Really bad parking job is really good PR for Hyundai
Filed under: Transportation, Relationships
What began as a really, really bad day for Todd Jamison turned into a really, really good deal for him -- and for the carmaker Hyundai.
The security camera at Extreme Fitness in Thornhill, a town near Toronto in Ontario, Canada caught a driver in its parking lot gunning when she should have been braking and rolling over on top of Jamison's parked car and one next to it. Somebody posted the video onto YouTube, where it's been viewed more than a million times by modern-day rubber neckers. As you can see from the video below, the driver smashes Jamison's car, pauses, then drives away.
Imagine Jamison's reaction at returning to the parking lot after his workout to find his car, newly paid off, in a newly squashed condition.
But execs at Hyundai Canada saw the video too, and took the news with considerably more excitement than Jamison presumably did.
It sent representatives out to present Jamison with the keys to a new Hyundai Elantra Touring to replace his totaled 2004 Hyandai Elantra. And then it posted its own video on YouTube. It's got only 97,000 views recorded so far, but the comments left are overwhelmingly positive.
Really, you can't buy this kind of PR. And Hyundai knows it.
The 60-something female driver of the BMW SUV was caught when she returned to the fitness club's parking lot and was recognized by an employee, whose car was also involved. She is being charged with leaving the scene of an accident. It awaits to be seen whether this employee will get a new car out of the deal.
The security camera at Extreme Fitness in Thornhill, a town near Toronto in Ontario, Canada caught a driver in its parking lot gunning when she should have been braking and rolling over on top of Jamison's parked car and one next to it. Somebody posted the video onto YouTube, where it's been viewed more than a million times by modern-day rubber neckers. As you can see from the video below, the driver smashes Jamison's car, pauses, then drives away.
Imagine Jamison's reaction at returning to the parking lot after his workout to find his car, newly paid off, in a newly squashed condition.
But execs at Hyundai Canada saw the video too, and took the news with considerably more excitement than Jamison presumably did.
It sent representatives out to present Jamison with the keys to a new Hyundai Elantra Touring to replace his totaled 2004 Hyandai Elantra. And then it posted its own video on YouTube. It's got only 97,000 views recorded so far, but the comments left are overwhelmingly positive.
Really, you can't buy this kind of PR. And Hyundai knows it.
The 60-something female driver of the BMW SUV was caught when she returned to the fitness club's parking lot and was recognized by an employee, whose car was also involved. She is being charged with leaving the scene of an accident. It awaits to be seen whether this employee will get a new car out of the deal.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-05-2009 @ 2:32PM
Thure said...
I'm surprised that BMW doesn't use this as one of their ads on the order of "somebody in your way, with a BMW you can drive right over them." In my experience many BMW dirvers seem to take this attitude anyway.
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11-05-2009 @ 5:23PM
Litigious said...
I agree that this seems like much better PR for the X5 than for the Elantra. That's cooler than the pick-up-driving-through-the-mud-with-a-professional-driver cliche truck ad.
I'm from the States, so I'm not so sure how this works in Canada, but it seems like the BMW owner's insurance company might make off pretty well also. There's at least an argument to be made that he's been more than compensated, and paying out on the claim would be unjust enrichment. They'll probably have to pay anyway, but it could be a win, win, win for everyone involved.
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11-05-2009 @ 9:40PM
Jim said...
"...in a town near Ontario, Canada"
Seriously?
I have a question for Ms. Tilsner: Does that mean it was in Québec? Or Manitoba? Ontario is a huge province (as in 415,598 square miles), so saying the incident took place "near" Ontario could mean anywhere in close proximity to it's long borders.
Of course, it didn't take place "near" Ontario, but "within" the province. Specifically (as 1 minute search on Google News revealed) in the town of Richmond Hill, which is near Toronto, Ontario, Canada (just a short distance north).
Just as you wouldn't describe an event in Los Angeles as being "near" California, USA (which at 163,696 square miles is vastly smaller than Ontario), the same lazy description shouldn't be applied when referring to news regarding our lovely neighbors to the North.
Good story... glad to hear about it. Sloppy writing.
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11-05-2009 @ 11:13PM
Jim said...
Bummer. No way to delete my earlier post now that the story has been updated.
Thanks for making the fix. :-)
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