[chumley]

Does anybody know what will happen to warranties on vehicles that were purchased prior to the bankruptcy? I read that the government will guarantee warranties on vehicles that are purchased during bankruptcy, but I haven't seen anything about vehicles purchased prior. Thanks.

 

[eelfliw]

GM is still in business. Chapter 11 doesn't mean GM Corp will shut its doors. It simply offers GM protection from the people it owes money to while GM restructures.

That means GM will still handle warranty work. And in case GM restructuring fails and ends up filing for chapter 7, government will back all valid warranties.

See --> http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-31-gm-bankruptcy-warranty-questions_N.htm

 

[chumley]

I'm not sure it's that simple. I've seen several article that describe the government-backed warranty protection as applying to vehicles "purchased during restructuring". I have not seen anything that specifically talks about vehicles purchased before restructuring.

See this article for example:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/30/details-on-governments-warranty-commitment-program/

 

[eelfliw]

That article was written in March. Much has changed. Check here for updated info --> http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/06/who-will-service-my-saturn-pontiac-saab-hummer.html

 

[chumley]

The article I cited may be a couple months old, but government doesn't move very fast and I haven't seen anything else that specifically contradicts what it says about the government-backed "warranty commitment program".

Thanks for your article, but it is a mixed bag. To summarize, it says that GM currently intends for all warranties to be honored, but specific dealers may still decline warranty work. There is also nothing there in regards to the "warranty commitment program", so if GM changed their mind, then we don't know what would happen. I still think it's unlikely that GM/Saturn would renege on existing Saturn warranties, but during bankruptcy who knows.

I called my local Saturn dealer and they said they are still doing warranty service. To be safe, I think I will go over my vehicle with a fine toothed comb soon and take it in for any warranty issues while I know I still can.

 

[chumley]

This press release states pretty clearly that all warranties will be honored:

http://www.gm.com/restructuring/docs/first_day_press_release.pdf

Here is an excerpt from an email sent to some owners which also backs this up:

"Your GM Warranty — Rest assured, we will honor the warranty commitment given to you at the time of your purchase. Our GM Dealers are very much open for business, and ready to meet your sales and service needs. And even though we are seeking buyers for our Saturn and Saab brands, have just announced the selection of a buyer for the HUMMER brand, and have decided to eventually phase out Pontiac, those dealerships also remain open and ready for service. The bottom line is your warranty will be honored and service will always be available through authorized GM retail facilities by GM-trained Goodwrench experts, with Genuine GM Parts on hand."

I figured that this was the the likely outcome, but I feel better now that we have some reassurance. Info I've read about the sale of Saturn to Penske also says that they intend to try to retain the existing Saturn dealerships. I think this is working out about as well as we could have hoped.