Free Saab badges (but only for Dutchies)
Go to any Saab community site or forum and I can almost guarantee there will be a thread somewhere about the sad state of someone’s Saab badge. Here’s one from TS, written by Eggs n Grits when he was car shopping late last year. It shows some pretty typical examples of Saab badges that have seen better times.
Unfortunately, some of Saab’s efforts in the car-badging department have been lacklustre, usually meaning that an owner is left with a round, silver badge with some Saab embossing on it, but little-to-no color left. We have this problem with the hood badge on our Saab 9000 CS right now.
Saab Netherlands has come up with a great idea that will not only get rid of some of those faded badges, but also makes owners of older Saabs feel a little bit special.
This translation comes courtesy of Albert vdB:
Give your Saab a second youth.
Lots of Saabs have done some hard work, which has caused their logo to get worn, damaged or to disappear. A Saab, however, always stays a Saab and that is why we present a special offer, especially for Saabs between 6 and 12 years old.
When you make an appointment before the 1st of October 2008 at your Saab dealer or workshop for your yearly APK, we will put two new badges on your car at no cost.
In short: an inspection with a face lift!
The APK is a yearly inspection that’s made of all cars over three years old to check the condition of the car, etc. Dealerships are allowed to conduct inspections, rather than independants, and the dealers themselves are audited to ensure that they’re doing their job properly.
What a great idea and a great way to build some goodwill with owners of older Saabs. Kudos to Saab Netherlands on a great initiative.
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That’s a great idea, I remember when this happened to me, it was there one day gorn the next, it was really disapointing. For it to be fixed for free would have been a good customer relations when it should not be happening in the first place.
When I was in Boston someone joked about the badge enamel in front of Steve Shannon and he said “just call the dealer — they should give you one if you ask”.
I don’t think that it really works this way for a 21-year-old Saab like mine, but I’m glad to hear that at least the newer Saabs have a shot.
Saab should really do some “badge engineering” and talk to their bretheren over at Chevy. The bow tie on the company-owned Impala is lookin’ good!
Mine started deteriorating at year 3. If they were giving them out free, there wouldn’t be dealers selling them online for $38 a pop.
Saab Australia are doing a badge replacement program, for free, at the moment.
No way Saab Sweden would do this… But it would be great.
I asked my SAAB dealer to change mine when I bought my used SAAB. Don’t want a shabby badge :p
What a great initiative! There are so many early 9-5’s with faded badges, and that’s a real shame. Luckily, neither the 04 9-5 or 95 9000 has faded badges yet.
It would have been cool to have really old style badges for our newer SAABs. You know them with the aircraft under the SAAB name…..
On another note:
A lot of dealers are using incompatible products to detail there Saabs (new and used) for pre-delivery, which are fading the badges or causing them to look dull before there new owners get to even drive them away.
Take a closer look at the new Saabs in the lot. The badges can vary in brightness. Ask for special attention to be taken not to wipe over the badges with any chemicals. Do this before your car arrives and only buy the car if the badges are clear, bright and scratch free.
At least you will be off to a good start.
I know of at least one guy on Saab Central whose dealer gave him new badges for free. I thought about going to mine and asking for the same thing, but I was afraid I’d get a new style “Saab” badge instead of a “Saab Scania” Badge.
I went ahead and ordered a new one for my front from eeuroparts.com. Soon after that I my noticed that my rear one is about to peel off though!
I got a new badge “free with my car,” but it only lasted two years.
As far as I know, this is like VW mirrors that used to peel away: a one-marque issue that everyone else has figured-out how to do.
You would think that one benefit of being owned by GM would be to have access to the latest badge-painting technology? I really doubt that the problem is insurmountable…
Bernard: I agree completely.
i sell a lot of saab badges on ebay all around the world, curiously half of them go to australia. any reasons???
I love them saab 900’s!!!
I own about 22. I say “about”, because three dom’y run. Work in progress!!
I live in Madrid!