mountainears

I can't imagine that there are many dealerships across the country that provide a better delivery experience than the museum. The amount of time the spend with you going over the complexities of this car is really amazing, they will go at any pace you desire. I've seen many posts here were people just didn't get any walk through of their car and they don't know how basic things work with the car. The museum / factory stuff is just frosting on top of it.

I believe if you do go when the tours are still closed that you would be eligible to come back at a later date to do it, if that works for you. But worth checking to be sure.

Being on the west coast, it would probably have not been something I would have done just due to the distance. But because I didn't have a lot of choice, I did it, and I don't regret it at all....

gumbo2000

I took delivery of my Stingray at the museum a few weeks ago and I felt it was money well spent. We (my mom and I) were met at the door by our "tour guide" who greeted us by name and went out of his way to make us feel like special guests. The tour of the museum was amazing and (as mountainears said above) he spent a good amount of time going over every aspect of the car. It's my first Corvette so I took in everything he had to say even though I had read the manual twice before arriving. The car was beautifully prepped and I had several ACS parts installed at a VERY reasonable price. Our guide also picked up on the fact that my mom is a huge fan of the C2 and took her for a ride in her dream car. To me, that was above and beyond. The smile on mom's face was priceless. We ended up spending the entire day and it will forever be a very special day for my mom and I.

C5_

gumbo:
Could you be a little more specific regarding "ACS" parts installed"? What are ACS parts and what did they chrarge you to install them?

Thanks

gumbo2000

raosterkamp

I would love to have more info on the ACS products you had the museum install for you. Thanks,Rick

C5_

...

gumbo2000

Hi Rick! Sent you a PM. Let me know if you need any more info!

C5_

Does having the museum install parts for you create a delay on when you can pick up your car? I live 200 miles from the museum, if that matters?

gumbo2000

I don't think it would. I had my parts shipped directly to the museum so they would arrive a week or two prior to my pick up date. My estimated pick up date also didn't change when we started talking about part install.

GOLD72

It should not as long as your parts are there. The museum has to install all of the ship loose factory parts anyway like front and side aero pieces if ordered.

favrefan2k4

I had a bittersweet experience on my R8C. The two tours, the attention to detail(hold one thought on this) and general customer service was outstanding. I had one major issue though.... Their detail shop.

I had a bra installed by them for my 4 hour drive home from the museum. They took my car after everything was over and said it would be roughly 20-30 minutes. 45 minutes later I decided to go find someone to look into it since I couldn't walk into the garage. That person must have gotten lost because I had to find another person who brought me the head detailer, finally. He seemed confused that I was asking about it at first and then finally realized I was the car he had finished 40 minutes earlier!!! They just pulled it out and no one thought they should inform me it was done. So, I pulled around to pick up my wife and as she got in, she told me there was a large scrape on the passenger door. Sure enough, there was and I pulled it back around to the confusion of the head detailer. They worked on it for another 30 minutes or so trying to get it out but it was too deep(mind that I still have a 4 hour drive home and it is about 4pm at this point). They told me to take it to my local dealer with a poorly scanned piece of paper with their info along with their business card(I honestly dont even know what is going on at this point as far as their professionalism). They assured me that the scrape would be covered under warranty... Well, took it in and low and behold, the museum denied any wrong doing on their part. I don't want to type any more on how many times we went back and forth on it. Remember that 40 minutes I originally sat and waited? Yah, they told my dealership that I had the car that whole time and probably scratched it during that time and tried to get them to fix it for free. I about burst a blood vessel. Luckily, my dealer said forget it and fixed it for me anyway. Also, during all of this. I noticed 3 swirl circles in the hood from poorly done buffing. Looks like someone let a dirty buff pad sit in those spots too long. Luckily, I was able to fix the swirls with a paint correction and ceramic coating.

All in all, I loved the tour guide. Amazingly detailed and genuine. The management was hit or miss with the scratch drama but organized before the delivery. I think I would do it again if/when I buy a ME but I can guarantee I will request them to not detail it after the factory. Just give me a quick wash and I'll take it from there!

ByRiver

Seems like the museum is just another layer of people messing with your car, which increases the chance in it getting damaged.

When my wife retired from the military, we had the moving company carefully pack and load our household goods into a huge moving truck. I watched and photographed the entire process. The driver was to meet me at our new address halfway across the country in four days to unload. He had a one day head start on me, so I made sure to get to the house in the next three days. When I get to the new address to get ready for the movers, the driver said he made better time and got there a day quicker, but didn't want to wait, so they unload the entire truck into storage. I had to wait two extra days for them to load everything back into a truck, then deliver and unload again. I then find that most items were now broken. My fridge doors were bent out of alignment, aquariums busted, tables with corners broken off, and etc. Even though the manifest showed each item was in good condition when it was first loaded, they then say the items were already broken. I filed a claim for 20 items, and they only reimbursed for two. And my side by side refrigerator whose doors were bent, wasn't one of them. My household goods were manhandled four times instead of twice. That doubled the chance of damage, which is what happened.

I would think the museum should be responsible for any repairs, since they are delivering the vehicle to you, rather than being the middleman between the assembly plant and the dealer. Instead they blamed the new owner of damaging it themselves!!! I wouldn't trust them to do a delivery from that fact alone. I don't care how many times they did it right. Plus, you had to pay extra money to have them lie on you. And isn't the plant just next door or close to the museum? So how could the door get damaged so quickly?

ColoradoGS

It actually is one layer less. Normally a car is built in the factory (1), transported via truck or rail (2), and the prepped by the local dealer (3). For museum delivery is it built in the factory (1) and then prepped by the museum staff (2) which act as the "dealer" for purposes of prep. You can argue that your local dealer does a better job prepping a car than the museum but I would guess that is an exception to the rule.

Certainly the museum should fix any damage done during prepping but that is no different than what a dealer should do. Personally I would do R8C delivery again in heartbeat and I'd trust the museum prep over a random Chevy dealer any day.

JerryU

favrefan2k4

I know accidents happen and that is what the door looked like. Had a deep scratch and some black plastic residue. Made me think of a tool with a black rubber grip when I inspected it... But when they told my dealer I did it while I had the car for 40 minutes(when I was actually sitting there for 40 minutes waiting for them), I about lost it. That tarnished their reputation for me. Like I said, I would probably do R8C again if I ever shell out the money for another new corvette but damnit if I'm not a little worried about it.

Joegovette

Hehe, my buddy drove my dad to Bowling Green from IN. I brought dad back with me, and my buddy drove by himself

GOLD72

And I said this earlier in this thread that most Houston area car buyers don't know: Most people don't realize that cars coming into the Houston area get unloaded first in a huge staging lot in north Houston before getting reloaded onto a truck for local deliveries at the dealerships. Twice the chances for a load/unload mishap.

ByRiver

Don't the vehicles still have the white plastic wrap on them until they reach the dealership? That how I see them on trains and transport trucks. That would protect against scraps and scratches.

Majorhavok

Seems like weather could be an issue for Museum Delivery in Jan-Mar?

MMD