C7 Engine failure / REBUILD at 4K Miles???
 

Fellow Corvette owners & lovers, I am in need of help and advice. I am also looking for someone from GM (advisor?) who can help me understand the decisions by GM that have lead me to this forum for help.

About a year ago, I purchased a brand new C7, Grand Sport. I have since put less than 4500 miles on the car. Earlier this month (May 2018), a knocking sound developed in the engine and I took it to a local dealer. What they told me shocked me. The factory had installed a journal bearing incorrectly on a piston rod, and now the engine is out of the car in a thousand pieces as the dealer, GM and myself haggle over the solution. Engine components (including a new crankshaft) will have to be replaced!

GM wants to rebuild the engine and give the car back to me, with "one payment" as compensation. They will also extend the warranty.

I want no part of that. A rebuilt engine on a brand new Corvette? The intrinsic (and RESALE) value of this car has now been permanently diminished. No one is going to give me top dollar for a car that's had an engine rebuild of this magnitude at just over 4000 miles, and I am not convinced that other issues will not be introduced during the rebuild, which is being done at a dealer, not an engine shop.

Someone please help me here. I am being told by GM that I'm asking too much to have them buy back this car so I can then buy another C7. I don't think that's too much to ask. I purchased this car with retirement money to be able to enjoy in retirement. It's the first Vette I've been able to buy new and GM is treating this like it's a Chevy Sonic.

What should be my next course of action? I have been talking with GM reps but am hitting a brick wall on anything with them buying back this defective car. Again, I'm willing to buy a new 2017 / 18 or 19 C7 if we can find common ground.

Updated Status - May 24th - I spoke with a Chevy Dealer in Chicago today. They have a similar Grand Sport that I would be willing to purchase. They confirmed as I suspected that no one is going to give me top $$ for this car now that it has been affected by a factory defect.
Has anyone else had a similar issue with GM? Or this kind of problem with your new C7?

What year, trim, features? How much did you buy it for a year ago? How much do you want GM to buy it back for?

2017 Grand Sport 3LT w/ Heritage package, Watkins Glen Gray w/ Adrenaline Red interior, standard seats. Beautiful car, makes me sick to think about it. I paid $73,404 out the door with a C4 trade. I'm asking GM to do what is fair. I'm willing to come off this price some for miles driven.

I agree with you and would keep pushing for a buyback, or at least a new factory engine. Dealership repair techs aren't typically engine builders.

I agree

Check your state's specific Lemon Law criteria, which could force a buyback.

You say you bought it to enjoy it in retirement, yet you seem overly worried about what it might be worth someday if/when you sell it.

While I understand being upset, it sounds like GM is doing what they should, which is repair the car under the warranty. They're even offering to make one payment, which they don't have to do. And, while it's not a Sonic, it is a Chevy. They have a warranty because things do sometimes break. Let the warranty fix it, then enjoy it like you bought it for.

engine issue
 

Out of curiosity, who's name is on the Bowling Green's Engine Build plaque attached to the engine?

They're not "building" a new engine, they're replacing parts. It's far easier to tear an engine down, replace parts with new ones, and put it back together than many other things dealer techs do. It's not rocket science.

Agreed, and thanks, that is my plan. It's sitting in a service bay with the guts on the floor, and I am not convinced the car will be "like new" again once it is rebuilt. No telling what new problems could be introduced in the rebuild. This product has failed and it's intrinsic value has been irrevocably diminished.

IMO if they replace with a NEW engine and do not rebuild it, the car should be as good as new. It shouldn't do anything to hurt the value of a RE sell IMO. If they want to REBUILD it, I wouldn't want it.

Engine rebuild because of defective construction? I'd settle for nothing less than an assembled short-block from GM.

As soon as the job is done, trade it in. =\

I had a similar issue with a (almost) Lemon Law case on a 2012 F250 Diesel pickup that went in for an emissions related issue that caused a highway shutdown that they couldn't fix. I ended up trading it in with it still-in-the-shop and they gave me full KBB Excellent plus some trade on a new one. Had I taken it out of the shop after the repair finished, any Ford dealer seeing the repair history in their system would have knocked trade down significantly.

Greg

How much are you asking?

People retire at all ages, not just at 85 and hope to live just a couple of more years.

I've bought two new Corvettes since I retired(1997 Corvette and 2009 Corvette). Hell, I might even buy one of those new fangled mid engine Corvettes in the next couple of years. Resale value can be very important to a retiree, maybe even more so since most of us retirees are living on a fixed income.

I have plenty of retired Corvette friends that traded their C5 on a C6 and then a C7. Just because one is retired, doesn't mean that he has to settle on one car that he buys at retirement being the last car he ever buys.

In addition to my C6 Z06, I also have a 56 and a 64. Their resale is of concern even though I don't plan on selling them before I die. Circumstances change(like I might end up in an expensive nursing home because I don't want to end up in a slum nursing home) and I might have to sell them. The more they are worth, the more money I have to spend on nursing home care(above my monthly income and the value of my home(which also would be sold) and my cash reserves).

I doubt anyone in the opening poster's position, whether they plan on ever selling their C7 or not, would be particularly pleased that their new $73,400 car is probably going to take a $20,000 or so hit over and above normal depreciation as a result of someone else's mistake. I don't blame him for being 'overly' worried as you put it.

It took me almost five seconds to realize I like this idea.
The OP should take his check from gm, then flush the toilet on this car, and buy a different one.

Lemon law says in essence that they have to fix it and then it would have to break again before they would be liable. I am not interested in lawsuits... yet. I am trying to get GM to do the right thing.

No one who buys a new car wants it returned, rebuilt, especially a high-end sports car. My argument is simply, I did not cause this problem. It was a factory defect and if I were to turn around and try and sell it (as confirmed by a Chevy Dealer and others), there is no way that I would get top dollar. In effect, this issue, if followed through as GM would like, would return to me a car that is diminished in value, period.

Although I would hope to keep it for a long time, one never knows what the future holds and that I might one day need to sell, and of no fault of my own, I would be forced to take less for the car than if were selling one w/o any issues.

I appreciate your comments however, and I hope GM does the right thing. The factory caused this problem, not me.

I disagree with it being a 20k hit over normal depreciation. If I was buying it, I wouldn't mind. If they replace it, it now has that much less miles IMO. Its all in how you look at it.

Personally?

New crate engine and a reset to zero on any/all warranties (if you purchased an extended) then I'd do it.

Any other option and I would ink the papers on a new one before the service writers had their 1st cup of coffee in the morning...


Allen

GM hasn't agreed to give him a "check" for the full amount of his car. All they have offered is to repair the engine and make one car payment to compensate for his car not being there for him to drive during that month while it's in the shop.

You get more and more ridiculous with your every post on this subject.

What about (among other things) determining with 100% accuracy exactly what parts have been compromised? You act as though they are only changing a defective spark plug.