Whether in daily rentals, leasing or for commercial fleet buyers, the manufacturers apparently are offering their biggest incentive packages ever in 1969...

Fleet buyers will be offered their biggest incentive packages ever from the Big Four in 1969.

Whether in daily rentals, leasing or for commercial fleet buyers, the manufacturers apparently are going all out to attract business in 1969.

Most of the companies have fleet allowance pro­grams for every type of vehicle: government, taxi, driver training, etc.

For the benefit of the majority of its readers, AUTO­MOTIVE FLEET offers a look at the '69 fleet allow­ance programs of the Big Four only in the areas of daily rental and commercial fleet leasing.

It is not AF's intention to present the complete pro­gram of each company, but rather to highlight what we believe are the greatest advantages in the new pro­gram over the programs offered in 1968.

AMERICAN MOTORS

For 1969, American Motors offers a plan for eligible large business fleets as follows:

Except for the Ambassador, add $50 to above applic­able allowances when factory-installed air-condition­ing is ordered.

The purchase objective is 5 per cent of the total number of passenger cars purchased and registered in the name of the purchasing company in the calendar year of 1967, or a minimum of three cars, whichever is greater.

The "purchase objective allowance" will be paid from the first car and on each purchase objective car until the purchase objective has been met. The higher "maximum allowances" will apply in connection with all cars purchased after the purchase objective has been met.

Leasing-Rental Plan For "69

The AM fleet allowance plan listed below for leas­ing companies and for daily rent-a-car companies is the same for both except that additional promotional allowances can be made available to cooperating rent-a-car companies. Leasing vehicles must be leased for at least 10 months and daily rental units must be in service at least for five months.

Except in the case of the Ambassador, add $50 when equipped with factory-installed air-conditioning.

Under the AM Guaranteed Resale Value Plan, the difference between the manufacturer's suggested retail price of any eligible AM passenger car and its whole­sale value as a used car at the time the fleet user sells it as a used car will not exceed the difference between the adjusted manufacturer's suggested retail price and the wholesale value of any comparable car manufac­tured by a U.S. passenger car manufacturer other than American Motors.

This plan, which is only for volume customers, may serve as an alternate to the above-mentioned allow­ance programs. Fleet users may select either of the plans, but not both.

CHRYSLER MOTORS CORPORATION

The Chrysler Motors Corp. program Corp. 1969 is basically the same as for the 1968 models with the following changes and/or exceptions:

• Fleet account purchase objective will be set the same as the 1968 model program.

• After purchase objective has been met, accounts will be paid retroactive to the first ear purchased as follows:

              A total of $25 per car on compacts

              A total of $75 per ear on intermediates and full   size.

• Payments on purchases over objective will be the same as they are in existing 1968 model program.

Under its lease-rental value program, Chrysler guar­antees under "option A" that depreciation on Chrysler vehicles will not exceed the depreciation on compar­able competitive models-based on Automotive Mar­ket Report and manufacturers' suggested prices.

Under "option B" the 1969 Chrysler lease-rental value plan is almost the same as the 1968 program with the following changes and/or exceptions:

BASIC PURCHASE ALLOWANCE Compacts $75 Intermediates $125 (includes Charger models) Fury $125 Chrysler $125 Polara, Monaco $160

Daily Rental Plan

For those vehicles used in daily rentals only, Chrys­ler guarantees an additional air-conditioning rebate of $50 on Fury and smaller model cars and $75 on Polara and larger model vehicles.

Chrysler also offers a 5 per cent rebate on all cars delivered after Feb. 1, 1969. This applies to daily rental customers only. This rebate will be applied to the factory retail price of the base vehicle only.

Ford has set its purchase allowance on Ford, Fair-lane, Falcon and Mustang' as follows:

This allowance does not include government units and vehicles enrolled under the guaranteed deprecia­tion program.

The guaranteed depreciation program for '69 re­mains the same as the program offered in 1968. It does extend depreciation protection to fleets and leasing companies on Ford, Fairlane and Falcon passenger ears. Under the guarantee, Ford will reimburse an account if the used car wholesale value based on Automotive Market Report value less $100 is below guaranteed value.

A $125 Allowance

Under the '69 allowance program offered to daily rental companies, Ford, Fairlane, Falcon and Mustang passenger cars placed in daily rental service will be eligible for a S125 allowance and free whitewall tires. All daily rental units except Ford Rent-A-Car and those enrolled under re-purchase programs are eligi­ble for this allowance, which will be paid directly to the account upon submission of a claim form.

Under Ford's winter rental program, which is available in Florida, Phoenix and Southern California, Ford will repurchase after mid-April, 1969, 50 per cent of units placed in service by Jan. 31, 1969,

Under the daily rental repurchase plan, Ford will repurchase 50 per cent of units placed in daily rental service between introduction day and Feb. 28, 1969, and remaining in service through introduction date of 1970 models.

Ford's summer rental plans are expected to be sim­ilar to those used in 1968. These have yet to be issued by Ford.

Vehicles which are enrolled in the above-mentioned programs but are not returned to Ford for repurchase are eligible for the daily rental allowance.

GM

The biggest changes in the General Motors fleet pro gram for 1969 concern the daily rental companies.

Eligibility requirements are the same. In 1968, rental companies received a $50 basic purchase allowance plus $27 on units equipped with whitewall tires. This remains unchanged for '69 with the one exception being that an additional $75 purchase allowance was allowed under an advance order program. In 1969, the $75 air-conditioning allowance has been eliminated.

Guaranteed depreciation for '69 models is the same as '68 with the exception that all GM divisions will purchase or find dealers to repurchase up to 50 per cent of total GM vehicles utilized at competitive monthly depreciation rates.

The above-mentioned purchase allowance and guar­anteed depreciation are under GM's full-year program. Under the winter rental program, the purchase allow­ance is the same as the full-year program. Guaranteed depreciation under the Florida buy-back program has been extended to include Arizona and Southern Cali­fornia.

Under the winter rental purchase allowance, GM has eliminated $75 for air-conditioning but will allow an additional $75 for advance order commitment.

Summer Rental Allowance

The purchase allowance for the summer rental pro­gram is identical to the full year program plus an al­lowance equal to 5 per cent of the list price of the base vehicle for units purchased on or after March 1 and held in service until the announcement date of the 1970 models.

Under the guaranteed depreciation program, GM will repurchase or find dealers to repurchase on speci­fied dates after new model announcement, 100 per cent of the division's units purchased after March 1. Units will be repurchased at predetermined deduc­tions from capitalized cost.

Under the commercial and leasing programs, elig­ibility requirements for 1969 are the same as in 1968.

The system of allowance payments are the same as in 1968. Improved administrative procedures have been set up to simplify and speed up handling.

Purchase allowances for '69 are unchanged from 1968. This means an allowance of $50 on all domestic GM passenger cars. Buick Electra and Riviera series, Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac Grand Prix, Olds 98 and. Toronada series, plus all Cadillacs are not included.

More Models Added

For 1968, GM guaranteed the residual value on all regular Chevrolet, Pontiac Catalina, Buick LeSabre and Olds Delmont models. Under the guarantee, GM reimbursed a dealer if the used car wholesale value (Automotive Market Report value less $100) is below guaranteed residual.

For 1969, the program is the same, plus specified models of Chevelle, Chevy II, Corvair, Lemans, Fire­bird, Skylark, Cutlass, Vista Cruiser, Tempest, F-85 and Buick Special will be included.