I can understand and respect where you are coming from. For me, the lifestyle I have lived growing up and shown my own kids, a minivan would never work. My kids also could never use a car or minivan as the lifestyle they also live requires an SUV. From winter sports to offroading, camping exploring the world, they accept the lower fuel efficiency and added maintenance for the versatility an SUV gives them.

i do think older BOF SUV's if you can find good ones are good investments.  I still regret not at least looking into a Tahoe back a few years ago.  It was like a 5 year old but with 140,000 on it but looked like new inside and out.  That's one i likely would have lost little money on over time.

5 hours ago, frogger said:

Cars should be so reliable now, I'm ok with driving one 15 years, ~180,000 miles+.  Probably  I've just been lucky with current ride and the next one will need warranty service or something other than the basics in that time.  I'd rather build up equity, spend on travel and family, retire by 55 than spend on new vehicles.  Maybe my parent's first generation immigrant cheapness made its way to me as I get older.  For the life of me we cannot get them to enjoy their $$.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

part of the discussion on expense of vehicles these days has to talk about those who buy the luxury brands and spend twice as much for what they can get with other brands.  That's a topic that can be debated all day.  But where i work some of the 'ups' (and in particular the women) drive Volvo Audi SUV etc.  Everyone has a right to get what they like and need.  But honestly a 60-70k Volvo or Audi crossover isn't going to do something 4x better than a GMC Acadia...... Americans spend lots of $$$ for brand elitism....

[Drew Dowdell]

 

10 hours ago, regfootball said:

But honestly a 60-70k Volvo or Audi crossover isn't going to do something 4x better than a GMC Acadia...... Americans spend lots of $$$ for brand elitism....

That's the hardest part about reviewing cars these days.  They're all so good at what they do that most comments we have on them boil down to nit-picking.  It's really rare to get a car that is truly bad for the class... and these days even a Corolla has 98% of the safety tech that a Benz has..  Sometimes even more because the Corolla comes with it standard. 

[regfootball]

So true.  I occasionally get to be a passenger in a coworkers Audi Q7. I get inside the thing and apart from ‘crisp panel gaps and seams’ the q7 gray interior, especially in ‘family lived in condition’ the interior is almost 2004 Pontiacesque in its perceived luxury and ambiance to me.