A few days ago we reported news about Saab’s warranty coverage being stopped. When you a buy a product from a company that is having major financial issues like Saab has been having, you run the risk of losing warranty coverage. Saab buyers who purchased under Spyker ownership are finding that to be the case – painfully so.
Saab North America was instructed to stop payment on all warranty-related work, and to sell cars “as is” with no warranties expressed or implied. Following that, Saab Cars USA Chief Executive Officer Tim Colbeck said the company is looking for ways to reinstate coverage. Colbeck, speaking with The Detroit Bureau, said “We’re committed to develop a way to handle warranties for all owners of 2010 and 2011 Saab models….the goal is to “reinstate (warranty coverage) as quickly as we can.”
There seems to be little chance of that happening, unless GM decides to extend coverage to all Saab products in a goodwill gesture. General Motors has just announced that it would honor remaining warranties on Saabs built prior to January 1st, 2010, when GM owned the brand. That doesn’t include the redesigned 9-5 and new 9-4X, unfortunately.
They certainly are under no obligation to extend it any further, given their sale of the company to Spyker. Interesting is the fact that Saab USA and Saab Parts, separate entities, have not gone into bankruptcy themselves, but filings for those companies could be around the corner.
For now, if a customer needs work done on their car Colbeck said dealers can choose to make the customer pay or do the work without charge. Its an interesting situation to be sure, and one that really hasn’t popped up in the automotive industry much before.
We imagine new Saabs are going to be sold very cheaply as dealers try to clear out their inventory of unwanted cars. The new 9-5 is a cool car in our opinion, and it isn’t clear how many of them are in inventory. Given Saab’s paltry sales figures over the last two years, they definitely are a rare item….
