Why Can't I Use the GM Card For a Saturn?

[69Firebird400]

Dear GM,

I am a former and hopefully future customer of yours. I have owned more than a dozen GM products in the 15 years that I have been driving and loved most of them dearly. Unfortunately, when I chose the last two new cars for our family, GM did not have any compelling products in my price range that interested me enough to buy them, so I took my business elsewhere. However, I am very excited as a GM fan for the upcoming product assault and GM vehicles will be on my shopping list when it's time to buy our next new vehicles. I am also a long-term GM Card member (over eight years) and have accumulated quite a nest egg (about $3,600) in earnings. I have an original card with annual earning limits, but no redemption limits.

Unfortunately, while I am particularly excited about the direction that Saturn is taking, with the Sky roadster, Aura sedan, and Outlook crossover, it is extremely frustrating to me that the entire current and future Saturn lineup is excluded from GM Card redemptions. I find the Saturn choices, and dealership experience (I know - we owned two Saturns previously) to be much more appealing than the alternatives at Pontiac or Chevrolet. However, the incredible amount of money (over $80,000) that I have spent on the GM Card goes unrewarded in my local Saturn store because of some reason that is unclear to me.

I understand that in the past, Saturn was not a regular "division" of GM, and didn't share any products with any mainstream GM divisions. This is no longer the case, however. Saturn is now structured as a regular GM division, albeit one with a reputation for fantastic customer service. Every vehicle in Saturn's 2007/2008 lineup has a counterpart elsewhere within GM; the Outlook is a Lambda like the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave; the Aura is an Epsilon like the Pontiac G6 and Chevy Malibu; the Sky is a Kappa like the Pontiac Solstice; the Ion is a Delta like the Chevy Cobalt. I can use my GM Card earnings on any of those alternative products, but not on the Saturn version.

Suppose when I am in the market for my next car in a year or two, and I really like the Aura (which will hopefully have a Redline version by then...hint, hint!), but had a great experience with my Honda Accord, and am considering another Accord, and perhaps an Acura TL. The interior of the G6 disappoints me too much, so it's not on the short list. The current Malibu, unfortunately, isn't even on the long list. An Aura Redline would have a great shopping advantage over the Honda and Acura for me because of the $3,600 on the hood courtesy of my 8-10 years of GM Card charges (which will not reduce residual values because it's not a rebate available to everyone that might cheapen the brand). In a perfect world, customers would pick the Saturn over the Acura even if they are the same price, but since the world isn't perfect, and neither is the Aura, that $3,600 may be a decision maker for me, and not the decision that Mr. Wagoner and Mr. Lutz would like me to make.

Let's say that my wife and I agree to purchase a new car for weekends and sunny days. My final choices are the Pontiac Solstice or the Saturn Sky. The Solstice is a nice car, but the Sky looks incredible. I want a Sky, but not for $3,500 more than the Solstice. They're built in the same factory by the same workers, and are basically identical under their skin. But one gets the benefit of GM Card redemption eligibility and one does not.

I cannot manage to understand why on earth you would exclude Saturn from GM Card redemptions. If you really want Saturn to succeed as a vanguard to the new GM, with exciting, realistically priced products, good performance and economy, and attractive interiors, then you might be able to help it and your company out by extending this program to the Saturn division too. And, if you do that, consider extending it to Saab next. Saturn first though, please.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Neanderthal]

Why are Saturn and Saab not covered by the GM card?
Because long ago someone at GM made yet another Penny Wise, Pound Foolish decision and nobody in a position of power has bothered to address the issue of applying The Golden Rule to the people who buy the cars.

[sonjaab]

FOLKS.......ya know whats funny? That GM card points 'cash"
doesn't cost GM a dime!

WHY?

Because with MOST credit card "free" offers ie: cash back , discounts,
rebates, etc. etc. Its the MERCHANTS who pay for these programs
thru credit card fees and processing fees !
Usually a % of the processing/merchant fee per transaction is used
to pay for these programs. Strange but true!

Why GM doesn't allow for use on saturn/sabb vehicles is a mystery
to me also!..............geo

[69Firebird400]

Thanks, sonjaab. I thought the same thing - that it wouldn't cost GM anything anyway, since HSBC is paying for it - but I wasn't sure about that so I left it out of the letter. Even in the unlikely even that GM would have to pay for all or a portion of the redemption amount, it still makes zero sense that they would be willing to offer this on a Chevy Uplander but not a Saturn Relay, for example, when they are almost exactly the same vehicle.

[goochman]

I could agree originally when they kept Saturn excluded since they wanted to try and grow it outside of the mainstream GM product line (let customer judge it on its own merits and not think Chevy/Pontiac/etc...) But today its silly - Saturn replaced Olds in GMs stable now.

As for Saab I can agree that this is outside GM's stable - branding and customer base. No real reason to start marketing anything which draws Saab into GMs product realm IMHO.

[JBsZ06]

I'd also like to see Saturn and Saab as part of the GM card program.

I'd like to have the choice to buy my wife one of those cars and not have it cost me more for the comparable Pontiac etc....because I couldn't use my GM card points.

[Neanderthal]

Originally Posted by sonjaab

FOLKS.......ya know whats funny? That GM card points 'cash"
doesn't cost GM a dime!

WHY?

Because with MOST credit card "free" offers ie: cash back , discounts,
rebates, etc. etc. Its the MERCHANTS who pay for these programs
thru credit card fees and processing fees !
Usually a % of the processing/merchant fee per transaction is used
to pay for these programs. Strange but true!

Why GM doesn't allow for use on saturn/sabb vehicles is a mystery
to me also!..............geo

If true, this makes it even funnier. Funny as in insane asylum funny.

[91Saturn]

I agree 100% that Saturn should be covered by the GM Card. I've yet to hear a good reason for Saturn's continued exclusion from the program.

HOWEVER, it's simply untrue that it wouldn't cost GM anything if Saturn were added to the GM Card. GM directly pays all GM Card rebates. No portion of the rebate comes from the credit card company and/or merchants.

This fact has been mentioned in GM's filings with the SEC.

GM Card

GM sponsors a credit card program, entitled the GM Card program, which was
introduced in the U.S. in September 1992 and subsequently in Canada, Australia,
Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and the United Kingdom. A cardholder's use of the card
generates entitlements to rebates that can be used in connection with the
cardholder's purchase or lease of a new GM vehicle.
As the sponsor of the GM Card program, GM does not provide consumer credit.
The program is used as a marketing tool to increase product sales. Independent
banks issue the GM Card and are responsible for evaluating, extending, and
funding credit to the cardholders, and are fully responsible for any credit card
losses with no recourse against GM.
In the U.S., GM Card rebates accumulate at a rate equal to 5% of all spending
for goods or services charged on the GM Card up to a maximum rebate amount of
$500 per year. The rebates, which expire in seven years, may be applied over and
above all sales allowances in the market at the time of vehicle purchase or
lease. GM is solely responsible to cardholders for rebates. Provisions for GM
Card rebates are recorded as reductions in revenue at the time of vehicle sale.
GM has the right to prospectively modify the plan.

http://www.secinfo.com/d17xw.515.htm

[JBsZ06]

I won't buy a saturn because it does not accept GM card points.

I'll buy the pontiac or Buick version.

Otherwise I'll go outside GM altogether.

[asim]

Because GM is stupid. Good thing we used all of our GM points now, so if we have an urge to buy a new car, having or not having GM points won't be a problem.

[Kid9000]

I'd like to see Saab in on this deal but I could really care less about Saturn. Even if someone offered me a Saturn for free I wouldn't take it (the Sky is the only exception :P)

[303montecarlo]

Originally Posted by LAMRONH

Why are Saturn and Saab not covered by the GM card?
Because long ago someone at GM made yet another Penny Wise, Pound Foolish decision and nobody in a position of power has bothered to address the issue of applying The Golden Rule to the people who buy the cars.

Then you would think Saturn is the other car company? shhhhh

[303montecarlo]

Originally Posted by JBsZ06

I won't buy a saturn because it does not accept GM card points.

I'll buy the pontiac or Buick version.

Otherwise I'll go outside GM altogether.

Try using your points from GM at Ford,like Saturn it is the other car Company.

[303montecarlo]

Originally Posted by asim

Because GM is stupid. Good thing we used all of our GM points now, so if we have an urge to buy a new car, having or not having GM points won't be a problem.

When you compair Sky and Solstice prices and figure you have a few thousand points on your GM card. The choice is ______ yours. but my guess you would buy Saturn, this makes you as you say like GM?

[Hudson]

Originally Posted by 303montecarlo

Try using your points from GM at Ford,like Saturn it is the other car Company.

What? Saturn is and always has been a GM division.