Will the GM bankruptcy effect you?

[TheDingy]

Yes, it will effect me. My other half is in the Chevrolet biz. I think that it will be for the better later down the road.

We have the unions to thank for this. Their pay is so far out of line compared to other areas. Where else does someone get lifetime no cost health care? This was true in GM until two years ago. With any project that we do we do not allow a union company to even bid the project any more due to the lazy union workers.

 

[Reg]

"Effect" ? No, I find it difficult to see how it could.
"Affect" ? perhaps.
If there is an EFFECT on my extended 200,000 mile diesel warranty and if I need to claim against that extended warranty.

I already have developed a tendency toward not buying from the US (ex) big 3.
It is time to set patriotism (patronage ?) aside and buy for me what is best for me.
I will be shopping for quality next time. I am tired of hearing the same old stories that they fixed those problems in the model year right after my purchase.

Buying from them just because they are who they are and where they employ assembly workers has only encouraged them to not change with the times.
Yeah, I know they have incredible burdens on their labor costs, but they have had spread sheets for WELL over 20 years and retirement benefits falling due should have been no surprise.

 

[kthompson]

In my near 40 years of buying vehicles have only had one GM product and it was bought used. But it disappoints me just the same. There has to be a way to hold both those who run companies and our government responsible for their actions other than not electing or firing them.

 

[Duffster]

but they have had spread sheets for WELL over 20 years and retirement benefits falling due should have been no surprise.

Pretty tough to predict explosive price increases in health care and life expectency.

I still say let them fail and the heck with the union.

 

[2manyrocks]

I don't see how it can be a good thing for people to lose their jobs. GM workers spend their paychecks buying goods and services from other people, and when they don't have jobs, then other people are going to feel the pinch, too. It's difficult to say how far the impact will reach, but certainly it's going to have wide impact.

 

[greenmule]

About 25 years ago had my last gm truck,it did me. I got a honda a toyota and a ford now,so gm could stop existing tommorow and it wouldn't affect me a bit.

 

[dmccarty]

Its all about greed. The Suits took lots of money from the companies. The workers wanted some too. They both got too greedy. The unions go on strike and the companies start loosing big money. So the Suits sign a contract. They know the contract will cause the problems in 10-20 years but that will be someone elses problem. Both sides caused this mess to happen. The Suits know that people are living long and that health care costs are rising. This has been happening for decades. But they had two choices to make. Sign on contract with the union, start making money now, and push off the long term problems to the Suit In Charge way in the future. Or suffer huge losses and possible bankruptcy now. Which is the better choice for the suit?

We just had a Honda that got totled in an accident. The car was designed to be taken to the dealer for simple changes. Changing out the air filter in the cabin is very hard to do. There are videos on websites to show owners how to do this. Changing the engine air filter required moving some duct work and taking out a half dozen bolts. I can change the air filter on the JD Tractor without a tool but Honda can't figure out how to do this?

We now have a Toyota. The ergonomics is horrible. They put a clock low on the middle dash that if you are somewhat tall is not readable while driving. I have to ask my wife what time it is when I'm driving. Then try to figure out the cruise control and wind shield wipers. Then the instructions on how to remove the rear seats. My Ford is nice and simple. This Toyota is not. The 'Yota is nice but the people who designed it have some real strange idea.

Later,
Dan

 

[RobertN]

is it possible they come out of this for the better?

Reason I ask, is it seems Chrysler was in bad bad shape 25-30 years ago. They got loans ect, and repaid them in full, came out stronger.

Of course, then someone else, and the economy, took them under again 25 years later.

Cyclic it seems...

 

[texbaylea]

The only way this will affect me is if I can no longer buy a GM pickup or suburban. I had back surgery in 1967 and on advice of my surgeon bought a pickup for the more upright seats and better leg room. I have not owned anything else since then

Also I have done my own repairs outside of warranty on these vehicles and have found that the reliability has been steadily increasing. Because of my bad knees I no longer do repairs or service that require getting under the vehicle. I can get down but getting up is nearly impossible.

I think that I am more satisfied with my GM vehicles because I can distinguish between what is a serious problem and what is merely an annoyance. If you can't tell you are at the mercy of the dealers and they take advantage of that fact to sell unnecessary and/or overpriced service.

I have a 2002 Chevy Suburban as our primary vehicle and it has over 100K miles on it with no major repairs, normal maintenance items and a few electrical problems that were easy component replacement have been it.

I have the complete manual set, a good investment, and OBDII scan software on my laptop so it was fairly easy to track down the source of electrical problems.

I am most concerned about what happens to their engineering design staff. Assembly line workers can be trained quickly but replacing engineers and designers will be difficult.

The biggest problem I foresee is that the government, in their "wisdom", forces them to make mostly "green" vehicles which the american public will not buy in any quantity because of the extra cost. That has already been shown to be true.

I will stop here before I make some "political" statements.

Vernon

 

[two_bit_score]

Good Afternoon Steve,
Well the whole darn thing is pretty sad IMHO ! I thought I would never see the day that anything like this would ever happen ! It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that there was some pretty severe mismanagement going on. I mean honestly, the bean counters at the top of the company couldnt see that there would be no possible way of funding all these retirees with pensions and health benefits ???

My wife and I did a smartbuy/ lease for 4 years on a Chevy Equinox. We have 6 months left, and we are not opting to buyout ! The dealer that we got the vehicle from has since closed their doors, so I guess we need to figure out who we bring it back to !

Bottom line is that Kathleen is looking at Honda etc...

Like I said, sad !

Yes, it's sad.

What is worse is that all these guys who were allowing this problem to fester all these years were getting paid mega-bucks to 'manage' things at these companies which now are getting tax money bailouts.

Most of them should be in prison.