Valuable Freebies From Big Companies

You could get freebies every day if you wanted to. Go to any restaurant and chances are high you’ll be able to grab matches, toothpicks or mints free of charge. While going out to eat in order to get a free mint seems a bit absurd, there are plenty of other freebies that are much more valuable — and much more costly for companies to hand out.

Used predominantly as a marketing technique, major companies often offer freebies with the hope that they can entice customers away from a competitor or to consider a product that they might not have considered before.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed offers for free goods and services from eight large companies. We defined “free” based on whether a company actually incurred a cost in order to offer the freebie and whether it actually gives the customer a tangible benefit that can be measured in dollars and cents.

Below are eight valuable freebies, what it costs companies to offer the deal and how much the customer actually receives in terms of value.

Toyota Takes Some Sting Out of its Loans
The largest car company in the world offers 0% financing for up to 60 months on a number of its most popular models. Typically, automakers make up the difference for such promotions by jacking up the price of the car. But given the highly-competitive auto market and Toyota’s (NYSE: TM) image problems (thanks to a series of recalls this year), the auto maker isn’t raising prices on its vehicles.

Cost to company: Toyota and its financing arm, Toyota Financial Services, do not have free access to capital interest so they are, in essence, paying for the interest payments.

Cost and benefits to consumer: Chase charges an APR of 3.62% on a 60-month loan on a new car. Other banks charge similar rates. So it’s safe to say a car buyer saves approximately $2,740 on a $30,000 car loan.

What the competition offers: Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Nissan and Infiniti also currently offer 0% APR financing on some models.

This article continues on DailyFinance.com. To continue reading about the remaining 7 companies on this list, please visit this link.