The strike against General Motors by 48,000 United Auto Workers Union members is set to enter its second week unless negotiators break through a series of reported logjams over the weekend.



The walkout is costly for both GM and the UAW, but the longer it drags on, the more likely it is to be felt by consumers, as well, both those looking to buy one of the automaker's new products as well as owners of vehicles needing repairs.

In the weeks leading up to the contract deadline, Detroit's largest automaker beefed up production to help pad dealer inventory, industry analysts noted. But that will only carry things for so long, especially with high-demand models, as well as hot new products like the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette.

Complicating matters, the closure of GM parts distribution warehouses is already posing problems, especially for owners needing collision and recall repairs.

"We got everything we need for this week, but that doesn't mean that we won't be short next week," said Tiffany Sullivan, the manager at Rainbow Paint and Body, a collision repair shop in Savannah, Georgia, adding that she's already been alerted about possible shortages by GM representatives.

For now, a number of the dealers that CNBC.com spoke to said they were in reasonably good shape when it comes to new vehicle inventory. Typically, automakers like to have somewhere between 60 and 65 days' worth of inventory on dealer lots, said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst with Cox Automotive.

But because of both the ongoing slowdown in the U.S. car market and a bump up in production in anticipation of a strike, GM was able to beef up its national inventory to about 77 days at the beginning of the strike, according to Cox data. The figures, however, vary sharply from one product line to another.

There were 93 days of Chevrolet Silverado pickups, but only 57 days inventory of the popular Chevy Tahoe SUV, below the industry norm. And even those numbers can be misleading, cautioned Tim Jackson, the president of the Colorado Auto Dealers Association. He expects GM's retailers in the Rocky Mountain state to burn through their allocations quicker than those elsewhere considering that light trucks make up 82% of their sales, well above the national average.