U.S. will guarantee GM, Chrysler warranties, Obama says (Article from 3/30/2009)

Automotive News ^ | 3/30/2009 | Neil Roland And Richard Truett

[andyk]

In a bid to boost flagging auto sales, the federal government will pay for any warranty repairs on a General Motors or Chrysler vehicle if either company can't because of financial problems or a bankruptcy filing, President Barack Obama said on Monday.

"Let me say this as plainly as I can. If you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired just like always," Obama said in a speech. "Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it has ever been. Because starting today, the United States will stand behind your warranty."

GM and Chrysler are at a high risk of bankruptcy as they face some of the lowest U.S. sales rates in 27 years, analysts have said. The government on Monday took several actions to help shore up the two automakers after forcing the resignation of GM CEO Rick Wagoner.

"Given where the industry is, these highly unprecedented actions are consistent with the unprecedented times we're in," Standard & Poor's analyst Robert Schulz told Reuters today.

Both companies have said that bankruptcy would snuff out sales because consumers wouldn't buy a car from a company that might not be around to honor the warranty and provide service and spare parts.

Any funds for the warranty program will come from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) provided by Congress, according to White House fact sheet on warrantees that was distributed last night.

Support for scrapping incentive

Obama also on Monday said he will work with Congress to try to fund credits for consumers who turn in old cars and buy cleaner, more fuel-efficient automobiles.

Programs of this kind "have been successful in boosting auto sales in a number of European countries," Obama said the news conference. The auto scrapping program is part of a larger administration effort to increase car sales and modernize manufacturers' fleets.

Obama said he also will try to speed up programs to support immediate demand for auto sales. The administration will try to accelerate federal purchases of government cars and increase the flow of credit to consumers and dealers.

Also on Monday, the Internal Revenue Service will start a campaign to alert consumers of a new tax benefit for car purchases made between Feb. 16 and the end of the year, Obama said.

Partisan reactions

Lawmakers responded to Obama's initiatives along partisan lines.

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said the administration used the Wagoner firing as a "sideshow to distract us from the fact that the administration has no progress to announce today.

"The administration is pursuing much of what we pushed for in December, but the delay of several months has increased the severity and sent billions of taxpayer dollars down the drain. Now any investment is likely unrecoverable and we are putting more and more jobs at the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and the supply chain at risk in a politically charged environment."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed support for Obama's plans.

"We will not give these companies a blank check," the Nevada Democrat said in a statement. "If these companies do not develop strong plans to remain viable in the long term, they will lose our support."

[Beagle8U]

The point being made by posting the old article today, is the fact that GM and Obumbler lied about warranties being covered, and now those that bought them are screwed.

If you have a GM or Chrysler that is a couple years old, but still under the old warranty, you are out of luck.

[Obadiah]

ping

[Quiller]

So let me recap the main points here:

- 0 has no clue and makes a promise that is absolutely BS

- Some fools believe him and take him at his word

- 0 overstepped his authority, and put taxpayers on the hook for his stupidity

- A large labor union benefitted from 0's manipulation of the market, while consumers got $crewed

And the news of this is . . . ?

[wastoute]

LOL! As good as the Fed Gov those warranties are! Who could have seen that coming?

[carcraft]

I have been looking at the Smokey Yanick hot vapor adiabatic engine in a Pontiac Fiero. It was a 4 cylinder engine that produced 250 Hp and 0 to 60 in about 6 sec and 51 mpg. One of the cars is still around and runs. It was built in the 80’s I believe. Why didn't anyone manufacture it?

[hosepipe]

Ford buried a couple of new engines themselves..
Corruption is a bad thing..

[listenhillary]

obamacarcare + obmacare = hell I don’t know how much

It was pretty slimy but legal for GM to say they would honor their warranties sold under by the previous corporation.

[cripplecreek]

Nobody is responsible anymore.

[carcraft]

The problem I see right now is that he doesn't have a working prototype. I would love to see the thing run. He does seem to be on to something but with no running prototype it will be a hard sell. I am a little skeptical.

[Zakeet]

[EBH]

Thank you. I didn’t see what the big deal was as this was a known outcome from the TARP bailout. It isn’t/wasn’t anything new.

[MCF]

That announcement is the Kiss of Death for GM and Chrysler.

[hosepipe]

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Massive_Yet_Tiny_%28MYT%29_Engine

[PoloSec]

Obamaramalamadingdong!

[prov1813man]

This article is satire, right ? Getting so hard to tell the dif these days.

[Oceander]

This is rather an old article, isn’t it? Perhaps a follow-up to see if this actually happened would be worthwhile.

[reefdiver]

Your right, He has no business involving tax payer money to be responsible for poor engineering designs. It is not my problem GM designed, built, and sold to the public at a profit a piece of junk. That is GMs problem. If they do not step up and OWN their mistake, why should anyone buy their products? It's a gift to the other companies markrting people, Ford could buy 30 seconds of superbowl time and state their case very plainly where even a Chevy union worker would be ashamed of GM. Then put a fork in them, Done. like zer0 will be soon.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Update:

GM says bankruptcy excuses it from repairs on 400K cars

[newzjunkey]

Obama lied and cars died.

This guy is a imbecile.

[newzjunkey]

The relevance of the old article is posted at reply 38 which links to GM using bankruptcy as an excuse to avoid recall / warranty claims on Chevy Impalas.