I’m thinking about buying / leasing a Saturn car. Do they still have a ‘no haggle’ policy? What’s it like dealing with Saturn?
Lovely. Yes, they do still have the no-haggle thing. About my only complaint with Saturn is that they send you a ton of mail trying to find out if you’re happy enough.
Yep, no haggle. Yep, lots of mail.
I have a 96 Saturn SL1 and it’s been awesome. It’s got 120K+ miles on it and other than routine maintenance, we’ve only had to replace the battery (couple years ago) and alternator (this week).
I just bought the V6 Vue. It’s great because even the finance manager doesn’t try to convince you to buy anything extra. He just asked: “Would you like blah-blah-blah insurance?” I said, “No.” And that was it.
By “blah-blah-blah insurance” do you mean GAP insurance? If you do and you didn’t, you might want to rethink that decision if you still have time. Saturns by any account I’ve heard are good cars, but they don’t hold value too well. You can get upside down on a loan FAST and GAP is the only thing that will bail you out if you wreck the beastie.
Just sayin’
Ditto. I had a 92 SL2, which died protecting my wife’s life when some clown ran a red light and smashed into the driver side front door. it did its job, and she spent about 3 hours in the emergency room. The insurance guy said it was the worst damage he had ever seen without a major industry. So I bought a 1998 SL2 as a replacement, which is going strong with 77 K miles.
You get a price list of options. No pressure, no haggling, no special deals. You get to pick exactly what you want with no problems. (If you buy off a lot you’re limited to what they have, of course.) The first Saturn I had, when I lived in New Jersey, had traction control, when I tried to get it here in California the salesman pointed out to me that I didn’t need it - no ice or snow. :smack:
Do check out how you feel about the dealer, though. I liked the guys I used back East more than the ones in California, though my local service guys have gotten better the past few years. I have a feeling the Saturn Way isn’t what it used to be, but that’s just a limited view. There is a Saturn newsgroup, which might give feedback on experience with dealers, though there were some Saturn haters on it the last time I visited, which was ages ago.
I have to Saturns – a 93 SL1 and a 99 SL2 – and found them very nice to deal with.
They once actually got very upset with their service people when they discovered they had replaced a 75-cent part without asking me first. 
When the 93 dies, I’ll probably to to Saturn first for a replacement.
Yes, a wonderful buying experience, and yes, no haggling. Niote that the “no haggling” does not extend to the value of your trade in, where it is more like “civilized bargaining”.
If your new car has some milage on it, or some minor flaw, there can be a little “give and take”. My last new Saturn had 200 miles on it since it was driven down from another dealer. They threw in a full tank of gas and a free oil change.
Compare this to the rat bastards who sell Toyotas. Now, Toyota makes a good car, but in the USA the salescreatures will do everything up to (and perhaps including) stealing your wallet. Never buy from a Toyota dealer.
I didn’t get the Gap insurance. I’ll take the risk.
Loved it. No 4 sales people darting up to me, asking me if I’m finding anything I like, everything in black and white right there on the window, and wonderful customer service. I had to go to one of them to tell them I found the car I wanted. It was great. I have a 97 SL2. Drove it off the lot the same day. Took us precisely 45 minutes to write up all the paperwork. 108k miles, and the only problem I’ve had is needing the clutch replaced at 80k miles.
I really hate to do this, but cite please, I just can’t think of a dealer part that cost $0.75, even if it’s a screw.
Yeah…usually the dealers will screw ya for free!
Another Saturn fan checking in. I bought a 1997 wagon in 1999, used, with about 17,000 miles on it. No haggle, no hassle, trade-in value for my Taurus right about where I’d hoped it would be. There was a problem with the paperwork (not the local dealer’s fault) and the dealership’s manager gave me his car to drive till the snafu was untangled and I could get my wagon registered.
The car now has close to 80,000 miles on it and I still love it. Very few service issues and an economical, reliable beast it is. I plan to keep driving it till it dies, and then buy another Saturn.
Can’t provide a cite for this, but I read not too long ago that Saturns are very low on car thieves’ preferred list.
My post is your cite: In 2 1/2 years I’ve touched about 500 unrecovered auto theft claims–Only one comes to mind, and it was left unattended warming up in front of the owner’s house. Nobody steals the things.
In fact, the '95 Saturn, one of which I own, was last year’s most stolen car. Go figure.
Anyway, when I bought mine, I went to the Saturn guys, knowing exactly what I wanted, told them that exactly, and said I wanted an EXACT out-the-door price, I’ll write my check now, thank you. The fruggers still took me “into the room” and gave me the “hard-sell” on a whole package of crap that I already told the salesman I didn’t want.
Again. Go figure.
In 1995 the girlfriend (now wife) and I went to the Toyota dealer specifically to buy a new (or nearly new) Celica. After 20-25 minutes of standing around waiting from someone to aknowledge our existence, we walked out and went across the street to the Saturn dealer. Bought an SL2 with about 12K on it that afternoon, paid cash, and left. Great experience.
That was 209K miles ago and still no complaints.
Isn’t that funny? I bought a '96 SL1 brand new, and both the radiator/water pump and alternator went about 10,000 miles too early. I traded that car in about 6 months after it was paid off.
I bought my Saturn SL1 in Santa Maria, CA, in 1995. Couldn’t have been a nicer experience. And service at that dealer was always favorable. They would notice things that should be replaced and then ask if I wanted them replace, at no charge naturally.
When I moved to San Diego, the experience with Saturn soured considerably. The service desk here has to be prodded to look at anything. They’ll only make recommendations when you explicitly ask for them. They tend not to believe you when you say that something is wrong, and would rather spend time (and your money) looking for reasons to tell you it’s not a problem with the car. Sales was okay (my partner bought a SW2 there in '99), but not as pleasant as the dealer in Santa Maria.
So, yes they’re still haggle-free (but so are many dealers in my area), but how much you’ll enjoy the “Saturn Experience” seems to depend greatly on where you go.
JOhn.
meaning more Saturns/100 Saturns were stolen than Hondas/100 Hondas. That’s one statistic I suppose. Different from overall number of a particular brand stolen. So in reference to my statement above, “Nobody steals Saturns because nobody buys Saturns.” Interesting.
I have 4 Saturns…all excellent cars. The only problem I see is that Saturn is gradually abandoning doing their own manufacturing…the new ION has a japanese-made transmission.
So Saturn will eventually become just like any GM division,with cars built from parts made by the cheapest bidder (which is what got GM into trouble in the first place!) :smack: