jbungard

After deciding to buy my first Corvette, I visited two Charlotte area Chevy dealers. I called ahead and made appointments asking for someone knowledgeable on Corvettes. Long story short, both dealers gave me reps that knew nothing about Corvettes. I gave up and last week ordered one for NCM pickup through one of the top national dealers.


Now my dilemma. I'm scared the service departments around here will be as clueless as the salespeople. Can anyone recommend a Charlotte area dealer or garage for services?


I have a 2018 Z51 that should be ready in a couple months and want to make sure I have all the bases covered.


Thanks.


John

yeller z06

I would pick the bigger of the two. Better odds.

If you are really paranoid, you can drive up here to Cary. Pretty big Corvette dealer here (I don't know why, since their prices suck) and I've never had issues having any Corvette (C4-onwards) serviced here. Yes, I've had issues at other dealers.

JDub64

First - feel good about your purchase. I tried to give City Chevrolet my business when ordering a car for NCM delivery a few months ago and they couldn't touch the price I got from MacMulkin.

For service - City always did a fine job with my C6, but I haven't taken my C7 there.

McKenney Chevrolet in Lowell (near Gastonia) came highly recommended; that's where I got my 500 mile oil change. I met the tech there and he knows his stuff.

I got my alignment checked / corrected at Burns Chevrolet in Rock Hill. They're the only one in the area that I've found that has the correct tools to set the rear caster. Their tech also knows his stuff and they treated me very fairly.

I don't think you could go wrong with either of these last two; they're smaller dealers with good Corvette techs and they treat you right. In fairness, I never felt treated badly by City, though.

Congrats on your purchase and enjoy the NCM delivery!

BELVIN20

I have had exceptional luck with Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet in Newton, they have 2 exceptional Corvette Techs.

Your problem as well as other Corvette buyers is the dealership can have great Corvette service departments, but unless the dealer specializes in Corvettes, most sales people are not trained in Corvette sales, that is why forum dealers do so well, they have one or two people that just do Corvettes & so they know their business.

dbaker

City Chev in Char beat Kerbecks price on an ordered car for me last yr.

As far as service,I use Burns Chevy in Rock Hill,SC.Just 20 miles S of Char.

\db2

Yaupon

Another option would be to contact the local Corvette Club[s] in the Charlotte area for some dealership service department suggestions.

djyankees31

I have only needed to use City Chevrolet for minor issues once. However, they screwed it up and damaged my car twice because of carelessness. I'm now scheduled for the 3rd time to fix simple warranty issues which has taken a total of 3 days. My Corvette had no damage or issues outside of the squeaky roof panel before City. Since I have a rattling header panel, scratched transparent roof panel, and a broken side skirt which they just replaced. I'm now trying to get them to fix the rattling header panel.

I suggests going to a different dealership.

DWS44

Sorry to drag up an older thread, but it seemed recent enough and on topic for my question about CLT area Chevrolet service departments.

I'm in Rock Hill, and just re-entered the new Corvette world with my first C7, a Grand Sport Collector Edition. Bought it in Atlanta and drove it home to Rock Hill a couple weeks ago. My 500mi oil change will be coming up soon, and since it is "free", I thought I might take Chevy up on that, at least for the first one.

Curious about where best to take it. I've had good luck with Burns in Rock Hill in the past with a couple issues on my prior 2008 and 2010 Vettes, but never had any oil changes there. They also take pretty good care of my Dad's Cadillacs over the years. I was curious if anyone had any recent experiences with Burns, especially in regards to how well they do dry sump oil changes and/or issues getting them to use Mobil 1? Does the Corvette tech usually do dry sump oil changes on Vettes since it's a bit more in-depth than the run of the mill oil change, or is it left to the same folks doing all the other oil changes.

Since I bought my vehicle from another Hendrick dealer, I had also considered taking it up to City Chevrolet, but it didn't take much searching on the forum here to find bad experiences up there.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

JDub64

Congrats on the new car.

I would not hesitate for an instant to take it to Burns. Their tech knows his stuff and they are straight shooters. No issue with dry vs. wet sump. If you want to try something different go to Lowell.

In fairness, though, I never had issues with City with my C6 GS. But they can't check and set the rear caster, which our cars require. On that note - get your alignment checked.

DWS44

Well, yesterday and today reminded me why I hate taking cars to dealer service departments. I figured I’d post a follow up about my experience with Burns as well as a heads up so others might not get the sticker shock I just did for an alignment.

I admit straight away that I have trust-issues leaving cars I own with strangers. (Yeah...its a character flaw). I was due for my 500mi oil change, and while I usually do my own oil changes (because: see last sentence), there was so much emphasis placed on the dry-sump needing the 500mi change, I thought perhaps it was prudent to have it on record that it was done, since it was free anyways. At the suggestion of several others, I decided to get the alignment checked as well while it was there for better tire wear down the line. I called, explained what I wanted and setup an appointment to get it all done yesterday afternoon.

Dropped car off @ 12:30 as suggested. Had to leave it for a little while to go to a dentist appt (uggh). Got back to Burns around around 3:45. Stopped back by advisors desk to let them know I was back and would be waiting. First thing, he's like, we had to order parts to do the alignment, so we'll have to keep it or you bring it back tomorrow...they are working on oil change now. I opted to take it home and bring back tomorrow (again, see above), so I retreated to the waiting room for the oil change to be completed.

FF to around 5:30...I realize pretty much all other customers are gone, and no cars are sitting in the service area...and no sign of my Vette. I wander back out to my service advisor. Long story short, everyone had forgotten I was waiting, and nobody knew right off even where my car was. Hitting the alarm on the fob revealed my car honking from the back lot. He had one of the young kids take me out to it. For better or worse, I'm not the confrontational type, so I left quietly. This post is already getting long, so I won’t even get into the dirty state the interior was left in with “stuff” all over the bright blue leather on door and armrests. Luckily it all came off with leather cleaner.

I wasn’t terribly happy about the condition and how I’d been forgotten about. I had pretty much decided not to take it back and just cancel the alignment, but then it dawned on me I hadn’t checked behind the oil change. I followed the dry-sump procedure and found the oil level between a quarter and half-inch ABOVE the max fill line. So back it goes afterall. Glad I live close to them.

Dropped off before work and get back around 5:15 to pick it up. Svc Advisor starts talking about how they had to “do the alignment FIVE times to get it to stick” and was sorry for how much he would have to charge for it. (uhh…what?) Clearly I admit I’m the dumbass for not asking about the cost upfront, but in my life I’ve never paid more than $100 to have any vehicle aligned, so I was not expecting a $355 bill for an alignment. Sigh. (4.5 hrs labor for $270, plus another $80 for 16 washers, etc.)

I was a hair ticked and let him know I probably would not have done it if I knew it was going to be that much and he was like, “well, you seemed to know about this alignment, so I thought you’d have an idea on the cost…this was only the THIRD ONE WE’VE DONE, so I wouldn’t have known what to estimate beforehand anyways” (so much for them being experienced, apparently) He ended up knocking it down to $300 as a courtesy, but “couldn’t take any more off since I didn’t buy the car there”. That last bit summed up how much I meant as a service customer, I suppose.

I'm probably being too **** and/or unreasonable, but oh well. Guess I was hoping a customer and a nice, spotless, new Vette would get a hair better treatment than that...the cleanliness, or lack thereof and/or the way the rest of it played out.

Apologies for the long post…guess I needed to vent.

djyankees31

Beautiful car!!!

I hate to hear that Burns. I was getting ready to carry my Corvette to them for the alignment too. I'll be rethinking that now. I have had 3 bad experiences with City Chevrolet. So I'm looking for another stealership that knows a lot about C7's and how to respect customers time and cars.

Anyone have any experience with Victory Chevrolet or Steve Moore Chevrolet?

JDub64

I'm very sorry about your experience at Burns. You have a right to be angry. I was one of the ones who recommended them, which I regret now based on your post.

I'm also surprised. They truly treated me very fairly, and only charged $95 for my alignment. They didn't have to order any shims, though, because I wanted kind of a hybrid street/track alignment and I didn't need them. Still, nothing excuses the level of service you received.

I will probably take my car to McKenney Chevrolet in Lowell from now on. They were great with my 500 mile oil change, and they come recommended from other Forum users.

Again - I'm sorry I pointed you in the wrong direction.

JDub64

My only experience with Steve Moore was with my break-in oil change on my C6 GS in 2013. The kid who pulled it around for me didn't know how to drive a stick...and it was obvious. It kind of soured me on them. In fairness, that was over four years ago and didn't have anything to do with the capability of the service department.

DWS44

Thanks!

No prob and no hard feelings. Sounds like they took a lot better care of you. I guess they either decided $95 didn't cut it, or I got the "you should have bought it here" treatment.

JDub64

No prob and no hard feelings. Sounds like they took a lot better care of you. I guess they either decided $95 didn't cut it, or I got the "you should have bought it here" treatment. [/QUOTE]

It must have been the former; I bought it through MacMulkin and had Museum delivery. For the amount of time it took to do the alignment, they probably should have charged more. Looks like they finally figured this out.

dbaker

I too have recommended Burns in Rock Hill,I also live in Rock Hill.

Burns isn't a big Corvette seller,so probably don't service that many.My neighbor is a Burns mech/tech and I know several of the service advisors.

If I got service like that,I would complain.If you email me,I can give you the email of the 2 advisors I know.I would complain in writing.

My alignment was a standard alignment.It was off from the factory.$89

They got close to the DCS specs,without any of the washer relocation.I don't track my car,so it's fine & much better than it was.

So far,I have been happy with my service.

\db2

DWS44

I do appreciate the offer, but I'm just going to chalk this up to a learning experience and let it go. I had gone to the same advisor my Dad works with frequently for service on his Cadillac, and Dad dropped me off to pick it up both days, so several of them now know he and I are related. I don't want to take the chance of someone messing with Dad's CTS or giving him trouble to get even for my complaining. It's not worth it.

Unless there is an emergency, they likely won't be seeing my Vette again, anyways.