solteroblues

I'm on the southside of Atlanta, and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good Dealer service center in the area. I just need my first service done. I've used Southtowne Chevrolet before for my C7, but as I general rule I try to stay as far away from them as possible, for buying or service. Plenty of dealers around, just don't know who you guys would trust to touch your C8? I'd rather not have to drive to the northside of Atlanta, but will if that's the only place to have it done that's trustworthy.

BTW, the dealer I bought it from is about 2 hours away and not a place I'd recommend going back to, either. No problems, they just gave me such a hassle over buying it...

AORoads

Man your request for ATLANTA CHEV DEALERS is sinking. This is a "ttt" effort to get some recommendations.

one thought is to post the same request or search the special forum for Southeast (incl.Georgia). Go to Forums, Upcoming Events, Southeast, and post the question there, or look thru the existing threads. If you ask, ask for good dealer service for C8 in South Atlanta, or closest to it.

solteroblues

Thanks. From my experience, rarely does anyone look at those subforums, so I thought I'd get more exposure here in general. But I'll try there too.

Kracka

I'd use one of the Hendricks in Atlanta-area.

solteroblues

do you have any experience with them? I went there when I was shopping for my C8 and I wasn't impressed with their sales tactics. service may be different, but id never buy anything from them. Also bad experience at my local Honda dealer who is also owned by Hendricks.

Vate

I live in Roswell, and have a 2011 Grand Sport. In mid 2021, I went to Rick Hendrick to get new brake pads front and rear, new rotors up front, resurface back rotors. The written job estimate was just under $2K. It's a tricky job, there are 20 padlets in total, but really? Needless to say, I don't know if they did a good job or not because I wasn't going to spend that much. I did the job myself, spent $350 on the pads, and put a micrometer on the front rotors and found out that even at 60K miles, they were well within tolerance.
At the same time, I went to Buy-A-Vette off I-85 because they also offer Corvette service, but the waiting list was 6 months for an appointment.
Long story short, I too would like to know a good Vette mechanic in the metro Atlanta area (dealer or otherwise) who is not me.

C8Rob

Contact the Corvette club in Atlanta. Some of the members can probably tell you a good dealer to use for service.

72vetteman

OP, not what you want to hear but I had my 22 coupe serviced by Megal Chevrolet in Dawsonville. They have one GM certified Corvette mechanic and that is all that he works on, his name is Butch. Super nice dealer (I ordered mine there), and great service. As a disclaimer, I am not affiliated with them in any way. Make a day trip of it and perhaps Uber to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame museum in downtown Dawsonville and tour the facility.

Fast Dawg

I see that you live in Newnan and that’s a haul to Atlanta.

I live between Dallas and Cartersville. I had the same dilemma as you last summer looking for a dealer to service my C8. I bought it from Hendrick in Duluth but really didn’t want to drive an hour or more in Atlanta traffic just for service.

I asked Classic Glass Corvette Club where their members with C8’s had them serviced and they suggested Days Chevrolet in Acworth. I tried to set up a service appointment with no success.

My local dealer is Hardy in Dallas. I bought my 2500HD from them and take it and my wife’s Denali there for service. They primarily sell trucks and SUVs because they are a rural dealership. I’ve been happy with them so I called and spoke with their Service Manager about servicing my C8 and was very impressed with his knowledge about the car. I took it to them last September to get the oil changed. I told them I was saving my free oil change and DCT service for later this year. The Service Writer came out twice while I was there to make sure I understood exactly when to bring it back and to tell me how my service was progressing. They did nothing but impress me.

If I were you I would call some dealers near Newnan and talk to their Service Manager. You might be able to find a dealer that is knowledgeable about the C8 and has invested in getting their techs trained.

AORoads

That's what I'd do. Here's a quik google search using Corvette clubs in Atlanta. I'd call and ask each club prez who the member with C8s use. It'd be nice if two different clubs agree there is one dealer that's got a good tech and doesn't gouge up the wazoo. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=corvette+c...=v354-1&ia=web

Wlkinser

The 2 big dealers in ATL are Hendrick and Jim Ellis. Hendrick has gotten a bad rep in the Corvette community because of their new policy on ADMs on new vehicles.
Their well regarded Sales guy left over it. That doesn't mean they are not good at service but a lot of guys in our Club stay away because of these changes.

I bought my 2022 Z51 HTC form Jim Ellis in Chamblee (near Buckhead). I live about 45 mins away so I have asked your same question many times and have not gotten a resounding answer. I just reached the 1 year mark so took imine to Ellis for the first oil change. Only had 2200 mi so did not do DCT service; I made a 12:00 appointment and Service Writer shocked me when she said it would be about 2 hours. She said the appointment just reserves your spot on the lift but not your place in line. Looks like they do "first come first serve". It took around 3 hrs!! I paid with GM Rewards and price seemed reasonable. The service writer was great and very knowledgeable. Kept me informed on regular basis. Also gave me the left over 1/2 Qt of oil, so except for the 3 hr wait (which is no small problem) , no complaints. Having said that, not sure I could recommend. Problem for me is that I want a dealer that services a lot of vettes and there just aren't that many choices in ATL. Good luck!

BTW, listening to Barrett-Jackson and 2023 TR Z06 1LT just sold for $250,000! Sticker $120.

Fast Dawg

Yes - Hendrick Duluth lost the Corvette Sales Manager who built their Corvette sales to #7 in the country over their "accessory charge" and he was a great guy. Interestingly enough they only dropped to #8 for the 2022 MY. I think they will drop further when the 2023 MY numbers come out because when I picked my 2021 up on 9/14/21 their wait list was so long they thought they had sold every 2022 allocation they would get. Apparently the accessory package hasn't hit their sales numbers yet.

I bought my wife's Denali from Jim Ellis because when I was looking they had the exact spec she wanted. I've never used their service department because I'm happy with my rural dealer. By the way, I only had an oil change on my C8 and like my other vehicles that I get serviced at my rural dealer by appointment they have never made me wait longer than 1.25 hours. I was there yesterday afternoon getting the oil changed in our Denali and even though there were five cars/trucks ahead of me in line they honored my appointment. I was in and out in an hour.

solteroblues

Thanks for the responses!

I live in Newnan, work in Decatur, and our office will be moving to Chamblee some time this year. I just work from home about 4 days a week, so though Jim Ellis is a possibility, it's not a great option, especially not until later this summer. I have no experience with Jim Ellis, but when I was looking to buy my C8, Hendrick was playing games, just like they did when I bought my son's Civic from the Hendrick owned Honda dealer down here. Every dealer in Atlanta seems to be so bad when it comes to selling cars, I'm afraid of them working on them... if they will rip you off when you're buying, I'm sure they'll rip you off when they're servicing it too.

@Fast Dawg I used to live out close to you, I was in Hiram and bought a car from Hardy about 20 years ago. Also talked to them about buying a C8 from them, but their allocation was so small I was looking at a 2 year wait, even after waiting to get on their waitlist because it was so small. Never had any service done there, though, but they're too far from me now for normal maintenance.

Supposedly, Southtowne near me has a Corvette tech, and they do seem to sell a lot of vettes. When I first bought my C7 (used at 57k miles) I had an engine problem and of course COVID had just started hitting the US, so they kept it over a month, however part of that time was because the first shipment of the new head (yes, they only replaced 1 head, not both) got lost and they had to order another set. When I got it back, it was leaking oil, but fortunately I think it had just had the drain plug put back in without the washer, so quick easy fix, but I haven't been back to them for service since. So not my first choice.

I want to get this first service out of the way, and then maybe do most of my own maintenance afterwards, but finding that first dealer to do the work seems to be the problem.

I'll reach out to the clubs, maybe I'll get some good info.

stealthpilot

I asked some guys at Caffeine and Octane and they all said there is one standout guy to work on your C8.

Todd Von Kutzleben at Rick Hendrick Buford.

mcooper

I have had good service experience with Rick Hendrick Duluth. I got a transmission check engine light in my 2020 C8 a year ago and got email from onstar saying to get car serviced in one day. I bought car at Jim Ellis (very good sales experience) and called them to make an appointment. They said I could bring it in in 3 WEEKS! Not sure if they are still backed up now but I called Rick Hendrick Duluth and got appointment in a couple of days. It turned out I needed transmission valve body replacement and they did that in one day! I was quite pleased.

Also did one year service including DCT filter change and had good experience. I wouldn't buy a car there but service seems good.

I1ULose

Same here. I bought two corvettes from Megel and they were really good to deal with. Service was great and prompt. I bought my C8 from Malcom Cunningham in Roswell, but will be taking it to Megel for service.

Aviator

Have had my last three Vettes maintained at Jim Ellis. No complaints. Prices reasonable (I verify ahead of time) and availability has been good.