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Saturn Vue

It sometimes seems as though the incentives tied-in to General Motors closing both the Saturn and Pontiac brands will never stop coming. A number of different rebates, special programs and service offerings have poured forth from GM over the course of the past eight months in a desperate bid from the automaker to placate angry owners who essentially woke up one morning to find out that the brand who manufactured their vehicle had gone belly-up.

General Motors certainly does have good reason to try and cozy up to those who feel victimized by the shutdown of Pontiac and Saturn. Saturn owners especially have traditionally been the least loyal to the General when it comes to purchasing a second vehicle from any other brand owned under the GM umbrella. This trend stretches all the way back to 2001, and posed a significant problem for the company as it tried – and failed – to build momentum amongst current Saturn owners and keep the nameplate vital in the marketplace. Once word of Saturn’s grim future began to leak out in 2009, the speed at which current owners abandoned GM grew at a much quicker rate than ever before.

GM’s current Saturn owner outreach program is called ‘Stay In The Family.’ Effective until March 31, 2010 anyone who has purchased or leased a Saturn in the past six months will be able to take between an additional $1,000 and $2,000 off of a long list of qualifying 2009 and 2010 Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. Participants can choose to keep their current Saturns and still enjoy the benefits of this particular rebate. A lease cash rebate of between $500 and $1,000 is also available.

The $1,000 purchase rebate or $500 lease incentive applies to the following cars: the Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Cobalt, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Malibu, Buick LaCrosse and the Cadillac CTS. A number of crossovers and SUVs also participate at this incentive level: the Chevrolet HHR, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Chevrolet Traverse, the 2009 Chevrolet Equinox, the GMC Acadia, GMC Envoy, Cadillac SRX and the Buick Enclave. Trucks and vans rounding out this bonus cash bonanza are the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Chevrolet Express and the GMC Savana.

The remainder of the vehicles currently offered by GMC, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick almost all qualify for the $2,000 purchase rebate or $1,000 lease incentive, including some of the most desirable vehicles in the automaker’s lineup.

Whether GM will be able to stave off the seemingly inevitable customer defections due to the loss of Saturn is anyone’s guess. One thing is certain – the presence of these incentives is an indication that the company is taking the situation much more seriously than it did when it phased out Oldsmobile just after the year 2000. A huge percentage of Oldsmobile owners chose to never set foot in a GM showroom ever again, and given its current financial state this is one aspect of its history that General Motors can ill afford to have repeated.

It may have faded from the new car scene, forever relegated to the history books, but Saturn has recently been given an extended lease on its afterlife thanks to the decision by General Motors to include the brand in its GM Certified program. This news comes as a boon to used car shoppers who are interested in taking advantage of the excellent deals available on recent Saturn vehicles.

Not only have the prices of remaining new Saturn cars and crossovers been slashed over the past year in an effort to get them out the door and off the lot, but secondhand car values have dropped as well. In part, this is due to shoppers feeling wary of their ability to receive warranty service and a steady stream of replacement parts from GM once all existing Saturn dealerships are mothballed. However, the new participation in the Certified program changes things dramatically for used Saturn shoppers.

Anyone who purchases a secondhand Saturn through the GM Certified initiative will be afforded with a 12 month, 12,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, as well as a much longer five year, 100,000 mile warranty that covers the vehicle’s powertrain. The latter can also be transferred to a new owner should the automobile be sold during the warranty period, which adds significant resale value to a used car. Each vehicle participating in the GM Certified program must be at most five years old and show less than 75,000 miles of use. GM Certified Saturns also go through a comprehensive 117-point inspection process that helps to ensure that each vehicle matches the program’s extremely high quality standards. Shoppers who are dissatisfied with a GM Certified Saturn retain the right to return it to the dealer for a complete refund within three days or 150 miles, whichever comes first.

Although the wind may have largely left Saturn’s sales, used car shoppers who act fast will be able to score quality cars like the Saturn Astra, Saturn Sky and the Saturn Aura at a very low price. As more and more buyers become aware of Saturn’s inclusion in the GM Certified program, prices will eventually stabilize and perhaps even rise to represent the true market value of these vehicles. GM’s decision to extend this program to Saturn indicates that drivers have little to fear in terms of being abandoned by the automotive giant when it comes to warranty work or service options.