silversmoke1957

I am a new, first time Corvette owner living in the Austin, TX area. Do any of you have recommendations on where to have the vehicle serviced?

I am not very happy with the Chevrolet dealerships in the area based on past service experiences with my Tahoes and Suburbans. Would like to locate a Corvette-experienced independent garage that can be trusted to do quality work on Corvettes.

beepster

You may want to try these guys: www.aikmanperformance.com

They are located in Cedar Park and seem to have a good rep among the local vette brethren.

I have used my local dealer, Don Hewlett Chev in Georgetown (for routine maintenance) with some success on my new Stingray as well as my C6. Good Luck!

Steelvette

Silversmoke1957 as a newby to Austin-last Vette bought in SA whom are we steering clear from? Going to wait till the crazy dies down before ordering my Z next year...thanx in advance

AustinVettes

Don Hewlett has been much better for service for me than Henna. The Henna service writer was just a jerk and would never call to update the status on the service and when service was complete.

The Hewlett guys do better work and take pains to show you that that care. During one period of thunderstorms, the service guy even let me know that the corvettes were kept indoors if they ever had to be held overnight.

AORoads

There is a reckart tuning (now seemingly called LSX Power Tuning) which used to be in Cedar Park but is now in Brenham that has been around for awhile, but I'm not sure if OP wants a dealer, or a non-dealer.

silversmoke1957

I have lived in the Austin area since 1961 and have done business with most of the Chevrolet dealerships in that time. The problem with all of them is their lack of continuity and consistency. Service advisors come and go, technicians come and go. They all have a production shop mentality ... get it done quick and get it out the door. As a result, I simply have no confidence in getting my Corvette serviced properly at any of the dealerships.

In the past, I occasionally got good service on my daily drivers, but many times I did not. With my 2015 Stingray I don't want to take the risk that some ill-advised, poorly trained individuals are going to screw up my beautiful new Stingray. So, my advice is to avoid dealer service except for warranty work. I am seeking an independent garage staffed with properly trained mechanics who know and love Corvettes and with whom I can do business with confidence time after time.

silversmoke1957

Thanks for the feedback on Hewlett. They are the closest dealer to me, so for convenience sake I may be tempted to give them a try. Do you have a particular service writer with whom you do business? If you go in for routine maintenance can you get a Corvette trained technician and not the guy who does the while-you-wait oil changes?

Electron Mike

Call Shan Grantham at Don Hewlett, they have done a good job on my cars.

AustinVettes

Shan is the normal service writer, but I worked with Dennis Orts. They told me they have a specific tech that works on Corvettes, and I have no reason to believe otherwise. Every time I asked how things were going, they always referred to the specific Corvette tech who did the work, though I forget his name. For regular oil changes, they use a four post lift, so there are no worries with the car being lifted without jacking pucks.

I had a really strange problem in my C6 where it wouldn't start, and they bent over backwards to try to fix it. Dennis called me every time to ask for permission before they did any test drives on it. It was a night and day difference from the Henna guy who was just surly. That said, I've gone to dealers for service on Corvettes for 10 years, and I've never had any issues where they caused damage to my cars.

I just had my C7 delivered to Hewlett, and those guys also did everything I asked for. I asked them not to wash the car, and they complied. Even left all of the protective stickers on the car and included every single piece of paper that came with the car. So I have all the build sheets and even the shipping cover.

AustinVettes

You don't happen to live in Round Rock, would you? Someone two blocks over just picked up a new Stingray, and I'm just checking in on the off chance that you live in Cat Hollow.

silversmoke1957

I do live in Round Rock, but not in Cat Hollow.

AustinVettes

It was worth a shot. PM me if you need any help.

AORoads

Anyone know anything about this Lonestar Corvette repair shop in Austin on 290? (tech owner, John Dodd)

beepster

About a year or so ago, Brian Reckart (Reckart Performance Tuning) in Cedar Park sold his business to Aikman (see Post #2). Brian enjoyed a good local reputation as a tuner and technician for performance engines.

I met w/ the new owners (Aikman) and considered having tuning and other work on my C6 Callaway, which I ended up selling to purchase my C7. While I have had no work done by them, my impression is that their technical knowledge seemed to be at a high level and that I would be comfortable having them work on my vehicle...as you, I try to limit dealer involvement to warranty issues.

silversmoke1957

Thanks for the feedback. Do you happen to know anything about Marios Garage in Round Rock? I know they are held in high regard by BMW fans, but do not know if Mario and his brother are Corvette experts.

LSX Power Tuning

Sorry to bring up an old thread but this information isnt correct. We just got a call this week quoting this post so I wanted to set the record straight (really odd since its such an old thread).

LSX Power Tuning has been in business for right at 10 years and is not affiliated with Reckart tuning in Cedar Park and never has been. We bought the reckart tuning domain, and several others a couple years ago after some things happened online involving our logo.

flynhi

For non warranty work, recommend Robert Ferrell at AutoTek on Gillis just off Ben White. He is excellent.

eshuber

Call Shan at Hewlett - they are very good.

softwarejanitor

Sorry to wake up a zombie thread... But in central Texas there is no shop that is more knowledgeable about servicing a Corvette of any era than Austin Corvette. They are located on North Lamar just south of Braker.

Spinny

Just took my Vette in today to have the flickering screen fixed. I made the appointment last week with Dennis Orts. When I arrived today and asked for him, I was told that he no longer worked there. I was sent to a service writer named Mari Auston, who seeme quite helpful.