Is the Monat Cadillac Really Free? The Real Cost of the MLM Car

Something that often convinces people to become a Monat Market Partner is the opportunity to receive a free Cadillac when they hit a certain rank within the company.

The famous Cadillac that Monat MPs receive when they join the ‘Monat Motor Club’ is a physical manifestation of the luxury lifestyle that all Monat reps aspire towards.

However, is the Monat Cadillac really free?

I decided to take a look at the small print to find out just what the catch is with the ‘free’ Cadillac, and unsurprisingly, things are not all they seem.

If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and when it comes to the Monat Cadillac, things are no different.

In this article you will find out just how much your ‘free MLM car’ will really cost you, and the reasons why you may not want to take part in the Monat Motor Club programme after all.

Are you ready?

Then let’s get into it.

Is the Monat Cadillac Really Free? The Truth About the Monat Car

What is Monat?

Chances are, if you’re curious about the Monat Cadillac, you already know a bit about Monat as a company, but just in case you don’t, here’s a quick breakdown of what Monat is.

• MONAT Global is a huge multi-level marketing company that sells haircare and skincare products including shampoos, conditioners, serums and more.
• Their products are sold online through their ‘Market Partners’ who hype up the products on social media to their friends and family.
• Monat is an MLM company, which means that in addition to selling products, Market Partners can make money by ‘growing a team’ or recruiting others into the company.
• Because the way to achieve true success within Monat or any other multi-level marketing company is through recruitment, Monat has been compared to a pyramid scheme.
• 94% of people who earned money with Monat in 2018 earned an average of $183 for the year
• 47% of people who signed up to Monat in 2018 made no money at all
  
  

The Monat Cadillac

Let me make this very clear: there is no such thing as a free Monat Cadillac.

The way that the Monat Motor Club works is that when you hit the rank of Market Mentor (only 0.22% of people ever make it this far) and keep that rank for 3 consecutive months, you become eligible to join the ‘Monat Motor Club.’

However, the Cadillac is not free.

The Monat Motor Club will provide you with payments towards the Cadillac.

The Cadillac itself has to be purchased/leased in your name, connected to your bank account and it will impact your credit score.

As long as you continue to keep your rank, you will continue to receive payments towards the Cadillac from Monat, but if your rank drops, you will still be responsible for meeting the payments on your ‘free’ car.

This is different to a regular company car, where you can just give the car back to the company if you decide to switch jobs. With the Monat Motor Club, you are locked into a fixed contract and must continue to make the payments no matter what (and they aren’t cheap!).

The fact that you will be responsible for the car payments if things don’t go well for you one month puts a huge amount of pressure on not only you, but on your downline as well, because everything that they sell counts towards your own sales volume.

If a few of your team members decide to go on holiday or stop selling Monat, chances are you will be stuck paying for your luxury car yourself, with no help from Monat.

You are also responsible for the cost of running the car, any maintenance that the car requires, insurance payments and tax. 

When it comes to a shiny new Cadillac, none of these things are cheap.

And that’s not all.

The car that you purchase must be a white Cadillac that is no more than 5 years old.

The reason for this is that Monat want you to show off the luxury lifestyle that you have attained thanks to them. If the car wasn’t new, this wouldn’t fit the image that they are going for.

Monat confirm this in the ‘Why Cadillac?‘ section of their website, saying that the Cadillac brand represents ‘prestige, high ideals‘ and a ‘standard of excellence.’

In other words, it acts as a recruiting tool, as it shows potential Market Partners what Monat could give them (but again, only 0.22% of people ever reach the rank where they would be eligible for the Cadillac).

Another giveaway that this is all a crafty marketing ploy is a section in the Terms & Conditions which states that ‘When you receive your white Cadillac, you must provide a picture and testimonial to MONAT so that we may feature you in print, web or marketing pieces.’

The Nitty Gritty

Of course, the fact that Monat use their car programme to act as an advertisement for their business is relatively harmless.

In fact, it would be silly if they didn’t use this as an opportunity to promote their brand (and hey, at least you don’t have to plaster the company logo all over the car like with Arbonne.

The danger lies in the fact that most members of the ‘Monat Motor Club’ are not honest about their ‘free car.’

They gush about how they have a luxury car that is completely paid for by their company, and so this encourages people to sign up to Monat with dreams of achieving the same later on.

If that person later becomes eligible for the Monat Motor Club bonus, they might neglect to read the small print and get stuck in a situation that they really don’t want to be in.

Here is the truth about the Monat Cadillac:

• The payments must be made towards a new Monat Cadillac. If you already own a white Cadillac, you can’t use the payments for that one. You have to take out a new lease/purchase.
• You have to pay tax on your new car.
• You have to pay tax on the car bonus money given to you by Monat.
• You also have to pay any costs associated with your car such as including registration, licensing, insurance, etc.
• The contract is in your name, and therefore it is your responsibility.
• Monat will make the payments up to a maximum of 48 months. If you decide to out a longer lease, you are obliged to make all payments after the 48 months are up, with no help from Monat.
• If you drop rank, Monat will pay up to 2 month’s grace (not consecutively) in a calendar year. This means that if you lose your rank for 1 month, Monat will make your car payment, but if you don’t qualify again after a month, the onus falls on you to make that payment. If drop below the rank of Market Mentor, you will not receive ANY grace from Monat.
• If you ever struggle to make payments on your car, your credit score will be affected which could negatively impact you in the future.
• The car payments might not even cover the full cost of the car. For example, you will receive $500 per month towards your car payment if you’re at the Market Mentor rank, but this is not usually enough to cover the cost of a luxury car.
• Monat reserve the right to change the terms and conditions of the plan at any time, or even terminate it without giving any notice. If this happens, you will be stuck with a brand new Cadillac and no financial assistance. They also reserve the right to change the amount of money that they pay out.

It’s pretty safe to say that your ‘free Cadillac’ may actually end up costing you a lot of money!

Although it may seem like Monat are just being super generous by dishing out ‘free’ Cadillacs, all that the Monat Motor Club really is is another win for Monat.

Not only do they increase the pressure on you to make more sales for them (because you will be fighting to keep your rank), but if you stop making as many sales, they will never be out of pocket because they will simply stop making the payments. 

Is the Monat Cadillac Ever a Good Idea?

There are some cases where joining the Monat Motor Club might be a good idea.

If you are financially stable enough to be able to afford the car payments without Monat’s help and you have enough in the bank to still make the payments even if your Monat business were to disappear in the morning, go for it.

Likewise, if you were planning on buying a brand new Cadillac anyway then taking advantage of Monat’s help is the smart thing to do.

However, if you aren’t in a position where you would be able to afford a Cadillac without Monat, it really isn’t a good idea. There are many, many companies that offer company cars without all of the red tape and sneaky terms that Monat offer, and so if it’s a car you’re after, I’d look elsewhere.

Quick Recap FAQ

The Monat Cadillac | Final Thoughts

To give Monat credit, they are pretty transparent about the financial risks associated with the Motor Club programme in their Terms & Conditions.

There is a section of the T&C’s, in bold and titled ‘ADVISORY’ that says ‘MONAT highly recommends that you be completely comfortable financially when making the decision to enter into a lease or purchase agreement. In addition to the monthly lease or vehicle loan payments, there will be other costs associated with your purchase. These include, but are not limited to, registration, licensing, insurance, inspection fees, and maintenance. We want you to be completely comfortable with these costs before participating in the program.’

This does seem as though Monat are going to some effort to warn their distributors of the financial burden that they are about to take on.

With that being said though, I still believe that the ‘free Cadillac’ offered by Monat is just another one of those network marketing lies designed to make the company look better

If you have any more questions about Monat or the Monat Cadillac, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below!

Until next time,

XOXO

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