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chevy dealership blues

I HAVE A FRIEND THAT WORKS AT THE LOCAL DEALER. MY FIRST RIDE IN A NEW ZO6 WAS WITH HIM BEHIND THE WHEEL DOING LONG SMOKEY BURNOUTS ON HIS ''TEST TRACK'' BEHIND THE SHOP. THE SAD PART WAS THIS CAR DID NOT BELONG TO HIM OR THE DEALER... IT WAS OWNED BY A CUSTOMER THAT HAD IT IN FOR A SMALL WARRANTY REPAIR! THINK LONG AND HARD BEFORE
YOU TOSS YOUR KEYS TO SOME SERVICE WRITER WHO SAYS ''I'LL
PUT MY BEST MAN ON IT''
 
One horror story started with my '99 Cavalier Z24---with me showing up unexpectedly to check on how the warranty work was progressing (this time) and here I see my car whipping around the corner with 3 mechanuts in it, stereo blaring, ragtop down and all 3 of those bast**ds were chowing down on BIGGIE meals!!!!! I'd shot a time-dated image of the odometer before I'd dropped the car off and checked it after they'd skulked their busted a**es outta the car. Did the math and found they'd driven 47 *%#@ miles!!!!!!! The car was ticking-HOT and I could smell burned rubber!!! I went thermo-nuclear!!!!!! But wait!!! There's more!!!

There was another detonation going on in the service area drive up--See a Corvette owner had dropped her baby off for an oil change (that 1st free one you get). The car was GORGEOUS!!!! The service-heffa rep with the clip board had a broken foot with a big cast on it WITH a metal brace on it for support. Y'all guessed it. She (tried to) fit her ignut (Southern for ignorant) a** in this new Vette and that metal brace wanged the side of this woman's $51,000, pearl/tan/tan Vette and wonked a huge chunk outta the fiberglass right beneath the door!!!!! And they tried to patch it with bondo and touch-up paint and thought she wouldn't notice!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was showing my a**!!!! This woman was black hole livid!! That deep, spooky kinda calm and seething at the same time that has you checking for the nearest exits! She was the owner of a 2002 droptop she'd had shipped to California for a special pearl paint job and matching interior and these "Mr. GoodD*cks didn't even have sense enough to get the color right in their sneak-job!!! Just dabbed on some white paint and rolled it out to her like all was rosy!

She whipped out her cell phone... 15 minutes later, the lawyer is there! I tell her about my Z24. I tell her what I do for a living. She pays me $150 on the spot to document the patch job. Dealership guys said they would repaint the car for free. She threw them the keys and told 'em to "shove it up their collective rumps-she'd see them in court!!!!" Not only did she get a brand new Z06, the dealership paid for the droptop conversion, new custom paint job AND court cost!!!! Oh, and the idiot with the broken foot and the manager that thought up the sneak paint patch no longer work there. All total: $62 Oil change =ed: $2750 court costs + another new $53,000Z06 + $1200shipment to California for custom paint job + $4200(+)custom paint job + $2700(+)interior revamp + $8000(+)hardtop to convertible conversion. Chevy dealership knowing how it feels to take it up those collective butts-PRICELESS!

I looooove being in my Vette when our paths cross-we always wave, pull over and talk about that day.
 
caninelver.... I was once a GM Tech and Service Manager. One of the main problems with dealerships is the owner. If GM did not enforce that every dealer have a service department, parts dept. and body shop the owners would not have them. Now here,s what happens. The owner hires managers for each department that will keep the customer away from his office after the sale. All the owners want to do is sell you a car . That's it......After that you have to deal with managers who are over paid and could care less if your car gets a good repair. Next problem, no real mechanics are going into the field.If you are any good at all you will do better on your own. Most mechanics hate Corvettes. They think their owners are cocky and are show offs. I always liked working on vettes I made more money on the side and did not have to rape anybody and had a loyal following. My poblem now is I've gotten to old to keep pace with what's new. But when I did work at a dealership I went to every tech school GM offered. When GM moved the ignition to the streering column I went to that school. The most difficult steering column is the tilt telescopic found in the Corvette.They are dangerous to work on and most dealers lack the specialty tools needed to properly work on them. This is because the owner of the dealership does not want to spend money to buy the specialty tools from Kent Moore tool Company. So Mr Goodwrench thinks he can fix it by taking it apart without these tools. He finds that he lacks the skill to work in this area and the tools. Now he's mad because he has spent all of his time trying to fix something he should be able to repair.He throws it back together not paying attention to details and makes it a bad repair. He's more than like on 60/40 comission. He tells his manager he had 5 hours on this job. at $80.00 and hour your charged $400.00. The service manger never checks to see if the repair is completed. You pick it up and get screwed. Believe it or not most people won't fight with them about the repair and they know this . So everyone loses. Now you have a mechanic who has a bad attitude towards Corvettes and because he's allowed to get away with it he thinks he's a Mechanic...This is my take on your problem. My advise find a mechanic who likes working on Corvettes and stick with him till he prove other wise....Bob Yates
 
Bob,

but wouldn't the dealership make more money by doing repairs rather than just selling cars? I don't know what the markup on cars is but I'm going to compare it to guitars. Guitar stores have a small markup on guitars themselves, it's all the repairs and little accessories they sell; that's where they make the money at.

My car hasn't been touched by anyone other than myself and a few other neighborhood mechanics in years. If I saw my car being treated like that, someone would get a :r
 
Hey Edmond.....To you and me that makes cents like in money. But sad to say the owners do not like after the sales money. Here is a little story about a dealer I worked for back during the Gas shorteges in 73. Cars were not selling at all but repairs on car were up and as usual the service,parts and body shop departments were making money and keeping the doors open on the dealership. It was payday and everyone opened their checks only to fine 10% less money. I had to go in and find out why from the owner. When I asked about the cuts in everyone's pay he said "OH, I'm giving a trip to the saleman who sales the most cars this month. He forgot to tell his departments he was doing this...Yeah right. That week I quit working for dealers
 
Bob Yates said:
Hey Edmond.....To you and me that makes cents like in money. But sad to say the owners do not like after the sales money. Here is a little story about a dealer I worked for back during the Gas shorteges in 73. Cars were not selling at all but repairs on car were up and as usual the service,parts and body shop departments were making money and keeping the doors open on the dealership. It was payday and everyone opened their checks only to fine 10% less money. I had to go in and find out why from the owner. When I asked about the cuts in everyone's pay he said "OH, I'm giving a trip to the saleman who sales the most cars this month. He forgot to tell his departments he was doing this...Yeah right. That week I quit working for dealers

Bob,

Isn't that like... illegal? You can't just take away peoples pay and give it to someone else. For all you now, the owner kept that money himself.

I don't think dealers want to acknowledge how fast word of mouth travels, especially bad word of mouth. If we have a bad experience, we tell everyone. On the other hand, we tell less people if we've had a good experience. I think some big companies have done studies on that.
 
I think everyone should email this thread to GM...
 
I don't know if you guys know this are not but Motors Holding is the purse strings of the dealerships and they call the shots when a dealership is up and running. They are the ones who hold the paper on the dealership till it either folds or pays them off. This dealer I worked for was the first black owned dealership in the United States. He was given a lot of lee way in what he could do. One thing he did was keeping the dealership under staffed. He got out of paying over time plus he didn't have to pay people on commission a salary for their 40 hours if no work came in the shop. This was all legal and we couldn't do anything about it. This dealership is still going but the owner died about 3 years or so ago. His son now runs the dealership...... Again speaking on the subject, dealerships don't care if your car gets fixed or not . Their main focus in life is to sell you a new car. This way of thinking filters down throught the dealership and we as customers get the shaft by having poor mechanic's with how much can I get out of this job and push it out the door and let someone else worry about fixing it right. This is why you don't go to a dealership for repairs. I don't even go for warrranty work . I find it's better if I fix it myself. But not everyone can do that . I feel for them. Their at the mercy of hoping they get a good repair..... I live in the 16th largest city in the United States and this is how it is around here. I've been on the inside of dealerships and this is my take on them. There maybe be some good ones out there ....but I doubt it.....Bob Yates
 
Repairs

Hi Denny,

I don't know where you are in York County, But if your willing to go to Reading ,Save yourself some time and give this garage a call .Bob is a former vette specialist and was tired of dealership b/s.
Bradys high Performance 717-872-6665

He's in Conestoga here in Lancaster county

He still keeps up with newer vette's and works on my 86,

Barry
 
dealership update

The service manager tells me that the underdash cover is discontinued so they cannot obtain one for me AND- they have decided that they did not break it after all so I should look for an aftermarket one and pay for it myself. I don't think it was broke when I took it to them and their top mechanic took it off each time he worked on it so I believe he broke it but I can't prove it. He told me to bring the car in Monday AM and they will fix the digital dash lights which definitely worked before they had it. He actually had the guts to tell me they really want me to be satisfied and return to them in the future. I guaranteed him if he fixed the dash properly they will never see me again. Later that day we got a call from the dealership asking if we are happy with the service dept. -The first time I was there I test drove a silverado.If things had gone well I would have traded in my old truck. I'm keeping the old one. Maybe I'll look at Toyotas. Apple Chev in York, Pa lost my business forever. I dread next Monday.I know they will screw something else up on the vette.
 
Bob,

What you say is terrible because it's true. For those who can't fix it themselves, they have to go to the dealer. Or for those who are new to the Corvette game, they may think that the dealer will provide the best service "since they built the car in the first place." But it's through forums like this where we can inform each other.

Take PepBoys for instance. I've never let them touch the Vette' but I did have them run a diagnostic on our Toyota. They charged $80 to run the diagnostic, okay, that sounds about right. It was some ignition part they said would cost $300, plus another $500 to install it. I went to the junkyard and bought that same part for $75 and installed it in less than 45 minutes.
 
I think I shared this before some time ago, but I'll post it again to share in this topic.

I have a '93 with 23k on the clock. I do baby the car. I'll park it in the furthest spot in the parking lot to keep other cars away from it. Anyway, my dealership experience...

It seemed that the PKE transmitter needed to be really close (1 to 2 feet) to the door for it to work. This was inconsistent with what was published in the owner's manual (I believe 5 to 7 feet). I took it in.

When I got the car back, I was told that they took the driver's door apart and found no problems, but cleaned some connections anyway in case corrosion was an issue. I noticed that the power mirror switch no longer worked--they must've disonnected it and not reconnected it. I took it back. When I got it back, I noticed that one of the screws in the door jamb had its head stripped (yes, I know every darned inch of the car!), the paint was scratched near that screw, and the courtesy lights no longer came on when the driver's door was opened.

I took it back.

They fixed the scratch (and not the screw head). They said that the electrical problem was coincidence (BS!). I insisted, so they took the door apart again to fix the switch. When I got in the car, I noticed the door didn't shut properly. I worried about it all the way home. I got home and gave it a good look. The window was now too high! It was bumping into the roof panel!

I took it back, and this time, went to the garage manager and told my story. He insured me that they would correct it to perfection. When I got it back, the window position was corrected.

All of this because the PKE didn't pick up from any respectable distance. And do you know what the problem actually was? My cell phone cable, when plugged into the lighter, interfered with the PKE pickup! Unplug that cable and, viola!, ~5 feet for the pickup.

Anyway, the experience sickened me. Also, after having brake pads replaced they had to "test them". A young kid took it for a ride, and he shot out of the parking lot like a bat outta hell. Sorry, but you don't need to accelerate quickly to test the brakes, a$$hole!

I wish I was a knowledgeable mechanic.
 
I'm going to try and tell all of you how a lot of this crap at dealerships happen. Like most want a be mechanics when I was first out of tech school I wanted to be the great engine rebuilder. When I stepped into my first shop I was lucky if I got to clean the greasey parts for the real mechanics who were for the better part old farts. Looking around and keeping my ears sharp. I soon realized the money was in tune ups and the hard work was engine rebuilding and transmissions. Brake jobs were gravy and exhaust work easy. The old timers had all those bases covered. So when your new in a shop you are made into what's know as a trim man , who repairs leaks , rattles. adjust windows , doors hoods ,trunks . Also all the electric items on a car. Things a real mechanic wouldn't touch . Trim men are consider low life till you fix one of there water leaks or electric windows in their personal car. Believe me thats what I had to do. I was a trim man for 8 years in GM dealers and love it. It made me feel good when I would take apart a door trim panel and put it back where you couldn't tell I had it off or redo a complete dash board that had been damaged by a wreck. When I worked on Corvettes I would be extra careful because that car has always mint so much to me. But as I went through a few different dealerships I could see that all most all of trim men are flunkys. Guys who use to grease and change oil or guys who were hired as mechanics and didn't make it but had a little skill to keep on as a trim man. I don't know how many times I heard sevice managers say to a customer he's my best man only to have them ruin some ones car. If you can't do it yourself check around through outlets like this site and you'll find someone who cares and will treat you right or steer you in the path to some one who will...Sorry if I bored everyone.... It's sad but true I am now one of the old farts ......Bob Yates
 
Bob-

We may be old....but we are not farts. We are Corvette men(and women) all. Happy Holidays.

Doc
 
Hey Hoosier,
I happen to be building a house in Denver, Lancaster, right off the turnpike. I will look Bradys up for sure. Don't know where Conestoga is but will find it. After reading all the dealership nightmare anecdotes I wonder if it is worth it to let Apple Chev try to fix the dash lights they screwed up. I am actually scared to go back.
 
caninelver.... You should be scared . You're going to give them a chance to screw it up even more. Cut your loses and go some where else. They have all ready proven to you they don't care about your car so forget them and dust their dirt from your shoes. I wish you the best......Bob Yates
 
I've had my own horror stories with a Toyota dealership here in Seattle. The problems range from not torquing the exhaust manifold on a 4 cyl Turbocharged truck (and the exhaust manifold falling off in traffic on my way to work. They wanted to charge me an additional 2 hours labor to re-torque them after I had already paid $1700.00 to have the aluminum head replaced only a week earlier. Needless to say I told them the torque specifications according to the Toyota mechanics manual and if they needed help understanding the tightening order of the bolts I would assist them. There was no charge on this re-service.

At the same service department, I told the person I thought I heard a slight knocking sound. He suggested it might be a lifter. I told him that there were no lifters in an overhead cam engine.

The last straw was in 2002 when they took all day to change the oil on a 2000 V6 Camry and didn't finish the warranty work on the seat belt because they ordered the wrong part. (They ordered the part in a previous visit). When my wife drove her car over the weekend she didn't tell me there was anything wrong. Then on Monday night she said the car was smoking under the hood on the freeway on the way to work. I asked her if she pulled over to check it....NO....no lights on the dash went on so it must be okay. I came un-glued when I opened the engine compartment with oil all over the manifold and found that they had put the Iniline 4 filter on the V6 engine and the engine was 1.5 qt low. Fortunately no damage was done other than a huge puddle of oil on my concrete driveway and a mess under the hood.

The way I handled it was I walked into the dealership with the evidence (after I replace the oil and filer myself) asked to speak to the service manager, told him we needed to talk in a private office (for his sake) and let loose 14 years of a list of screw ups that they had done. I told him I wouldn't even consider taking my car in to complete the seat belt repair, they were never seeing me again, and I wanted all my money back for the 30K checkup. He complied and thanked me for being descrete with my ripping him a new one. I believe everyone deserves some dignity even when something like this happens. It makes it easier for me to tell them how I really feel without regretting it later. I haven't been back since, but I make a point of telling everybody who owns a Toyota about that dealership and to stay away from it.

By the way. I found the best offence is a good defence. I generally buy the mechainics manual that the dealerships use. I buy it to do preliminary education before I take it in. If you sound like you know what you're talking about they are less likely (but not always) more inclined to be straight with you. I'm getting the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette mechanics manual for a christmas present. I think it's a great investment for $150 and should save me many times that amount in repairs I not only can do my self, but preventing 'rip off' artists.
 
schmaltzr said:

By the way. I found the best offence is a good defence. I generally buy the mechainics manual that the dealerships use. I buy it to do preliminary education before I take it in. If you sound like you know what you're talking about they are less likely (but not always) more inclined to be straight with you. I'm getting the 2000 Chevrolet Corvette mechanics manual for a christmas present. I think it's a great investment for $150 and should save me many times that amount in repairs I not only can do my self, but preventing 'rip off' artists.

When my GMC S-15 POS pickup was afew months old the AC all but stopped working. I took it in, left it a day, the claimed to have checked it and said it was working as well as it will ever work with R134. It stil would only drop the cab temperature about 5 degrees then stop working, which wasn't very good in 105 degree weather. The service manager at the Smyth dealershiop in Santa Clara also said that you can't expect them an air conditioner to work very well when it's hot out. :mad I was late and had to leave on a trip but told him I would be back.

I returned the next week with a GMC shop manual opened to the AC performance check pages, digital thermometers hooked up to the AC air inlets and outlets and a lot of time on my hands.

He started to give me the crap about R134 and hot wearther again, but when I pointed to the digital thermometers and shop manual, he offered to have their AC technician look at it.

The AC tech saw my setup and said "those are better thermometers than we have, all we have is an old hardware store thermometer, can I borrow them to use while I trouble shoot your AC?"

After he replace the low pressure swiths, it was pleanty cool enough in 105 weather with than fan on the second slowest speed.

Dick
 
I'm really glad that one of the guys in the club owns the only Corvette shop in town. I also have a mechanic for my other cars that I trust completely.

Just a story that happened to my son. He took his Jeep Wrangler into a local tire shop where he lives to get a flat repaired. Did a little around town driving and then was on the interstate going home at about 11pm when he said the left side kind of dropped and about the same time he saw a tire bouncing down the road. Luckly he got the Jeep stopped without rolling it. The a**hole at the shop didn't tighten the lugnuts! No cellphone but luckily someone picked him up and we happened to be in town so I got the spare on. Next day we go to the tire store with our story. Naturally the manager said they tightened the wheel. After I had him around the front of his shirt and was pulling him over the counter a couple of mechanics stopped me. I eventually calmed down, got ahold of the district manager and got a new wheel/tire but I had to do all the legwork. Never been back.

Many years ago a friend at work had a beautiful 80 Grand Prix. Had the honeycomb wheels if you remember them. Got new tires and the shop forgot to tighten any of the lugnuts. First corner he took all 4 wheels broke after the lugnuts worked loose. Boy was he p.o.'d.

Baldie88
 
Baldie,

I must admit that you had great restraint from choking that guy. I'm afraid that I would've personally hurt the guy because: 1. They made a mistake. 2. It was a big mistake. 3. They tried to deny it.
 

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