So what happened with my SAAB?

I live in the Stowmarket area of Suffolk in the United Kingdom and very strongly believe that people should know what happened with my SAAB.

In January 1991 I purchased a secondhand 87 SAAB 900 with 24000 miles on the clock, from local SAAB Dealer. This was covered by a SAAB used car warranty also it had corrosion cover. The SAAB Dealer agreed to include a Radio Cassette in the purchase price but not the radio antenna and at a later date after I had paid the deposit said that the speakers would be extra. I should have walked away at this point and demanded my deposit back. I phoned the dealer to check if the car was ready to collect. When I turned up to collect the car - the Radio Cassette had not been fitted and I was told the car was not ready yet. Also I was told that a special Saab antenna was required and that the one supplied by me was not suitable. All they had to do was drill a hole, but no they insisted that a Saab antenna was required. A good impression created so far, I was disgusted with the way I had been treated. Even my girl friend at the time commented to me about their attitude. I wish I had listened. No car dealer has the right to treat a customer like dirt.

I discovered a slight Oil leak from the front of engine which had dripped on to my garage floor. The dealer fixed this, a car of this low mileage should not have any leaks. I believe this could have been spotted on the used car pre delivery check.

On examining the car I discovered rust on the under side of the bonnet and around the bottom of the drivers door. There was also a large coin size area of rust in the bottom of the door aperture. The dealer had the rust problem fixed under warranty - when I collected the car from the SAAB Dealer I discovered that they had only done half the job. The car had to return to the body shop with the patch that was the size of a large coin and it was this bit that they had missed - even on its second visit to the body shop. I treated it myself at a later date. The rust that had been treated by the SAAB body shop on the underside of the bonnet eventually became very serious with paint flaking off and recently I have had to paint the underside of the bonnet to halt this. A SAAB technician that I spoke to at the dealership thought it was normal for a SAAB to rust in the bonnet area.

Heater valve started leaking coolant all over the passenger side carpet. Fixed under warranty. Then - Rattlesnake noise from clutch pedal. The dealers response was to fit missing washer and circlip to the end of one of the shafts below the dashboard but rattle remained. On advice from another SAAB Dealer I purchased a pedal spring. On investigation by myself - Rattle was found to be caused by a screw sitting on top of the clutch shaft. Was this possibly a result of the warranty work to fix the heater valve?

I experienced some stalling problems at low rpm the carburettor was freezing. The SAAB Dealer investigated this, could not find the problem so he disconnected the emissions control system as it was rumoured under certain circumstances this could cause the stalling. On reassembly they blocked the water supply to the headlight washers and incorrectly reassembled air filter assembly so that cylinder head breather pipe was strained. At a later date I seem to have fixed this problem by oiling the valve and blowing the rubber pipes out with compressed air. I think it was due to flakes of rust getting stuck in the valve but I could be wrong. However Since I fiddled with it the problem has not reappeared . I thought that polluting the environment unnecessarily is not on in this day and age.

26-9-91

Another problem I experienced was that the speedo needle always vibrates 10mm approx. at low speed and sometimes at high speed. The SAAB Dealer could not fix this and the problem persists to this day. This gives the impression that the car is an old banger.

I was led to believe from the Saab Dealer that the front brake discs needed replacing at approx. 36000 miles. The Dealer was willing to charge a lot of money to replace them. I asked another Saab dealer if they needed replacing and was told they were OK. At a later date I purchased replacement front discs from a NON SAAB source and fitted them myself for a fraction of the cost at approx. 70000 miles and have experienced no problems so far. The only reason I changed them anyway was because of the doubt the SAAB Dealer had put in my mind.

23-10-91

Thermostat not working - 10 miles plus to warm up. The SAAB Dealer said this was normal and suggested it could be something to do with the weather. Recently I decided to investigate this problem by removing and cleaning the heat sensor and replacing the thermostat with a cheaper product (NON SAAB) the problem has now been rectified. I was amazed why could the SAAB Dealer not sort this out?

At some point in all this I asked the SAAB Dealer for my money back. I contacted SAAB GB with a list of complaints about the supplying dealer. I quote from one of the letters received from SAAB GB "First of all, we would like to make it perfectly clear that we cannot agree with your views towards this dealer. They are a long-standing, highly experienced SAAB Dealer, who have throughout many years of our association, always demonstrated the highest standards of workmanship towards their customers." You can imagine what I thought of this SAAB Dealer and still do.

29-1-91 and 2-12-91

I had two head lamps smash, The SAAB Dealer while replacing A chipped head lamp lens bent the wiper shaft and wiper so that it no longer worked correctly.While having a second head lamp lens replaced I decided to have plastic head lamp protectors fitted. The SAAB Dealer fitted one of them incorrectly so that the top plastic clip on the headlight protector was sitting over one of the two metal head lamp lens mounting clips. This put the plastic protector under strain and damaged it in the area where it was put under stress. The correct method for fitting headlight protectors is to move the two metal clips so that the protector sits between them. The disturbing thing about this is that I did not discover the problem until the bonnet came partially open with the vehicle in motion. I believe this was because of the pressure on the underside of the bonnet where the protectors had been fitted incorrectly.

In the early months of 1992 it all came to a head. I contacted SAAB GB on a number of occasions with no results. They did not want to know. They did not even offer to look at the vehicle. They passed the buck back on the dealer. On the evening of the 21st January 92 I exploded I contacted the SAAB Dealers Managing Director at his home address called who ever answered the phone every name under the sun. I also contacted the Customer Service Manager SAAB GB at his home address and had a similar go at him. This changed everything - I felt as if I was in the wrong now. I wrote to SAAB GB and the SAAB Dealer to say that this was not the way to handle this situation, a type of apology. I received a number of letters in reply. Including one from the Dealer saying he had taken professional advice and was not going to take any action against me. I wish I had taken professional advice considering what I believe they had done and their behaviour I may have been able to get my money back and get another car.

16-4-92

At this point I had no choice but to change SAAB Dealers. The next major problem that I experienced was that the water pump started leaking so I booked it in to be changed. I collected the car - brilliant! my new SAAB dealer had done a good job. Was I in for a surprise! A few days later I discovered a large rubber mallet down the back of the engine resting on the steering rack. This could have caused a serious accident if it had jammed the steering or damage to the car if it had got caught on the belts. All the drive belts on a SAAB 900 are at the back of the engine. If this was not enough a few weeks later while on holiday the car started making horrible noises the alternator top bolt had come out and its associated nut gone missing. The alternator has to be loosened off to remove the belts from the water pump and they had obviously not been re-tightened. Luckily I had car breakdown insurance.

I had used two SAAB dealers with similar results so I decided to do all future work myself . Do you know what the strange thing was - that as soon as I decided to maintain the vehicle myself I have experienced relatively few problems. Parts can be acquired very cheaply from other sources new or second hand . The vehicle has now covered 115591 miles has hardly any service history and is in very good condition. I dread to think what state it would be in if I had continued to use my local SAAB Dealers.

Finally when you consider that I had to work very hard with many hours of overtime to save the money. Then had to put up with all the problems associated with owning it and having it maintained by local SAAB Dealers nearly a year and half of hell. These people could have killed me and who ever else was in the car. You can see why I am upset.

I would never buy another SAAB new or used ever again.

RECENT EMAIL MORE EMAIL SAAB LINKS

Do not get caught out like me - Immediately take photographs of the problem. Write down details of exactly what occurred and in particular what was said by the dealer Return to the dealer and complain. Even if the problem is put right contact your local trading standards as they may want to know especially if it is a road safety issue. Do it immediately if you wait you will end up with the stone wall syndrome. The following links could be useful:

Information for European Consumers
Trading standards Information
Most current guide to Trading Standards and consumer protection
Advertising Standards Authority