Since General Motors Co. started its Satisfaction Guarantee Program in September, few customers have signed up for the program, which would allow them to return cars and trucks within 60 days of purchase if they aren’t satisfied.

Even fewer have returned vehicles, but the company and some area dealers say it’s important anyway.

“It’s not really a sales concept,” said Russ Crumback, vice president of Crumback-Symons Chevrolet Inc. in New Haven. “It’s more a way to show the public a new face, a new game, a new company.”

GM, a streamlined version of the original that emerged from bankruptcy July 9, started the “May the Best Car Win” campaign Sept. 14. The promotion runs through Jan. 4.

As of Nov. 15, GM had taken back only 53 of the 222,000 vehicles it had sold during the period, spokesman Tom Henderson said. An additional 140 cars and trucks are in the process of being returned, Henderson said.

It’s unclear whether the program has affected on GM sales.

In September, GM sales fell 45 percent compared with September 2008. Ford Motor Co. saw a drop of just 5 percent, and Chrysler Group LLC dropped 42 percent. Among Japanese automakers, Honda Motor Co. fell 20 percent; Toyota Motor Co. dropped 13 percent; and Nissan Motor Co. declined 7 percent.

But in October, GM sales rose 4.7 percent over October 2008, compared with a 3.3 percent gain for Ford and a 30 percent drop for Chrysler. Sales for the Japanese automakers were flat.

So few are returning vehicles, GM Vice President Mark Reuss or one of his team is calling every dissatisfied customer, asking what the buyer didn’t like about the vehicle, GM announced this month.

A big reason for the small number of returns is that customers have to choose between a $500 rebate and being eligible to return their vehicles. Only 0.2 percent have opted for the buyback guarantee, Henderson said.

Kelley Automotive Group is one of the largest car dealers in Indiana, but few customers signed up for the program.

“It’s not even a handful,” said Jim Kelley, vice president of the company.

Some of program’s rules also serve as barriers to participation. You have to return your vehicle between 31 and 60 days of purchase, it can’t have more than $200 damage, and it has to have less than 4,000 miles, among other rules.

But the big reason for low participation might be the nature of car buying itself.

Most people give it a lot of consideration before signing the papers on such a major purchase.

“When most people buy, they’re not buying with the idea of bringing it back,” Crumback said.

The program’s benefits are more intangible, he said.

“It’s a soft sell, and it’s an assurance,” Crumback said.

Coming off bankruptcy this summer, GM was eager to show customers that it was a solid company making quality products. And it used advertisements for the satisfaction-guarantee program to introduce its new president, Edward Whitacre Jr., to the public, Crumback said.

“We wanted to give customers confidence in purchasing a GM vehicle,” Henderson, the spokesman for the company, said last week.

GM isn’t the first automaker to offer to take back vehicles. Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Corp. in January unveiled a program under which a customer who loses a job within a year of buying or leasing a vehicle can return it.

GM says it didn’t try to predict how many customers the program would bring into dealerships. But Kelley says it appears to be a factor getting them into the showroom.

“It may have helped their decision to come in, but I don’t think it’s the sole reason,” Kelley said.

mschladen@jg.net