The Vehicles Earth

By the CAR road test team
Long Term Tests


The final good-bye
Finally, after a delay of nearly three months, Saab’s administrators turn up to reclaim our long-term test car

This is the last will and testament of Saab 9-5, registration OV11 EKR. I’ve written about this car more than any long-term test car I’ve ever driven, and it’s probable that all of us – me included – are a bit tired of it by now.

But this has been a unique situation. The 9-5 was delivered personally last spring by Saab’s enthusiastic UK managing director, full of effusive bravado and excitement for the future. He ribbed us about our choice of bright red paint and warned us about the possible perils of locking the key in the boot. We asked about the already swelling storm clouds over Trollhättan, but he was bullish, upbeat, dismissive of the naysayers. Yet less than 12 months later, the company has gone down, vanished. It’s a Titanic moment – hard to comprehend that it’s actually sunk.

So I just want to draw a line under OV11 EKR. It had been earmarked for collection in early December, but nobody came. We didn’t quite know what to do, but were assured by the outgoing Saab PR manager (a big shout here to Jackie Allard, who did sterling work in an increasingly impossible situation) that the administrator was aware that we had the car and would be in touch.

Christmas passed, then new year, then January… still nothing. And the car’s oil change warning light was flashing like a good ‘un, despite the fact that, with 12,000 miles up, no service was remotely due. So, I took it to the Saab dealer – Marshall of Peterborough and found the doors locked. A sign said: ‘For assistance please go to Chrysler Jeep showroom opposite.’ I felt the desolation of the Saab owner – the knowledge that there’s nobody home.

Marshall serviced the car for me (invoiced as an 18,000-mile service carried out at 12,234 miles) and liberated £306.64 from my wallet. Slightly painful, given that the car should have been long gone by now.

Then, on 21 February I was contacted by GMAC Plc, which was the finance company for Saab prior to its administration. The company explained that it had ‘full title to the vehicle under the terms of its security’, and demonstrated this by confirming it held both the V5 and the spare key. Showing epic good manners they asked whether, at a suitable time and date for me, it would be okay for them to collect the car.

A date was arranged, but still they didn’t come – the transporter developed an electrical fault, apparently. Oh, the irony. Finally, nearly another week later, OV11 EKR was trucked out of the CAR HQ car park.
And into history.

By Greg Fountain