2005 Chevrolet Corvette from North America - Comments

I've just purchased a 2005 Chevrolet Corvette. I went to a dealer and there was a new corvette in their show room which I was interested in. The only problem with the car was that it had scratches so I informed them that I was no longer interested in that vehicle.

They said that the scratches were only in the clear coat. I asked to speak to the body shop manager. This guy appears identifying himself as the body shop manager and informed me that these scratches are in the clear coat and will come out no problem and the vehicle will look brand new! So I ordered the vehicle and gave them two weeks to get it ready. It turns out that the car clean up crew were the ones who worked on my vehicle - and not the body shop manager.

Two weeks later I return to pick up the vehicle. The car looked fine, but after washing it once, all the scratches I pointed out reappeared. They just camoflauged the problem so I would take the vehicle. I picked the car up on Saturday, I called them on Tuesday (Monday being a holiday) and asked to talk to the body shop manager. He informed me that he knew nothing about this car and that he never saw it in his shop?? and it wasn't him that I was initially speaking to.

I then called General Motors Customer Service since the dealer was not willing to do anything. General Motors set up an appointment for me to bring the vehicle into their body shop and see the manager. The body shop manager looked at the car and indicated he did not want to touch the car since it was a corvette. He also pointed out a crack in the door (that I thought was a scratch!!). The body shop manager then recommends this exotic car specialist to come and look at the vehicle to see if he could fix the paint.

This guy comes, looks at the vehicle and says "no problem - I can fix it - I'm the best - that's why they call me" and he started to work on it right away in a dark clean-up bay. I left him to go and get breakfast and he called me since I forgot to leave the keyless fob and return noticing that he never washed the car prior to buffing!!! He wet sanded the hood to remove a long sratch (about 2.5 feet long) and left grooves in the hood. After returning from breakfast I saw the grooves in the hood and told him to stop working on the car.

I returned to the dealer's sales department and informed me that this so called expert damaged the car further - now the hood needs to be painted, he applied to buffer to the whole car (dirty) and now the entire vehicle is a mess! And the crack the he said was a scratch is still there and definitely is a crack.

I have been on the phone numerous times with General Motors Customer Service and it seems that their hands are tied and the dealership is the only one that can correct the problem. This car only has 1,500 kms on it and is embarrassing to take out on a sunny day before he touched it... now it sits in my garage with a cover over it!

I just received a call from General Motors Customer Service indicating that a Pontiac dealer is willing to try and help me since I have purchased four vehicles within the last two years from this dealership. I commend the Pontiac dealer for trying to solve a problem that they did not create.

The other day a body shop visited my home to assess the damage to my vehicle and he indicated this vehicle would cost a substantial amount to make it right. I called General Motors Customer Service and informed them what was said and the Customer Service Representative said that "We're only getting him to quote on the hood and the door and maybe you can work a deal out for the rest". I was shocked that I would be responsible for the original dealer damaging my vehicle??? Customer Service told me in the beginning the only way we can resolve this problem is through the dealership that you purchased the vehicle. I took their direction now the car is worse off and I'm responsible to have the car restored to new??? I thought the vehicle was supposed to be new???

I know that once the paint is touched, there is a record kept. If I ever want to resell this car it's going to show up as being repainted and in turn I will lose a lot of money upon resale because of being missled right from day one. This car has turned out to be a total nightmare. All I wanted was to buy a sports car that I could be proud of instead of making up excuses for the appearance of my vehicle! I purchased this car to keep until I am no longer around.

I think that General Motors should take this car back and let me order a brand new one from my Pontiac dealer so I can be happy and get the vehicle that I was initially promised - not a defective one! If this problem does not get solved, this will be the LAST GM product that I ever purchase. Of all vehicles to screw me on its the one that I want to keep forever!

Gary Slemmonds.

First off, I would just be in agony to see a sweet vette that I just bought be buffed dirty and dents applied to it. It'd kill me and I'd just flip out on the dealership. I mean honestly if you're going to put that much money down for it...

But you bought a 05 vette which must mean you have some money so it might not be that bad financially for you. But then again why in the world would you let the car salesmen dupe you into buying a vette (a fine car) with "minor cosmetic issues"? That's just not right. You go for the perfect one that's got no miles and not the vette that's had "minor damage" because that minor damage was major before and fixed cheaply enough to be minor and make someone buy it. Hey, live and learn dude...

Finally I MUST ask you! Why in the heck would you buy an AUTOMATIC VETTE? Why why why? Learn to drive a stick with a econo car first or something or have someone teach you. Cause you are never going to have as much fun in auto vette. Having a stick just makes the driving experience sublime in my opinion.

So you saw the scratches on the car BEFORE you bought it, and you decided to buy it anyway? And why do you repeat this long boring story in (what is not even a) review?

Although he doesn't say so, Gary the reviewer must have gotten a reduction on the sticker price of the Vette due to the scratches that were on it. 2005 Corvettes are not in such short supply that someone would pay full sticker for a damaged one (unless he has no smarts at all, which does not appear to be the case here). So when considering his complaint with the original selling dealer, one should take into account that he did pay less than sticker, maybe a lot less, but now he is demanding something equal to what would have cost him at least lot more than what he paid, if not sticker price.

However, if he DID pay full sticker or close to it, I would also question WHY if he knew the scratches were there. What was so special about THAT one?

Bad scratches in the paint job? There were many others you could've gotten, I'm sure. But hey, if you would've had to settle for an '04 or '03 with there being more of them and less '05s, then at least you would've saved literally thousands. Even though the car may look pretty unacceptable as far as showroom condition goes, at least you've got the performance! That's a whopping 350+ horsepower under the hood!

I see both sides of the story. But if you buy any type of car the dealer should be giving you superb service. I ask the question what if this was a Porsche dealer or Jaguar, or BMW, or Benz? I just don't understand why they cannot give this guy a nice paint job to make the car look like new. The dealer does not have to do it, but they can send it off to a body shop. But overall this tells me that the dealer does not really care regardless of how much the car cost this is a customer.

As a lesson to all... take a camera before you take possession clearly indicating any flaws. I take a digital if I rent cars with visible damage as well. I would certainly go above the dealership and contact my attorney as well for a refund or credit adjustment for another model. I would also go to independent paint shops that specialize in Corvettes for estimates just as a comparison as well. I had a long stress crack on my older Corvette once on the left fender only backing out of my driveway on a very cold day. However your situation sounds like a manufacturers defect that cannot be corrected without devaluing the car. If you are willing to settle with a significant price reduction that might allow some satisfaction.

How can they condone their actions of lying to you? Only in the clear coat? No, if you see a scratch, there's obviously a problem. It's in the paint job, it's not going to wash out. And you asked them to take care of the problem and you were upfront about everything the whole time, and what do they do, they only make it look like the scratch is gone by covering it up rather than fixing it? And then that body shop manager makes your car worse off than what is was earlier and to work on it without washing it first?? That all just sounds ridiculous. That's the height of bad customer service. But then again, maybe all the extra sctratches and grooves were the result of him being in the middle of working on the car. I'm sure if you let him finish he'd make it look like new? Was he a Corvette specialist? Maybe if you needed to pay full price for a Corvette specialist that was not part of that dealer, maybe it would've been worth it? A price reduction from the dealer so you could use that extra money for that Corvette specialist? Sounds like a plan to me.

But anyway, how can they justify their horrible customer service toward you???

I've got some news for you. If you have nice paint, it's going to get scratched... sooner or later - even with the best of care. Unless you rap it in a time capsule and never use it.

Some things we just can't control. However, the dealer could have put more effort into the preparation for delivery. The only time I bring the car to a dealer for service is when the engine or transmission needs to be replaced - under warranty.

Everything else I do myself because that's the only way it will be done to my satisfaction.

I went through the Corvette plant in 04 and was really impressed with the manufacturing process. The car's panels are covered when put together so there are no scratches. All the painting is computer controlled and is highly technical to get it right. When they have a bad paint issue the panel is replaced. It must be easier to replace than repaint. One of the last steps is to remove all the protective covering on the car and wash it. It is inspected for scratches and then taken to a car carrier so it's the carrier's responsibility then. GM knows the paint is easily degraded and the cost is extremely high to repair. Remember, Buyer beware. Its tuff some times to just walk away. Especially when you found something that you want.

To the owner, do you still have that Corvette? I'll check back later. ABC.