The demise of the Daewoo motor company has left around 150,000 Daewoo owners with a car load of troubles - and made their vehicles some of the cheapest in the second-hand market.
Daewoo arrived in Britain in 1995 promising to revolutionise car selling, with all sales backed up by a promise of free servicing for three years as well as the traditional three-year warranty. But last year, the South Korean manufacturer went bankrupt under debts of £12bn. Earlier this year, General Motors snapped up the main assets of the bankrupt carmaker for £1.37bn.
The bankruptcy was a disaster for Daewoo owners in the UK seeking routine maintenance or repairs. They found that showroom doors were locked and repair shops deserted as administrators took over the firm, in October.
One Daewoo customer, Annie Ho of Milton Keynes, was stunned when she rang her local Daewoo service centre to fix faulty indicators only to be told that the garage was closed. She said that until that point she had been impressed by Daewoo's customer care: "I couldn't believe it. There wasn't any prior warning and what's worse I couldn't get through to the usual customer service department."
Eventually, Daewoo's UK operation was acquired by General Motors, which owns Vauxhall Motors in the UK. They set up a helpline, which advised Ms Ho to drive the car, with dodgy indicators, to Leicester or London for repair. Since then Daewoo has set up new franchises in Northampton and Bedford.
Such situations are being replayed throughout the country where existing Daewoo owners discover that the car that they bought in good faith has suddenly become untouchable. The closure of a showroom in Gloucester means that local Daewoo owners have to drive to Bristol to get their vehicles fixed.
In Exeter, the showroom and service centre was also abruptly shut down, with existing customers advised to contact Daewoo in Plymouth. The mothballed showroom in Aberdeen, has left owners in Stonehaven, Peterhead and Fraserburgh fuming. They are directed to dealer Arnold Clark (Daewoo) in Dundee.
A spokeswoman for the resurrected firm says: "GM Daewoo is aware that there are black holes in our geographical spread of retailers at the moment but we are only a few weeks old and are seeking new franchises.
"Customers should ring our helpline where they will be informed of their nearest service centre. If the lines are busy we urge customers to keep trying as we endeavour to answer all calls to provide customers with the information they require."
However this is scant comfort to Sharon Dodd, an auxiliary nurse at Bletchley Community Hospital, who found that her Daewoo Nubira's electronic key would not work. Back in early September, the ignition system and the car's immobiliser started acting up. Her AA membership got her out of trouble then, through temporary roadside repair.
She contacted Car Warehouse, the dealer who sold her the car plus a warranty, but the warranty did not cover the computerised key, which was faulty and needed to be re-programmed. The dealer advised her to take the car to a dedicated Daewoo service centre in Northampton for a diagnostic check. The Northampton garage charged her £25 for the test which showed what she already knew, that the key had to be re-coded.
The whole repair would cost around £100, made up of £22 for the new key, £15 for reprogramming and £14.72 for the new toridal coil plus labour charges at £48 per hour. The really bad news was that the new key would take a couple of weeks to arrive.
Two weeks later, Mrs Dodd and her two small children arrived at the Northampton garage at the appointed hour - only to find the showroom and repair shop deserted. She was greeted by a flyer on the door informing customers to contact GM Daewoo's helpline.
The helpline directed her to Autolink in Leicester, where Roger Lancaster of the garage agreed to get hold of a new key by the end of the first week in November at the earliest. Bearing in mind that her car troubles started in early September, it took almost two months to solve a simple problem.
Mrs Dodd is not amused, as she had to shuffle her hospital shifts, arrange for childcare for most of the day and was expected to take the car to Leicester, nearly a two-hour drive from her home.
If all this isn't sad enough, Daewoos has topped the Consumers' Association's list of the worst depreciating cars on British roads.
The watchdog's magazine Which? revealed that the Daewoo Leganza, a two-litre saloon, suffered the worst loss. The new car priced at £14,995 three years ago is now going begging for £3,600. Which? magazine surveyed 140 cars over three years and found the more expensive the car, the greater the loss.
Daewoo owners with expired warranties, may have found a saviour in Motor Vehicle Repairers Association (MVRA). Managing director Mike Monaghan, says:"MVRA has a national, network of more than 700 approved garages and if any Daewoo owner phones us we will give them details of their nearest approved garage."
· Who to call: GM Daewoo helpline, 0800-050-607; MVRA, 01254-679-976
