Back here at our Saab dealership, certain cars have taken up what appears to be permanent residency. These cars are waiting for parts that are on serious backorder. I originally thought it was due to the economic slowdown where factories are shuttered till things began again, and that was the problem in the beginning. But now it’s because GM won’t or can’t pay it’s bills from being in bankruptcy court.

We went without fuel pumps for a couple of months.. now I have a car waiting on a switch for the brake vacuum pump, which is kind of a necessary part, for a month now. The supplier in Germany is still making the part, but not giving it up till GM pays for it. And GM isn’t paying for it. And Saab and GM is still paying for rental cars for people still in warranty. (You would think it would be cheaper to just pay for the part.) If you’re out of warranty, your on your own.

However the parts are out there. Sometimes the aftermarket parts are made by the same company, in the same packaging as the original factory supplied part. And they are a lot cheaper as they don’t have the franchise supported markup that dealers are famous for. However, in our case, we are forbidden by franchise rules to use these parts or any other parts not supplied by GM.

Granted, this is a unique situation we are living through, and I will be glad when things get back to normal. But that may be wishful thinking, as normal is probably dead and gone.

greg