According to GM's terms, each dealer will receive in between $100,000 and $1 million for every store closed by October 2010. Most of the dealers, or at least those which so far have spoken, consider the sum very small.
"That's a small amount of money after all we've done," Gordon Stewart, owner of six Saturn stores in Chicago was quoted as saying by Autonews. "We'll probably sue them. We probably won't win, but that's not the point. They've really hung us out to dry. I just spent $700,000 putting up the new signage they asked for."
And his not the only one. According to the source, several dealers have expressed their intention of challenging GM's terms, despite the fact the manufacturer said in would give dealers a fourth of the money immediately and the rest when the stores will be closed.
"It's better than nothing. But is it enough?" Michael Schramm, an Illinois Saturn dealer said. "Of course it isn't. I've got $3.7 million tied up in real estate."
The dealers' endeavor to sue GM however will have little chance of success. According to Mike Charapp, attorney for Charapp & Weiss, all dealers have received termination agreements when GM was in bankruptcy. According to these agreements, if GM is unable to sell Saturn, the brand, and its dealers, will be terminated.
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