As announced March 18th, General Motors dealers will give affected owners of a Chevrolet Cobalt or HHR, Pontiac G5 or Solstice, and Saturn Ion or Sky a free loaner vehicle if requested. In order to qualify, owners don’t have to prove the ignition switches are faulty. However, dealers are finding it tough to give their customers loaners.
According to USA Today, General Motor says it has had 9,000 requests and intends for all of them to be honored, but the reality is that there are not enough cars to go around. General manager at Kolar Chevrolet in Hermantown, MN, Dwayne Haapanen, says, “There’s been a bit of a struggle finding the cars. I burned up all my loaner fleet, and we’ve been renting from Enterprise — and now they are out of cars.”
Interestingly, General Motors has told dealers the loaners don’t have to be GM products if scarcity is an issue. And if the owner is under 25, GM has worked out something with rental agencies so there aren’t any issues.
General Motors says dealers should begin receiving replacement ignition switches on April 7th, but it will only be about 60,000 out of the 1.62 million. GM CEO Mary Barra has a goal of October for finishing the job.
General manager for Len Lyall Chevrolet in metropolitan Denver, Dan Johnson, insists, “We will work overtime. We will do what we need to do,” which could include a free oil change to keep owners of recalled models coming back.
Hotline numbers for owners to call for recall information:
- Chevrolet: 800-222-1020
- Pontiac: 800-762-2737
- Saturn: 800-553-6000
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