Driving, Army Style
After cleaning off all the mud from this morning's PT, we headed off to our classroom for an introduction to driving the HMMWV ("Hum-vie"). It was pretty slow for me (being an experienced driver with 4x4 / large vehicle experience), but necessary for some. Three people in the class do not have a civilian driver's license.
There was some valuable / unique information in the class, but it could have been conveyed in 15 minutes rather than 4 hours. Still, there was one bright spot: We learned that we would be driving HMMWV's at night, with night vision goggles. Cool! I can't wait.
Speaking of driving, one reader wrote in with a vehicle related issue. She is leasing a car from Honda, and wants to return it under the provisions of the SSCRA when she's activated for basic training and AIT (if you don't know what SSCRA is, and are in the military, or are considering joining, click that link! It's good stuff to know).
Honda refused to take the vehicle back, saying that since she's allowed to take it to the state she will be serving in, they are not obligated. As far as I understand, that does not matter! SSCRA says "The service member or the spouse must prove that the service member’s military obligations have materially affected his/her ability to pay on the [auto lease] debts. "
I was in a similar situation with Toyota, and they took the vehicle back with no hesitation at all. Guess what, once I got out of AIT, I went and got another Toyota.
I would be interested to hear from you about companies that have treated you well, or didn't treat you well, while you were serving our country.
Speaking of buying our Toyota, we got our new one for $884 under dealer invoice. My wife wrote up how to do that. It's easy. It just involves spending $12 with Consumer Reports, and knowing how to drive a hard bargain.
The writeup is at a website called WWWatcher. Pass it along to anyone you know who is in the market for a new car!
posted by Eric J. @ 7:54 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Thanks for getting that out there about Honda. The SCRA is so vague and what Honda has done is taken the liberty of spinning it to suit them. I am still fighting them on it, though, and so it could change.
But in the meantime, I will spread the word that HONDA does NOT support our military personnel and under no circumstances will I ever purchase another one of their vehicles. I think it's important that we support businesses and companies that support our troops in return.
Keep the updates coming...I'm loving them! I have to take the DLAB next Wed.--pretty darn nervous about it.
Absolutely Tracy. You and I put our lives on the line to protect our country.
I don't want to do business with any company that does not help us out while we are serving the country.
The thing that's crazy is that like you re-buying a Toyota....if Honda would just follow section 305 of the SCRA and allow me to turn it back in, the likelihood of my next vehicle being a Honda is very high.
Now they've upset a technically-savvy and vocal person who will surely bash Honda and their lack of support to military personnel at every single opportunity that I get!
But what hurt the most was being told that military personnel serving in the U.S. don't "count"...the exact term used by not just one, but TWO of the customer service reps that I spoke with.
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