Swedish automaker Saab is in financial trouble, and has been ever since it was sold by General Motors to Dutch manufacturer Spyker. With the company recently filing for bankruptcy in Sweden, Saab has announced that it will no longer be honoring the warranty on cars sold in the U.S. and Canada.
To help those drivers now left uncovered, General Motors has announced that it will honor the warranties on any cars sold before GM and Saab split, which was in February 2010. That takes care of the majority of vehicles on the road in the U.S. and Canada, but will still leave recently-sold models and unsold cars uncovered.
"If Saab is unable or unwilling to service the warranties in [North America], then General Motors is going to step in and take care of it," GM spokesman Jim Cain told USA Today. "We're in the process of rolling that [information about warranty reimbursement] out to Saab dealers right now."
If a driver does not have a warranty on their car, they'll be responsible for their own car repairs. One way to help ensure that these costs don't get out of hand is to keep up with regular auto maintenance, which can detect problems early and help avoid expensive repairs down the line.