Dave’s Take

I have been closely watching the national debate about whether to save GM or let it die a slow death.  As the once proud owner of a GM product (Caddy CTS) I have witnessed firsthand the absurdity of the giant automaker’s day to day business model and can say without hesitation, GM’s biggest obstacle to success is GM itself. Where to start… Let’s see, how about the time when one of my tail lights burned out.  For the sake of convenience, I took it to a Jiffy Lube to have the bulb replaced.  After an hour of debate and discussion, the three guys working on my one bad light bulb sadly informed me that they could not complete the minimal job due to the design flaws in the car.  Design flaws in a Cadillac light bulb? Apparently, in order to replace one 95 cent bulb, you must first remove the entire rear speaker system from the car, seriously.  Forced into taking it into my local dealer, I was informed that since my car was still under warranty (barely by 2,000 miles) they would graciously replace the tail light free of charge.  If it had not been covered by the 50,000 mile guarantee, it would have cost $87.00 to replace.  A 95 cent bulb costs $87 to repair.  As crazy as that sounds, it only gets better… or more surreal.

The next item on my trip to crazy town was courtesy of a bad headlight.  Once again, I tried to get a cheap repair at Jiffy Lube, only to be informed that in order to replace a simple headlight on a CTS, one must first remove the front bumper and grill.  Forced to return to my dealership, I was informed the headlight was not covered by GM’s bumper to bumper warranty (because the headlights are beyond the bumper?).  Even more incredible, the cost to just buy the bulb was $292.00!  Then, they get to add on an hour of labor @ $85.00.  When confronted as to how any light bulb could possibly be worth $292.00, my service advisor reluctantly offered to let me buy the bulb at any auto supply store (wholesale price-$175.00) and then bring it back to them for installation.  Needless to say, my reaction was less then agreeable.  Taking pity on me, the service rep agreed to get the dealership to cover it once on a “Good Will Warranty”.  Thank God, because it turned out that the ballast was blown, bringing the retail cost of my one headlight to the outrageous sum of $1,250.00!  Needless to say, after my warranty expires, the dealership and I shall forever remain strangers.

So forget about the stress tests and TARP fund thresholds… the real reason GM is tanking lies not in the stars, but in GM itself.