ME Servicing Issues

[John]

How is a Chevy dealership going to be able to service a 2020 Corvette ME? Or is it a myth that ME’s are harder to service? Certainly not a myth for many brands, but has GM designed the ME Corvette in a manner that allows for comparable serving times and ease as FE’s?

[JB]

I’d bet four hours to drop the powertrain with a lift...so add $500 to major servicing.

Not a big deal...

corvettes rarely need major service ...porsche Boxster and cayman are the same way...with twice the labor rate from Porsche dealers..

makes that gmepp warranty look better and better as one of things to calculate in for long term c8 ownership..

i tend to buy an extra 4years 48 k miles on top of the 3/36 that comes standard..

i think with the hundred dollar deductible i paid I paid a total of $1600 for the 7 year/78k total coverage..($400a year extra when you break it down)

i thought it was inexpensive enough to make sense...

ill do that again if its anywhere near as well priced..

[meyerweb]

I'd imagine basic services like oil and filter changes, air filters, brake bleeding and the like won't be significantly different. And bleeding the clutch couldn't be any worse than the C7. But anything involving actual repair will probably be more expensive, which means the GMEPP will also be more expensive.

[OnPoint]

I remember when the C6 ZR1 debuted. GM required dealerships to have at least one of their techs sent to a GM school to be instructed on service requirements in order for the dealerships to be able to sell it. I wouldn't be surprised if GM requires dealers to do this (and maybe require specific tools, etc), on order for them to sell the ME.

[John]

I am betting you are correct OnPoint, that they will again do the same on both the tools and the training.

[ABorC]

They'll just train the mechanics like they did the C7. If a dealer want to sell the new ME, they have to have a trained mechanic on staff. ez pz. The only differences from any other car is that the engine isn't up front. Doesn't affect knowledge of brakes, suspension, etc etc.

[jagamajajaran]

Chevrolet is going to roll out some significant ME ownership and service experience upgrades.

[tooold2race]

Didn't the dealership have to commit to a certain level of training and tooling before they would get on the list for allocations when new generations of Corvettes were released in the past??? Fortunately, our local store in Fort Worth is in the top 3 in overall Chevrolet volume nationally and solidly in the top 10 for Corvette sales. The better news is that other than oil changes, the only service/warranty work our last 7 Corvettes needed was the replacement of the 'Infotainment' screen on the C7 a few years back. The thought of even having the dealership raise the hood scares me based on some of the horror stories I've heard from friends.

Overall.... as picky as Corvette owners are, the reliability of the cars coming out of Bowling Green is **** good..... even the first year models (with the exception of the '84 C4's).

[John]

I especially like the training implemented at the Plant last year during last fall’s 13 week shut down, when almost eveyrone’s job changed. Each worker was trained by going through a double sequence of video screen watching, that showed each tool placed in the right location on the screen, exactly how each part was fixed in turn, then after the morning of training on the computer for every aspect of every one of the jobs they would later do during the five minutes they were personally working on the car at their work station, they then went into another area of the Plant and performed those identical jobs on actual “training bucks.” On the training bucks, this time with real tools and real parts, they practiced their tasks for the entire afternoon. This was identically done again the next day, culminating in skill tests at the end of the second day. If a worked did not reach the maximum skill level (few did not the first time), they went through further training until they did. Then this happened for every worker, additionally, for a second job in their area of the line — for assembly redundancy. This identical training process was done again, until total proficiency, for their second job test.

The assembly area supervisors did this for every single job in their part line, for it a person got sick, had a doctor’s appointment, etc., this process resulted in not just double-task-skilled employees, and area supervisors being all-tasted-skilled, the latter having job skill redundancy for their entire assembly area.

When the Plant shuts down roughly next April (2019 production is scheduled to stop in March), the employees will again be going through this same training process, so that when they are working on their first few ME’s, they already have held the tools and the parts, being trained and re-trained and tested until proficiency. Of course when they start working on the ME’s for real, the hourly production rate at the beginning will be probably around one ME per hour, probably with some QC person looking over their shoulder, compared to the regular, final/targeted rate of 11.5 Corvettes per hour after the extremely slow ramp-up time is finally completed — perhaps echoing the C7 production ramp-up of process which was more than two months long.

[John]

[Quote=tooold2race]Didn't the dealership have to commit to a certain level of training and tooling before they would get on the list for allocations when new generations of Corvettes were released in the past???

Yes, both for Technician training and the purchasing of new-for-the-next-generation required tools.

[meyerweb]

They'll just train the mechanics like they did the C7. If a dealer want to sell the new ME, they have to have a trained mechanic on staff. ez pz. The only differences from any other car is that the engine isn't up front. Doesn't affect knowledge of brakes, suspension, etc etc.

The only issue is that I'm not convinced GM does much followup to ensure the dealers STILL have a trained Corvette specialist on staff. If the one who got the training quits, GM seems perfectly happy to keep providing the dealer with Corvettes.

[John]

Good point meyerweb. And consequently why just like when we consumers hire a contractor who has a sign on his/her truck, saying “licensed, registered and bonded,” we need to do our due diligence. After all, for most of us, our Corvette ranks as one of our biggest purchases ever.

When we go out to eat, we sure do not always go to the closest restaurant, nor to dentist closest to us, nor pick the realtor whose office is nearest. Instead we ask around, do internet reviews, contact a state licensing board is/as appropriate and so much more revising up front, yet it never ceases to amaze me how many of my friends always take their cars in to the nearest dealership servicing department.

Count me in as one who found out the hard way, when my 3,000 mile C5 got a scratch on its rear fascia, oil on the valve cover, oil on the driver’s door and more — when all I went in for, was an oil and filter change. At least that dealership made me whole on that debacle.

I since drive by the closest Chevy dealership (4 miles from my house), drive by the next closest one (22 miles away), and take my Corvette to a dealership local 38 miles from my house — and I get outstanding service there.

True, poor Chevy servicing departments are not excusable, but until (and if) GM solves that problem, we consumers who love our Corvettes, need to do all we can to insure our cars go to the best possible servicing place.