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Please do not assume that the dealership that sold you your car is the place to bet service it. Some are super skilled, care a great deal and have extensive Corvette servicing experience and capabilities; sadly, some are not like that; some are sorrowfully, poor at servicing Corvettes.
Please this thread is solely on those factors you have successfully used to choose your excellent servicing dealership or private shop. Issues and problems you have or are currently experiencing, please start a separate thread. Thank you.
See another friends' Corvette get messed up by a dealership, inspired me to write this thread, and with everyone's collective help, we are creating this "how to."
And before we talk specifics, it is absolutely recognized that some private shops provide excellent Corvette repair and maintenance services. The following applies to both Chevy dealership and private shops.
Factors/Criteria To Choose An Excellent Corvette Service Dealer:
1) Reputation, Reputation, Reputation:
While it takes due diligence/actual research, to identify an excellent "Corvette servicing dealership," it is well worthwhile. Start with folks you know who have a later Corvette. Ask them, "which dealer does your service work; anything you especially like (or do not like) about them?
If you do not know someone who owns AND is highly pleased with their dealer's service work, suggest you contact your local Corvette club President, and ask that person that question, and/or, "which service department do the
majority of your members take their Corvettes to?" Or, ask folks displaying with pride their beautiful Corvette at a local car show.
2) Experienced Servicing Corvettes:
While quantity of service work performed does not always equal excellence, the chances of a dealership knowing how to service a car better increase with the number of times they have encountered that problem, i.e., I am happy to take my Chevy Cruze to my local dealer where I bought it from, but take my Corvette to another dealership. Just as we personally do better doing a task when we have done something several times before, learning from our past mistakes, getting quicker and more skilled when have done that job a few times, I do not want to go to a dealership where a Technician is working on his first Corvette, nor even one who has never changed a Corvette's water pump.
3) Specifying Your Service Technician Available?:
"If Ken is going to be working next Wednesday, please schedule me in for "x" and "y"; if not, when is he going to be available?" That sentence is not an exaggeration, for there is one Technician that is outstanding at my dealership, and he is the only one who touches my car. That dealership's "Technician apprentice" does not do even an oil and filter job on my Corvette; only Ken! (Again, no exaggeration). My dealership knows that I am happy to pay whatever they put on my bill for Ken doing all, 100% of my car's work. They treat me like gold, and I am happy to pay for that level of service. (Ken will also be doing 100% the PDI on my upcoming ME). Yes, I am very fortunate to have learned about that dealership and that specific Technician (learned about him from other Corvette owners, but not until I "fired" two previous dealerships (my bad for not doing due diligence first, and learning the hard way with both of them).
4) Do not choose your dealership strictly on location, "closeness", nor convenience!
Do you go to the restaurant closest to you? Do you go on vacation to the destination nearest to you? If your Corvette means a lot to you, and you do not do well dealing with an after-the-fact problem caused by a dealership's lousy work -- for example swirl marks, oil residue on the door handle, having taken it in twice but the problem still remains, think three times about the "time saved" by choosing your nearest dealership. Before GM significantly reduced dealerships a few years ago, I drove past the Chevy dealership 4 miles away, still drive past the one that is 20 miles away (still selling Corvettes/doing service work), and still drive 38 miles each way to get to "Service Tech Ken."
5) Go To Where Corvettes Hang Out!
Have a local Cars-n-Coffee, a local cruise in location, or car show? Go to such places, and ask Corvette folks where they take their Corvettes in for service and why. Great thing to do while you are waiting for your new C7 to arrive.
Please note, there are still many car servicing things that I and maybe you wish to do for ourselves, and I love that, as well as those of you who choose to go to an "independent shop." Those are two great alternatives. This thread is, however, for those choosing a Chevy dealership to service their Corvettes, or to perform a specific service on their Corvettes.
6) Search On Our MECF Forum, for others' bragging about a particular dealer, and/or start a thread asking about the "who is the right dealer in my area?"
Please this thread is solely on those factors you have successfully used to choose your excellent servicing dealership or private shop. Issues and problems you have or are currently experiencing, please start a separate thread. Thank you.
See another friends' Corvette get messed up by a dealership, inspired me to write this thread, and with everyone's collective help, we are creating this "how to."
And before we talk specifics, it is absolutely recognized that some private shops provide excellent Corvette repair and maintenance services. The following applies to both Chevy dealership and private shops.
Factors/Criteria To Choose An Excellent Corvette Service Dealer:
1) Reputation, Reputation, Reputation:
While it takes due diligence/actual research, to identify an excellent "Corvette servicing dealership," it is well worthwhile. Start with folks you know who have a later Corvette. Ask them, "which dealer does your service work; anything you especially like (or do not like) about them?
If you do not know someone who owns AND is highly pleased with their dealer's service work, suggest you contact your local Corvette club President, and ask that person that question, and/or, "which service department do the
majority of your members take their Corvettes to?" Or, ask folks displaying with pride their beautiful Corvette at a local car show.
2) Experienced Servicing Corvettes:
While quantity of service work performed does not always equal excellence, the chances of a dealership knowing how to service a car better increase with the number of times they have encountered that problem, i.e., I am happy to take my Chevy Cruze to my local dealer where I bought it from, but take my Corvette to another dealership. Just as we personally do better doing a task when we have done something several times before, learning from our past mistakes, getting quicker and more skilled when have done that job a few times, I do not want to go to a dealership where a Technician is working on his first Corvette, nor even one who has never changed a Corvette's water pump.
3) Specifying Your Service Technician Available?:
"If Ken is going to be working next Wednesday, please schedule me in for "x" and "y"; if not, when is he going to be available?" That sentence is not an exaggeration, for there is one Technician that is outstanding at my dealership, and he is the only one who touches my car. That dealership's "Technician apprentice" does not do even an oil and filter job on my Corvette; only Ken! (Again, no exaggeration). My dealership knows that I am happy to pay whatever they put on my bill for Ken doing all, 100% of my car's work. They treat me like gold, and I am happy to pay for that level of service. (Ken will also be doing 100% the PDI on my upcoming ME). Yes, I am very fortunate to have learned about that dealership and that specific Technician (learned about him from other Corvette owners, but not until I "fired" two previous dealerships (my bad for not doing due diligence first, and learning the hard way with both of them).
4) Do not choose your dealership strictly on location, "closeness", nor convenience!
Do you go to the restaurant closest to you? Do you go on vacation to the destination nearest to you? If your Corvette means a lot to you, and you do not do well dealing with an after-the-fact problem caused by a dealership's lousy work -- for example swirl marks, oil residue on the door handle, having taken it in twice but the problem still remains, think three times about the "time saved" by choosing your nearest dealership. Before GM significantly reduced dealerships a few years ago, I drove past the Chevy dealership 4 miles away, still drive past the one that is 20 miles away (still selling Corvettes/doing service work), and still drive 38 miles each way to get to "Service Tech Ken."
5) Go To Where Corvettes Hang Out!
Have a local Cars-n-Coffee, a local cruise in location, or car show? Go to such places, and ask Corvette folks where they take their Corvettes in for service and why. Great thing to do while you are waiting for your new C7 to arrive.
Please note, there are still many car servicing things that I and maybe you wish to do for ourselves, and I love that, as well as those of you who choose to go to an "independent shop." Those are two great alternatives. This thread is, however, for those choosing a Chevy dealership to service their Corvettes, or to perform a specific service on their Corvettes.
6) Search On Our MECF Forum, for others' bragging about a particular dealer, and/or start a thread asking about the "who is the right dealer in my area?"
Please add below any other criteria you use for choosing the right dealership for your Corvette
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