[SampleMan]

A. I wasn't irate.
B. The math depends on the car. Inclusive of factory holdback a dealer can make anywhere between $500 and $5000 on a car depending on the demand for that car and the number he has to sell. I've personally never paid more than the MSRP, which means the dealer relied on the factory hold back.
C. As the woman in question would no doubt pick out the most expensive car to get for free, while the majority of sales would be for much lower priced cars, there is a wash effect in the math.
D. If you would prefer to use 20 or 30 cars as the break even number, that's cool with me. My point holds. It might work for a car manufacturer to give away a free car and make money, but for an individual dealer, it would be a money loser. Most if not all of the cars sold would have been sold anyway, making the potential loss huge.
E. Feel free to give away free stuff to people that give you yellow paper. I'm all for your ability to do that.

[gnickgnack2]

OK, OK, I was kidding about the irate comment, but if you would do the math, 40 $100 coupons does not get you a $40K car (probably barely a used K-car), so at minimum $500 profit per car, that’s only eight cars. At a higher profit, that’s even fewer, not the 20-40 you’re stuck on to make your point.