Nate@VanBortelChevy

Yes and no. For a Chevrolet dealer to sell and perform warranty service on Corvettes, he has to be Corvette/Stingray Certified.

Not all dealers are certified and not all dealers sell or perform warranty service on Corvettes.

jvp

Nate, no offense, but you need to read and post carefully. What you said initially, which was the part I quoted, was this:

At no point in that sentence did you mention service. Just inventory. As in sales. According to Tadge's first bullet point, [quote]Not all Corvette dealers are Corvette Certified. In other words: dealers who ARE NOT CERTIFIED can sell Corvettes. What they technically can't do is service them.

Nate@VanBortelChevy

[QUOTE=jvp;1594372758]Nate, no offense, but you need to read and post carefully. What you said initially, which was the part I quoted, was this:



At no point in that sentence did you mention service. Just inventory. As in sales. According to Tadge's first bullet point, I see what you are saying, Tadge says "not all Corvette dealers", I think this is a typo and should say not all Chevrolet dealers.

I was personally involved in getting our dealership "Stingray Certified". In order to sell a new Corvette the sales dept. has to be "Stingray Certified". Otherwise there would be no point in going through the motions of being "Stingray Certified" if a dealer can still sell new Corvettes.

A dealer CAN perform warranty repairs on Corvettes if their service department is Corvette Certified, regardless if their sales department is Stingray Certified.

Cliff-notes:

New Corvette Sales= Dealer/sales dept. must be Stingray Certified
Warranty Repairs/Service= Dealer/service dept. must be Corvette Certified.

There are 2 Corvette certifications for a dealer, 1 in sales (Stingray) and 1 in service (Corvette).

slickstick

slickstick

[QUOTE=jvp;1594372758]Nate, no offense, but you need to read and post carefully. What you said initially, which was the part I quoted, was this:



At no point in that sentence did you mention service. Just inventory. As in sales. According to Tadge's first bullet point, I don't even think Tadge clearly said dealerships aren't allowed to service them if they aren't certified. Maybe implied but not stated as such. Not sure I've heard stories of people being turned away that the dealership wasn't certified to service Corvettes. In most cases they probably take the money and give it a shot. However, these are probably the dealerships that aren't knowledgeable about track alignments, etc.

slickstick

[QUOTE=Nate@VanBortelChevy;1594372853]Your post really doesn't seem to align with Tadge's explanation as I see no mention of multiple certifications. Honestly, it's just another example of the dealerships not being in sync with GM regarding Corvette service requirements. No dig at you personally or your dealership who is probably one of the more qualified simply given your presence here, but the global issue being discussed in this thread.

Nate@VanBortelChevy

[QUOTE=slickstick;1594375448]A dealer cannot perform warranty repairs if they are not Corvette Certified. Customer pay repairs and you can have any dealership or repair facility or neighbor or friend or stranger work on your car. A Chevrolet dealer can repair any make or model just like any other independent repair shop.

[QUOTE=slickstick;1594375478]Tadge's post seems to only pertain to the service of Corvettes, not sales. Not to mention his typo saying "Corvette" instead of Chevrolet. I'm pretty sure my post that explains both sales and service certifications helps clarify.

My every day job is to manage both Corvette sales and service for our dealership. I know first hand how it works as we went through this when the 2014 Stingray was coming out. Tadge is behind the engineering and design of the Corvette, not GM to dealer relations and his response clearly shows that he spent very little time finding the answer and explaining it.

Any Chevrolet dealer in the world can work on any corvette in the world if they want. They just cannot perform GM warranty repairs unless they're Corvette certified. On the sales end of things a dealer can sell as many used corvettes they want, but they will not be allocated any new Corvettes to order unless they are Stingray Certified.

Service requires a list special tools to be ordered by the dealership and at-least 1 technician to complete all Corvette Certified training classes.

Sales requires at-least 1 sales staff employee to complete the Corvette Owners School at Spring Mountain Motorsports and complete all Chevrolet sales training classes. Sales cannot become Stingray Certified UNLESS service is Corvette Certified first.

jvp

You're correct in that he designs Corvettes and is not, in any way, attached to the GM-->dealer relationship side of the house. However, be real careful:
calling the man out like that. You haven't one real idea of how long it took to get that specific answer worked through all of the interested parties. In fact, there may have been a few too many cooks in the kitchen with this specific answer, if that makes any sense.

Watch your step here Nate. Because I'm watching it. And I have friends in places you don't.

Speednet

I can't believe the back and forth about this. Tadge was very clear in his response, and then a few people started conjecturing about stuff like sales, certifications, etc.

For the life of me I can't understand people who idolize their local dealer, as if their life depended on buying their Corvette there. Do you people also idolize the Target or Walmart in your town and refuse to buy anything at the one out of town? What about McDonald's?

Supporting a local business is fine and dandy, but if it's going to force you to buy from a dealer that can't adequately service the car, or that doesn't know the ins-and-outs of it because they only sell 3 a year, maybe it's time to let common sense take over.

jvp

The problem is: common sense isn't.

But I agree with everything else you said. Hell, I buy from a dealership in another state and have my cars all serviced locally. The local dealer's sales department leaves a bunch to be desired. Their service department is top notch. So they get my warranty money, not my sales money.

Nate@VanBortelChevy

I'm sure we have a lot of mutual friends lol.

Nate@VanBortelChevy

I don't think it's fair to compare car dealers to Target or McDonalds. I get that some people don't care where they buy a car from, buy many do. A car purchase is usually the 2nd most emotional, impactful, meaningful purchase that people make. Some people have developed long and meaningful relationships with their local dealer and would not feel comfortable going elsewhere. Some people buy based on price, some people buy based on relationships and others on convenience.

slickstick

You're drinking the bathwater and your sales pitch is coming into play now. I'd be willing to bet if you clearly outlined dealer markup to your buyers, and tried to explain that it was worth the "meaningful relationship" you were providing, they wouldn't be so excited to seal the deal. Let's get back on topic, please. This is about quality and consistent service for Corvettes, and everybody on this forum wants it.

Speednet

Precisely how I buy and service my Corvettes too.

Nate@VanBortelChevy

Funny thing is yes, we are happy to show a potential buyer the factory invoice, what we paid for the car, what we get from GM and what we will sell it for. It is a completely different world in car buying today than it was even 10 years ago. Meaningful relationships are exactly what a dealer needs to succeed today.

And as to quality and consistent service for your Corvette, would you believe me if I told you my dealership has a separate Corvette Department that handles both sales and service with our own Corvette employees who are also Corvette owners? And would you believe me if I told you we sponsor our local corvette club and give all 500+ members a free Mobil 1 oil change, performed by our Corvette technicians? and that each year we put on 3+ car shows and provide free food to all attendees?

believe it.

If you want to know why we do this, it's because 1.) we love Corvettes and 2.) strongly believe that the more you give the more you receive.


Edit* just want to throw in that our dealer did win Time Magazine Dealer of the Year because of our philanthropy. Some dealers have heart, believe it or not. http://www.autonews.com/article/2017...er-of-the-year

slickstick

If your competitive pricing compares to other top dealer forum pricing than I am sure your customers will be happy... but I thought you were eluding to small dealers in remote areas not able to offer advantageous pricing. I already said earlier in the thread that I have no doubt your dealer is one of the good guys (having done zero research, but I am sure everything you're saying is true). You're turning this into a Van Bortel Chevrolet advertisement. Again, could we get back on topic, please.

NOWUCME

Consider this...seems they are saying this here.....Unless you are a Corvette Certified Service dealership you cannot do Warranty work. Seems GM is concerned about work done only when it involves their warranty work. Is that a little discriminating by GM against these so called independent, as well as smaller dealers, but only when it serves GM not it's customers.

Personally, I have to return to a dealer that has 6 new vettes for sale, been around for a generation or two, and I bet is a Certified service dealer, because they broke two things and don't know how to lift the car. Several big scuff's on the rocker panels from improper lifting. Lucky if not cracked. And that is just part of the story.

Over the years Discount Tire has shown more training, care, and better service on my Corvettes(4) than this GM Corvette dealer. Should we expect less?

Williamsrm

What's www

Williamsrm

What really frustrates me is you get treated the same way at local dealerships on a 90k dollar car as you would if servicing a 10k car. What a joke!
GM should step inside a lexas, infinity or Mercedes dealership and and get educated

jimmyb

[QUOTE=Nate@VanBortelChevy;1594375910]

A dealer cannot perform warranty repairs if they are not Corvette Certified. Customer pay repairs and you can have any dealership or repair facility or neighbor or friend or stranger work on your car. A Chevrolet dealer can repair any make or model just like any other independent repair shop.



I have NEVER read a post where someone was REFUSED warranty service because the dealer was not "Corvette certified".