tertiumquid

I’m sure this issue may have been beaten to death in the past few years but the situation I have has a little different twist to it. I’d like to know what others have done when faced with it.

I have a 2017 ZO6 3LZ with 11K miles and it has the de-laminating dash problem. I bought the car used from a Dodge dealer after the original owner traded it on a Hellcat so he could carry more people. The car still has the factory warranty which is good until June. The car is in great condition other than the dash.

Here’s the problem: I took it to a large Chevy dealer that sells a lot of Corvettes to get the dash replaced. The dealer “declined” to do the work because “the Used Car department” handles warranty issues and since the car was used but didn’t come from them, they can’t help me. This is a dealership in Atlanta which everybody would recognize the name as the owner is nationally well known. While there is another good volume dealer not too far away and I might approach them, I’m surprised and irritated to find that a dealer can refuse to do a warranty repair. It’s got to be tied up in the profit since GM sets the hours they will pay for.

Before I get into a tussle with this dealer or any other, has anybody run into a warranty repair refusal from a dealer even though the factory warranty is valid and what did you do about it?

trevor90

not sure what difference it makes if you didn't buy the car from them. I say post the dealer name, so other members are aware of their tactics. Also, i would call GM and see what they can do.

tertiumquid

That's my inclination but I did write them a letter pointing out their short-sightedness just to give them a chance to re-think it. I'm waiting a couple of days to see the response, if any. The thing is that if I find a way to force them to do the work, I'm not confident they'd do a quality job. It just seems ridiculous to get this kind of a response from a dealer. In 40+ years, I've never had this happen with any dealer of any make.

HighBeta

Just to clarify this situation? You bought the car used, yes? And, can I please ask if you know the car's original in service date: I'm trying to understand if it beyond the 36 month warranty period? Thanks.

tertiumquid

Yes, used with 7K miles on it. The original in-service date is June 22, 2017, so the BTB warranty is valid through this coming June

tertiumquid

This is the reply from the service manager:"Hopefully this will give you some clarification on the guidelines I am required to follow when administering GM’s warranty. When we have a used car in our inventory, still within GM warranty, with cosmetic issues I cannot repair those issues under warranty. My used car department accepts the expense to recondition the vehicle. I did reach out to my GM contact and we reviewed your request. I’m sorry but we are unable to perform a warranty repair on your dash. Maybe the dealer where you purchased the vehicle will replace it. I have experienced situations where our pre-owned department will step up after the sale and occur expenses for our customer."

23/C8Z

Beyond ridiculous. See if that dodge dealer you bought it from has a partner Chevy dealer and try them.

If they don't? Ask then to step up and help. May have them shoot a buddy at a Chevy dealer and get it handled. Someone always knows somebody to get it done.

Bill Dearborn

Sounds like you need to talk to GM Customer Service. That car is your car not some used car in a dealer lot. If the item is covered under the GM warranty then they can do the repair under the warranty. Is there a back story here?

Bill

JeffInDFW

Rock chips in the paint, curbed wheels, those are "used car cosmetic issues that GM can't cover under warranty". The dash delaminating is CLEARLY A DEFECT. It all comes down to how he described it to the GM rep. "Yeah, I've got a guy with a used Vette and he's complaining because he says the dash has cosmetic issues. He insists I check to see if you will cover it". I would not let them touch my car now as you will get a crap job IMO. Keep this thread alive and updated and surely someone can help you. You being the second owner should not make a bit of difference to the factory warranty. Good luck, this is total crap on the dealers part IMO.

Larry M

exactly this

that is complete BS, regardless of how you got the car, it’s a warranty item

tertiumquid

Bill, there's no real back story, probably just the opposite as I did point out to her that having bought a few new Vettes in recent years I would likely buy a C8 from them in a year or so. Here's the rest of her email that I left out in the last post "The C8 is an amazing vehicle and we appreciate you wanting to buy one from us! I’ll be more than happy to get you with our Corvette expert when you are ready"

Below is the response I sent back and am now waiting for an answer. I intentionally wrote it in a way that would make it seem like an easy way for them to give in and do the work. I also deleted the dealer's names at this point just in case they do the right thing. If they don't then I'll name the dealer involved."Thanks for the response. I understand the situation you’re probably in due to the likelihood that GM sets the price for warranty repairs and it’s not necessarily the best profit producing business. I have to deal with the same situation in my business and quite honestly, some of it with your organization, on a job-by-job basis, is pretty low margin work - sometimes just break-even for me. Overall though, the account is worth it. As General Manager, I have to look at the big picture; if I did it on a one-off basis, I’d lose the overall account.

Since 2016, I’ve bought three Corvettes from YYYY, two new and one used and, generally speaking, while I was happy with the deals, service was often slow; not poor, just slow and that’s the reason I was looking to move my business to XXXX, plus you are closer and more convenient. It’s unfortunate that you personally are put in a situation where a blanket and generalized policy overrides long-term considerations. This is almost always driven by individual departments and managers who see only their particular cost center as all important rather than the overall big picture; that’s more the province of the person at the top, in this case your General Manager, Mr. CCC.

I realize that I am only one customer but I am one less new C8 buyer for XXXX – my next car will likely come from my previous dealer. Naturally, my experience with your service department will not make me an advocate for recommending your facility to many friends who are local Corvette owners.

Please understand that I realize you’re caught in the middle and it’s not your fault but I do wonder if it might not be a worthwhile idea to bring this issue to your General Manager. Or, perhaps I should directly, as sometimes the person at the top is truly unaware of the impact of a general policy on a specific circumstance. If it were me in charge, I would be weighing the minimal margin on this case vs. the good (or bad) press with easily over 50 local Corvette owners and buyers and thousands of the Corvette forum members. My experience in running multi-million dollar organizations is that what’s usually at stake is not one but very likely, an untold number of lost future sales.

Understanding that, the reality is that this particular situation could lead to several sales (or non-sales) and Service Department work in the future – and your GM and Sales Manager will never know. Sometimes, and I have had this happen in several instances over the years, an employee has brought a similar issue to me and it ended up enhancing their career and image because I was made aware of an opportunity to make a smart business decision that had the employee not come forward, I never would have known about.

I leave it up to you but I think you ought to consider elevating this to the General Manager, through the chain of command if need be. He might say - tough, that’s the way it is, but my guess is that he might think it over and be grateful you brought it to his attention. Very often, a good will gesture reaps an amazing amount of good and profitable future business at a very low cost advertisement by word of mouth with your target buyers.

Best regards,

Bill

tertiumquid

on the crap job possibility but see my my reply to Bill Dearborn and it will explain my thought process.

Mr. Gizmo

OP- are there any tech bulletins or recalls on the delaminating issue on the 2017 3lz cArs ?

post up a photo of the problem.

tertiumquid

I don't know about the TSB but there's certainly been enough discussion about it and guys have gotten them replaced under warranty so it's a GM recognized defect. As a side-light on this situation, I do know of a local guy who bought a new car from the same dealer and they did replace his dash under warranty. This whole thing is simply about a dealer not wanting to take a low profit warranty job. If there's one complaint I have about owning Vettes it's that you often have to fight to get something fixed. With other expensive cars like Mercedes, I've never had an argument, just the opposite - they can't be nicer about getting it done.

rbartick

That long winded letter you sent the dealer isn't going to change anything and they may not even bother reading it. Stop wasting your time with this dealer and move on to GM Customer Service or another dealer. I had a similar experience with an Infiniti a few years ago. The selling dealer refused to replace hazed over headlights and another dealer replaced them without question.

VNAMVET

My dad 1910-2001) always told me that the "squeaky wheel, whether sooner or later, always gets the grease".

Keep squeaking.....

BTW, that's one heck of a letter. I may plagiarize it when I need some "grease".

SilverGhost

long letters tugging on human heart strings don't work on heartless bastards.
don't be bashful about calling the crumb dealer out. if it happened the way you say it happened, you are just stating the facts.
how we gonna sweep the crumbs off the table of trusted dealers if we don't know who the crummy ones are?

Thomasmoto

Yes, back when I was a service writer many years ago most of us, SW's knew each other and helped each other out whenever we could.

ukester

yes call gm customer service and what you will get is someone thats on your side and will get to the bottom of your problem-wait they call the dealer and the dealer will tell them its not a warrantied situation but customer service will jerk you around for 3-4 weeks before they tell you they exhausted any way to help you get your call warrantied. The only reason they will not handle yours or anyone elses problem is you did not buy your car new or used from them. The Z06 is a great car but it does have its share of warrantied problems that if they handled it you would buy your next car from them its called loyalty. Since the C8 which has not even come out my 16 Z has seen its value diminish dramatically but it will be traded in on some other super car and I really will NEVER EVER EVER buy another GM as long as I live and I know because i went thru this 2 times and I even e-mailed the CEO which wasted another 6 weeks.

Best of luck
Mark

Ruderegime

Take it to a different dealership?
I bought my 16Z used from a used car lot that has zero association with any car manufacturer. I took it to a local GM dealer for a number of warranty fixes which they fixed all of them without hesitation.