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WARNING about the white 2015 Z06 for sale in Virginia
The dealer currently selling it (Koons Tysons Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram) was forced to buy it back from me due to their gross negligence.
****Edit**** full (very long) story now in post #4
Just to give you an idea of what happened... This is how I found my car at the dealership when I brought it back to them to remove the tint because it failed MD state inspection. (The full story is worse). Posting this now because they told me they were sending it straight to the auction but they have relisted it and added $5k to the price. I don't want anyone else getting screwed over by this unscrupulous incompetent dealership!!!
Ok here goes... I got the buyout check and it's cleared so I don't really have a reason to hold back now.
I bought my 2015 m7 3lz z07 with 10k miles from koons jeep in Tyson's Corner, VA for 58.7k, a great deal for a well optioned car with a clean carfax.
It was originally listed for 66k and after watching it and getting alerts for the price drops I decided to jump on it even though it was not yellow and did not have comp seats (my ideal spec). I was told it was going to be auctioned the next day (looking back who knows if that was even true). When bought it I expressed concern that it would not pass MD inspection because of the dark window tint, and they agreed that if it failed they would remove it for me at no cost. I even had them write It in the purchase agreement.
Sure enough the car fails MD state inspection at Criswell (my go to dealership for Corvette service, even though I had a bad recent sales experience there) so I call them and schedule a time to bring it back to get it removed. When I get to the dealership they tell me they are taking it next door to mobile detailers who work out of the Koons Chevy building. When I get the car back I immediately smell a very strong chemical smell in the car, didn't really think much about it til I got home. When I get home and wash the car I realized the middle wicker bill of the stage 3 spoiler was cracked and the inside of the rear hatch had all the paint stripped!!! I was livid to say the least.
Whatever chemical they used definitely caused the damage. So I call up the used car manager at Koons jeep and immediately tell him what happened (this was the same day they removed the tint). He says well sorry that's not our problem and tells me I need to contact the mobile detailers and talk to them since they subcontracted it to them. I finally get ahold of the mobile detailers (I believe their name is Mobile Spa) and the owner tells me to bring it in so he can see the damage (even though the pics are pretty clear of the damage). He acknowledged they screwed up and said he will order a new spoiler and told me they would repaint the inside of the rear hatch and the work would be preformed by Koons chevy. I was not entirely comfortable with having my new (to me) car having this kind of paintwork done but I agreed because I just got it and didn't really have another option besides replacing the entire rear hatch. I also did not want to ruin my enjoyment of my new car it was a blast to drive and I was so enamoured with it. So we agree that I will bring it in and drop it off with them to get those repairs done.
So I bring it to the Koons Chevy building where they work out of and when I pull up a guy from the Chevy service team who walks over as if he was expecting me and asks me to pull the car inside the service bay (he said it's too nice and we done want anything to happen to it outside). Sounds good so I fill out a service ticket and told him the whole story.
Fast forward two days, I was told the work would only take one day to compete but didn't hear back from anyone. I text the mobile detailers on my way home from work in DC asking for an update and they tell me... "What do you mean? We don't have your car..." I told him I dropped the car off in the service bay and it's definitely at the dealership. He said he will call me back and see what's going on. About an hour goes by and no word so I start to panic. I call my buddy who has a Lamborghini LP550-2 (6 speed gated!!) who just went through something similar (his car was on consignment at a dealer who damaged the car on a joy ride). He told me to get my *** over their asap and demand I see the car. So I book it over there in rush hour and walk into the Chevy service bay. I tell them I dropped my white Z06 on Sunday and they are telling me they do not know where the car is. I explained if they do not locate the car on their lot in the next 15 minutes I am calling the police because either someone stole it or they are not being truthful to me. I admit I was pretty furious and said some not so nice things but I think anyone would be at this point. So sure enough 15 minutes later they locate the car. They said it's at the body shop... Ok so I assume they were painting the rear hatch. When I get to the car I find this... Now I really lose it. I also get out my phone and start recording the whole thing on video. I assume the worst, someone took it out for a joy ride and crashed it. The service guy at Chevy at first tells me are you sure it's your car? Yes dumbass I have an aftermarket steering wheel with a yellow center stripe, that's my car the only z07 white car on the entire lot. Then he calls the body shop manager to see what's going on. We come to find out the body shop mixed it up with another white c7 (which I never saw btw) that was also brought in for paintwork (but for a front bumper respray). The whole conservation was recorded. I still don't believe them so I demand they show me my bumper. Sure enough they manage to get it open (it was pretty late and they were about to close) and we find my bumper getting prepped for a full repaint!!
So they didn't damage the car but they were about to paint my front bumper. Had I not showed up it would have been repainted! Crisis averted, so I thought. I told them at this point I have no confidence in their ability to work on my car and not to touch it or even move it, I am going to take it somewhere else. I text the same thing to the mobile detailer company and told them we can discuss further tomorrow morning.
The next morning I get a call from Chevy service asking me about the work needed to be done on the car, indicating they were not expecting the car and how I plan to pay for it... In my head I'm thinking you cant be serious you already pulled the freaking bumper off and started work and now you are calling for clarification? I lose it again and tell them I need to speak to a manager, of course no one is available. Then I get a call from the Chevy body shop manager who calls and says we are sorry about what happened we did NOT mix it up with another car, we thought you meant the front spoiler needed to be replaced, even though I clear wrote on the ticket that it was the wicker bill that was damaged. Also there is no reason to remove the entire bumper off to replace the front splitter, yet another lie. I call him out and he assures me that's what happened (he was aware of my previous video recording on the Chevy service guy on the phone with him saying they mixed it up with another car).
Later in the day I get a call from the mobile detailer owner saying hey we put the bumper back on and replaced the spoiler. Do you want us to repaint the hatch or not, it will only take 15 minutesm they totally disregarded me telling them not to touch the car and he told me he will not cover the cost if I take it somewhere else. At this point I am so frustrated and wasted so much of my time on this I said fine but it better be properly done. There is no way you can repaint it to factory condition in 15 minutes, it better be properly prepped etc. He assures me it will and tells me he is going to have the entire car detailed and is giving me some fake ceramic coating type treatment with a retail value of $800. Uh huh... so I give up and say whatever fine.
I come see the car and they have stripped the paint bolts on the spolier (which were perfect, I checked when I bought it because my two buddies with a c7z bitched about them looking like **** after 10k miles when the paint started peeling on them). Not a huge deal but you would think they would have replaced them when they replaced the wicker bill, not make them look worse than when it came in.
Now I inspect the rear hatch and see that even that was not repainted properly, there was obvious discoloration and it was obvious they did a crappy job repainting it.
Also the detail they promised was another lie. They car still had watermarks all over it and the guy was still drying it when I came even though it was supposed to be ready for me.
sorry but that's not a detail that's barely a carwash. And I wash my car a hell of a lot better than that.
Now I make my way to the bumper which I am worried now shows signs that it was removed. Sure enough...
its obvious that the bumper now has been removed by the black marks of the previous position of the bolt and now there is a crack in the mounting point! I completely lose it at this point. I call the mobile detailer and explain the situation and tell him I am not accepting the car like this. He then proceeds to tell me hey the previous owner had the rear hatch painted black to make the tint dark, the inside of the rear hatch is white from the factory... Um no I literally walk over to a new c7 on the lot and they are all black on the inside of the hatch. Not sure the reason for this lie, but just another lie for good measure? He then tells me he can't do much except if I want the car tinted again after it passes inspection he will split the cost with me. Sorry bud that's not gonna cut it. I walk over to Koons Chevy and demand I talk to a GM. Of course he's not there. Then I go over to the used sales manager at Koons jeep and he says what do you want me to do? He is completely unaware of anything that transpired and basically tells me it's not his problem. I show him the video and all of a sudden he started back tracking and tells me he will get the Koons jeep GM involved.
After a few more days/weeks of getting the run around I finally speak to both GMs and tell them my gf is an attorney and i will fly a lawsuit if they don't take it back. The pristine car I bought is no longer pristine and I don't want it back (I left it at the dealership this whole time because I was advised if I took it home I am basically saying I was ok with the work they did).
Finally a few more weeks later I got them to agree to refund me my down payments, inspection fee, and loan payments I had so far, but they would not pay me back for the parts I bought like the grand sport wheels and tires I needed because the tires didn't pass inspection either. I also had some aftermarket parts waiting to be put on and some already on the car. I got all my aftermarket part, wheels/tires back and am reselling them myself.
Just a forewarning for anyone thinking to do business with them. They have 0 communication between the 3 parties (Koons jeep, mobile spa, and Koons Chevy). They also are extremely difficult to get ahold of after the sale. I finally got my check last week and cashed it but I still have to sell my parts to get all my money back. Not to mention all the time off work and countless visits this took. My hourly rate is not cheap. I actually wasn't even going to say anything publicly about them but the last straw was when I say the car relisted yesterday listed $5k higher than it was. They said after what happened they would never relist it at their dealership and it was going straight to auction. Scumbags!!! This ruined my entire ownership of my dream car and I am seriously thinking to avoid buying another corvette (this was my 3rd. I was lucky enough to get a c5 when I was only 16 and a C6 when I was 26, I am 33 now, and would have been a Corvette fan for life). But it is amazing how american dealerships have 0 customer service. I might as well have had a 30 year old chevy cavalier. Maybe
I've had too many BMWs or it's my age but never been treated so bad in my life or been accused that I was somehow to blame for this.
For any potential buyers atleast you know the whole story. Someone might be comfortable with what happen but I was not. There are too many other pristine cars out there and I did not want to have to deal with explaining this wild story to anyone. Also I bet if you ask them now if it's had paintwork they will continue to lie. They even had the nerve to use the old pictures with the tint still on it. Hope this helps out a few Corvette brothers.
Wow that was long. I have even more documentation of everything. I wonder if I should pursue this any further for just for the principle.
Thanks for sharing...Definitely a discouraging nightmare to have to deal with, but don't give up just yet because perhaps it was all a blessing and disguise and you find a yellow one right around the corner.
Thanks for sharing...Definitely a discouraging nightmare to have to deal with, but don't give up just yet because perhaps it was all a blessing and disguise and you find a yellow one right around the corner.
Appreciate the kind words. I hope I do but prices have seem to have gone up a bit since it's now summer time. Honestly all other cars are ruined for me now. I have never experienced such a capable sports car, everything feels slow now :/
Also I just wanted to note the new.Carfax history is wrong. It says that Criswell installed the tint, (it was not), they only inspected the car. And it doesn't show that Koons was the dealer who sold it to me (owner 3). Shows you can't really count on Carfax at all to be accurate anymore.
You definitely have to take Carfax with a grain of salt. I don't trust it at all because I recently have witnessed two cars having a clean carfax yet I was able to detect body repair on each of them. One appeared to be a minor fix while the other seemed to be a much larger repair.
Sorry to hear all this. Koons is one of the more slimy dealers around based on how they price cars from my experience. Bait and switch on advertised pricing is an understatement with their dealerships.
You definitely have to take Carfax with a grain of salt. I don't trust it at all because I recently have witnessed two cars having a clean carfax yet I was able to detect body repair on each of them. One appeared to be a minor fix while the other seemed to be a much larger repair.
That's true I always inspect for paintwork regardless. I believe accidents only show on Carfax now if a police report is filed. After this experience, even the service history is now something I will take with a grain of salt.
Originally Posted by 2003pilot
Sorry to hear all this. Koons is one of the more slimy dealers around based on how they price cars from my experience. Bait and switch on advertised pricing is an understatement with their dealerships.
Yes which is suprising considering the volume they do. If you look up reviews there are is a disproportionate amount of 1 star ratings for them. That should have been a warning sign to me... Lesson learned.
Originally Posted by ir0nman11
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I would be furious too. What's the VIN on the vehichle? The car looks like any other white z from photos.
Also is there a forum thread somewhere of blacklisted vettes circulating around so the rest of us shopping for one know to avoid?
Hopefully this makes it easier to identify the car. The car is a white 2015 3lz m7 with zo7. It has the gt seats with white stitching, PDR, pilot sport tires (not cup 2s), both stage 3 front winglets both have curb marks on them (was like that when I bought it), carbon roof with white edges. Also has a Z06 black metal plate frame I bought and forgot on the car when I gave it back to them.
OP, thanks this helps me a lot as im involved with there vehicles pretty often. Pm me if you want more details..also if the C7 is the car you want why let this dealer ruin it for you? Go else where and get a good one bro.
Wow, what an ordeal. I sold (for 4 months) Fords at a dealership in 1986, which is probably about the year you were born. I was 22 and the sales force was 20 people, mostly under 30 guys. Turnover was high but we outsold all other local dealerships with about 300 cars per month. I saw first hand things like you describe.
We had a new Mustang SVO which was the coolest car we had. Of course, the wash bay guy “needed” to take it for a ride to dry it. Funny, he never did that with an Escort or Tempo. Anyways, he crashed it. The car was repaired and put onto the showroom floor to be sold as if pristine. You could see the shoddy repair under the driver door. The car was sold and prior to delivery, the buyer noticed the repaired damage. The buyer went ballistic and the deal fell through. Another time a customer was so mad at the service dept that he lit a $20 bill and screamed that he might as well burn his money.
This dealer was only about separating as much money from the customer as possible. I thought dealers were better in this day and age. I guess not. To bad about your experience. Thanks for posting it so we can all learn to be more aware as car buyers.
you discovered the worst part of Corvette ownership: the Chevy dealerships. they sell a million Silverados and DGAS about Vettes. Seriously, the Chevy dealership network is a huge Achiles heel to the ownership experience.
Wow. Sad to hear that. I'm sure there must be good dealers out there...but I've not experienced one. I'd file complaints with the BBB and the state trade commission for everyone involved. Get some marks on their records.
Also a huge fan of the blacklisted cars (and sellers?) sticky.
06-21-2019, 07:27 PM
WARNING about the white 2015 Z06 for sale in Virginia
