Petrolia woman’s struggle to find parts for here seven-year old car

Cathy Dobson/The Independent

Brenda Casey has a warning for all car owners that she thinks deserves national attention.

The Petrolia woman recently discovered Canadian automakers are not obligated to provide new parts beyond the warranty period.

When a mechanic at MacFarlane Chevrolet Buick GMC said Casey needed to replace a corroded under-the-hood fuse box on her 2017 Chevy Cruze, she assumed a new one would be easy to order.

She assumed wrong.

“GM/Chevrolet no longer manufactures them for my car,” Casey said.  “I don’t understand this. My car is only seven-years old but they have stopped making the parts for my car.

“This really grinds my gears. As consumers, we are getting screwed.”

Casey had a five-year warranty on her car that expired in 2022. 
As a single working mom, she drives her Cruze a lot and hopes to have it for years to come.

“I love my car. It’s great and I still consider it new,” she said.

“I thought I’d be able to get any part on my vehicle for at least 10 years, but now I find out the manufacturer is required to make parts for the term of the warranty and no longer.

“It means that if I am going to buy a new car, I’m paying more and getting less.”
 She is so frustrated, she contacted GMC Canada, MPP Bob Bailey and MP Marilyn Gladu. They all confirmed that there is no legislation, regulation or policy in Ontario requiring new parts to be made available beyond a car’s warranty.

Things are slightly better in Quebec where statutory requirements ensure parts are available for “a reasonable amount of time.” No other province has any provision at all, except for the implied expectation that parts will be available during the warranty period, says George Iny, director of the Canadian Automobile Protection Association (APA).

Iny says he believes a “reasonable” amount of time would be 15 years since that’s how long an average Canadian vehicle lasts on the road.
Iny called Casey’s situation “appalling.

“It shouldn’t happen,” he said. “A lack of new parts is a big hardship for car owners.  Body shops also have a terrible time because of it.”

New GM parts were once readily available because car lines were manufactured for extended periods. But rapid change in technology since around 2012 has created a shortage that would be “unthinkable” a decade ago, Iny said. 

When Casey contacted GMC Canada, she says she was told an industry standard existed at one time to produce parts for 10 years but that has not been the case for years.

She said what really frustrates her is knowing there are currently at least 700 2017 Chevy Cruzes like hers for sale in North America, including 200 in Canada.
“People will most likely buy these with a loan and pay interest, then find out that they can’t get parts without going to a scrap yard,” Casey said.

“They’ll end up with big paperweights before they even get a chance to pay off the loan. That doesn’t sound ethical to me.”

While her car sits in the shop at MacFarlane Chevrolet Buick GM since Oct. 7, she and her family have scoured Canada and the United States for a new fuse box with no luck. 

MacFarlane’s service manager Steve Hendriks says even finding a used fuse box for Casey’s car has been a bit of a challenge. However, one has been located and will be installed shortly.

Used parts generally come with a 90-day warranty from the autowrecker, Hendriks said.

“It can be risky using used parts,” he said.  “Sometimes it’s great, but there are cases the used part is in worse condition than the part you took out of the car.”

Casey needs a working vehicle so has decided she will take a gamble on a used part and hope for the best.

“I cannot believe this is happening when I think of all the money paid by the US, Canada and Ontario governments to bail out GMC (in 2009). How is this acceptable?” she asked.

And the final insult? Casey was told she can either get a used part from a scrap yard for her car or she can replace her seven-year-old vehicle with a new one.

“Not very green, is it?” she said.