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Delivering Report * USA - Condemning Mercedes-Benz/Daimler Finance Scheme
Consumer, Immigrant & Civil Rights Groups to Deliver to German Embassy and MB/D's Mich. Corporate Headquarters
Washington,DC, and Farmington Hills,Mich.,USA -Market Watch -Aug 18, 2008: -- "Foreclosure Crisis on Wheels" National Day of Action Set for Wed; Features NAACP, LULAC Officials... On Wednesday, August 20, as a part of a nationwide day of action to call attention to a Mercedes/Daimler truck finance scheme that has been likened to the next generation of subprime loans, a delegation of high-ranking representatives from consumer, immigrant, and minority rights groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will protest and then deliver a report to the German Embassy in Washington, DC and Mercedes-Benz' parent company in the Detroit-area entitled "Foreclosure on Wheels: Long Beach's Truck Program Puts Drivers at High Risk for Default." ... Daimler Truck Financial was awarded a contract by the Port of Long Beach to finance its "Clean Trucks Program." Under the terms of the lease-to-own scheme, Daimler will back the funding for a low-emissions vehicle to any independent port truck driver whose dirty diesel rig is banned by the port, regardless of his/her credit worthiness and ability to pay. Discounted for volume, clean diesel and alternative fuel trucks cost $100,000-$200,000. A Daimler official publicly told the Long Beach officials that the company expects "over 40%" of port drivers to have "high difficulty meeting the payments" and that the company's strength is "managing collections," i.e., repossessing trucks... Some 16,800 mostly immigrant drivers who haul goods for the Port will be expected to pay between $500 and $1,000 per month for seven years, with a balloon payment of $7,000 to $15,000 at the end of the lease term. U.S. port truck drivers' precariously live on the edge of poverty, toiling in what has been widely-chronicled as a "Sweatshop on Wheels." Press accounts reveal they can scarcely afford new tires for their existing rigs, much less manage a new truck payment and high-tech maintenance required of the new, environmentally-friendly vehicles -- particularly with skyrocketing diesel costs and shrinking trade volume. A coalition of air-quality advocates have lobbied instead for the shipping industry -- not underpaid workers -- to take responsibility for cleaner commerce...
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