Subaru commercial

[SAmadei]

I was curious if something struck you guys about the new Subaru commercial...

Its a 2009 Subaru at the junkyard and the guy visits it in his new 2010 Subaru... thinking "My Subaru saved my life"... He looks over the car... then unscrews the gear shifter to keep as a reminder.

Of course, this is probably something most people don't consider, but since he has a new car, the insurance as most likely bought his old car... and at that point, the insurance company owns the whole car. Sure, you can remove personal belongings, but not car parts. Usually, you see these cars at the Pick-a-Parts with large stickers from the insurance companies pointing out that parts are not to be removed.

Of course, this guy might have tracked his car down to a pick-a-part and legitimately bought the gear shifter knob... but P-a-Ps usually don't have such new cars and don't have cars stacked up five high, as in the commercial background.

Just curious some of your thoughts.

[A Horse With No Name]

It's fiction, and as such I don't think its endorsing anything...other than buying a Subie.

Subaru, Honda and Mazda build about the only decent Japanese cars IMHO.

[Satty]

Is an insurance company really going to worry about a shift knob?

[ocnblu]

I haven't seen the commercial, but if it is the shift LEVER, then of course the insurance company will want that, it is a saleable part of the car.

[vonVeezelsnider]

I haven't seen the commercial, but if it is the shift LEVER, then of course the insurance company will want that, it is a saleable part of the car.

I've seen the commercial, it's not the lever, it's the knob (like off a manual stick-shift)

As an aside, where I live (Alberta) if your car is totaled in an accident and the insurance company sends you a cheque for what it's worth, you still OWN the car. I know that it's different in other jurisdictions but here, the insurance company isn't legally permitted to take ownership of the car. You can't re-register it for use on the road but you are allowed to part it out and sell the parts or put it up for auction.

Edited April 19, 2010 by vonVeezelsnider

[ocnblu]

Now see, that's awesome... it seems like double-dipping, though. To be able to keep ownership of the car AFTER it is totaled and the insurance company pays you its retail value?

[67impss]

Thats more equitable than here where they don't even give you close to any of the major estimates for your car let alone the hassle of the whole incident isn't even compensated for.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Now see, that's awesome... it seems like double-dipping, though. To be able to keep ownership of the car AFTER it is totaled and the insurance company pays you its retail value?

My understanding is that you can't register it for use again as you can't get a new insurance policy on it. Parting it out or auctioning it to a parting company is okay however.

It is that way because of a class action appeal (in the early-mid 1990s IIRC), but sure enough it was the case with my late grandfather's 1996 Windstar after it was totaled in a collision in 2003. Even though my grandfather had already taken the 8000 odd dollars and used it towards his 2001 Caravan Sport, he still could have taken the old van back. It was discussed at length between my dad and my grandfather at the time that he could always have it towed from the Calgary Police Department impound yard back to the house but there was a question of having the space to part out the vehicle and finding a buyer for the parts.

He decided against it and just left it in the yard... after a while the insurance company stopped paying for the impound fees and he got a letter in the mail saying he had 7 days to get his vehicle out and pay the fees or the police would put it to auction themselves to cover the fees.

Edited April 19, 2010 by vonVeezelsnider

[Robert Hall]

IIRC from the ad, it was a personal knob (non factory part). When a friend of mine totalled his '05 3-series a few years ago, he did visit the wrecking yard and remove personal items from the car (CD, laptop computer, etc) as well as the aftermarket wheels he had put on it (though one was bent), to put on it's identical replacement...

[ocnblu]

vonVee, I can understand how that might be a concern, i.e., storing a totaled vehicle and selling parts off of it. But selling it whole to a salvage yard could yield a tidy little sum as supplement to your insurance check.

Edited April 19, 2010 by ocnblu

[pow]

IIRC from the ad, it was a personal knob (non factory part). When a friend of mine totalled his '05 3-series a few years ago, he did visit the wrecking yard and remove personal items from the car (CD, laptop computer, etc) as well as the aftermarket wheels he had put on it (though one was bent), to put on it's identical replacement...

Now the important part... manual or automatic?

[daves87rs]

Interesting.....

[Intrepidation]

Sounds pretty nit picky to me. I wonder if we'd complain about it if it were another brand?

It's a nice thought. I'd do it. f@#k the insurance companies. Since when do we endorse those assholes?

[RjION]

"Endorsing insurance fraud?" You have got to be kidding.

[CSpec]

I would agree that this commercial seems to endorse fraud. I wouldn't be surprised if it abruptly stops airing.

[Drew Dowdell]

Wow! Bunch of little old grannies you people are!

[Robert Hall]

Now the important part... manual or automatic?

Automatic, 4dr. And not surprisingly, the guy is a total DB.

[Hudson]

Automatic, 4dr. And not surprisingly, the guy is a total DB.

Not entirely sure what you're getting at with your analysis of this "guy" from a 30-second commercial, but the wrecked car in the commercial is a manual. You can clearly see the shift lever boot in the commercial, you wouldn't be able to just twist off an automatic shift knob, and you can clearly see the 6-speed shift pattern in the commercial's final shot.

[RjION]

you think fruad

Go to Subby.com and give them a peice of your mind

[Robert Hall]

Not entirely sure what you're getting at with your analysis of this "guy" from a 30-second commercial, but the wrecked car in the commercial is a manual. You can clearly see the shift lever boot in the commercial, you wouldn't be able to just twist off an automatic shift knob, and you can clearly see the 6-speed shift pattern in the commercial's final shot.

I was talking about my coworker that totalled a 3-series, following up to pow's post. Yes, the car in the ad the was a manual.

[Sixty8panther]

SAmadei:

You've got too much time on your hands & you're over-annalyzing a silly ad.

That being said: are you REALLY trying to paint insurance companies as the "victims"?

[SAmadei]

SAmadei:

You've got too much time on your hands & you're over-annalyzing a silly ad.

That being said: are you REALLY trying to paint insurance companies as the "victims"?

Hardly does it take me more than a few seconds to watch the commercial and post here.

I'm only bringing it up here, as we are like minded people who have dealt with issues such as this... a beloved car being destroyed, and some of us here have likely fought the insurance company to keep our car.

We see ads being pulled left and right because of stupid reasons... someone claiming racism or sexism or something. Knowing how overreactive the lawyers are... and that the insurance companies have LOTS of lawyers... I was somewhat surprised that this ad did not raise some questions ANYWHERE (I searched before I posted).

As far as painting anyone a victim... as long as insurance is compulsory and we pay to insure everybody else's cars (instead of our own), WE'RE the victims.

Of course, the insurance companies feel they are the victims simply since they don't have all our money yet.

[Hudson]

Hardly does it take me more than a few seconds to watch the commercial and post here.

I'm only bringing it up here, as we are like minded people who have dealt with issues such as this... a beloved car being destroyed, and some of us here have likely fought the insurance company to keep our car.

We see ads being pulled left and right because of stupid reasons... someone claiming racism or sexism or something. Knowing how overreactive the lawyers are... and that the insurance companies have LOTS of lawyers... I was somewhat surprised that this ad did not raise some questions ANYWHERE (I searched before I posted).

As far as painting anyone a victim... as long as insurance is compulsory and we pay to insure everybody else's cars (instead of our own), WE'RE the victims.

Of course, the insurance companies feel they are the victims simply since they don't have all our money yet.

So the ALLEGED (we don't know if he paid for it at this particular "you-pull-it") theft of a gearshift knob is a big enough problem to pull an ad? I agree that myopic lawyers have pulled or changed such questionable ads as the Corvette dream ad for tiny things, but picking on this ad for an alleged theft of a $10 gear shift knob is a bit much.

[SAmadei]

So the ALLEGED (we don't know if he paid for it at this particular "you-pull-it") theft of a gearshift knob is a big enough problem to pull an ad? I agree that myopic lawyers have pulled or changed such questionable ads as the Corvette dream ad for tiny things, but picking on this ad for an alleged theft of a $10 gear shift knob is a bit much.

First, I don't feel the ad should be pulled, and I have not advocated that the ad should be pulled. I was ONLY bringing up the ad as a basis for discussion. The feedback I have gotten will probably deter me from starting future discussions, apparently the only petty things people want to discuss on C&G is the texture of the dashboard plastic.

That said, in the legalese I must sign to enter my local Pick-a-Part (and most other P-a-Ps I've been to), concealment of a part is theft. He put the part in his pocket.

Finally, its not a $10 shift knob... with the exception of a few cheap knock-offs, these are $75-$170 on eBay.