UPDATE: My daughter contacted GM Chevrolet Corporate. You'll love this (NOT). They told my daughter there is nothing they can do to this Dealership because they are independently owned. I thought all Dealerships were a franchise. Guess NOT. All they can do is send the complaint to the Dealership (heck, I could have done that myself) and it's up to them if they want to do anything about it. WHAT a waste this turned out to be. Why does GM have a Complain Department???? Tomorrow, I will go to my independent garage and see if they can do this repair. I'm so pissed I can see straight. My next car buy, I'll just buy through my credit union with no friggin' dealership hassle. Another example of Mr. Dealership, we don't care about you customer. Go buy another brand. Vet (Navy)
I have never heard of a non-corporately owned dealership that was not a franchise. A franchise agreement normally gives the franchisee the right to sell a specific product (in this case Chevrolet cars and trucks) in a designated area. I can't imagine anyone with a functioning brain opening a dealership that was not a franchise. If the dealer didn't have a franchise, there would be nothing to stop someone with deep enough pockets, building another bigger and better Chevrolet dealership right next door. IMHO GM just doesn't want to get involved. There's plenty GM could do if it wanted to. If your daughter was Taylor Swift, the problem would be fixed by now, and Taylor probably would have received a loaner Corvette while her car was being repaired.
I agree totally with you. I was blown away when I heard this dealership is NOT a franchise. I knew that wasn't correct. They just didn't want to do anything about a F' up'ed dealership. Just tell me so and be done with it. Gee, don't give us a lot of BS about it's up the the dealer to handle this issue. O ya, please shut down your bogus complaint department.
In this case, it's a bummer that you live in Virginia; 13 states have adopted California emissions rules. The Turbo and related parts would be covered for eight years or 80,000 miles. Virginia is not one of them.
That is a bummer. If I had known my daughter was going to buy a Chevy, I would have NOT recommended that. I hate to say this, but, I stopped buying American cars a long time ago. Just not reliable any more.
It's really a shame to see American Automotive industry has gone down the drain. I'am 75, I've have owned American cars from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. The best cars I ever owned were 56 Belair, 64 Biscayne, 70 Impala, 74 Cougar XR-7, 86 Cougar was the start of the down fall of auto reliability. 92 Ford Winstar was a real piece of garbage, first car U had to sell before it was payed off. After that, all I bought was Toyota Camry, Honda Minivan and a Mitsubishi Outlander. Outstanding vehicles. I want to add, my 70 Buick GS Skylark I fully expect to be every bit as reliable as my foreign cars.
I’d be surprised if the bypass valve fixes it. It likely needs a turbo. Note the out the dealership leaves themselves.
The dealership already has an out. They say the bypass valve is ONLY covered under the Emissions Warranty NOT the Powertrain Warranty. The Emissions Warranty is only good for 3 years/50,000 miles. My daughter's car is a 2020, so it's passed the 3 year emissions warranty. That is their OUT. What gets me, the Bypass valve is bolted to the Turbo (3 screws). One would think this would be covered under the powertrain. Makes me believe they already knew this was a problematic part. Vet
Please don't ditch me just yet. I have seen it all for decades on the outside, now I'm working on the inside. I have no idea of what franchise vs non franchised dealerships are or are not. There is a practice and procedure in place by GM for dealerships to initiate, at customer request, for financial help with repairs outside of warranty. Look, I have no experience with the details, Hell I'm trying my best as a gearhead to optimize service procedures so we fellow gearheads won't think a bunch of idiots are behind the scenes! VET, will you go for the diagnosis and fix on your side, or will you go to the (or another) dealer again? If you go to that or another dealer, drop the phrase "#11-00-89-005W: Warranty Administration - Dealer Empowerment for Goodwill". https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2023/MC-10235798-0001.pdf And tell them her uncle in Global Aftersales Engineering advised her, and is upset. And they don't want me upset. Devon P.S. Please advise with all. Part of my job is also to resolve stuff like this and send results up the chain, so to speak. Your troubles have not fallen on deaf ears, and I can speak loudly.
Devon, I really appreciate your help. One email and a call from Chevrolet is enough for me. I have a very good friend that heard about my issue, he text me and said he would install the turbo bypass solenoid valve. He owns a Performance & Restoration shop. He does a lot of work on my Buick GS. His work is outstanding. I will take my daughters car to him next Tuesday. I don't have the time nor patience to screw with Corporate BS. When the Equinox gets repaired, i'am going to trade it in for a good Honda and divorce myself from American Corporate Automotive System. You have been a bright light in this ordeal. You and other find Buick/automotive lovers on this forum have been very good to me and very helpful. I'm sure there are other good forums, but V8Buick is the best. Regards Vet.
So GM knew the bypass valve was a problematic part when they sold the vehicle and only assigned it a 3/50 warranty vs the 5/60 powertrain? Makes sense. Got it. The “out” I am referring to is they said “recommend starting with turbo bypass solenoid valve and going from there”. Here’s what I would do. Confirm with them that the turbocharger asm still has coverage left under the 5/60 powertrain warranty. Ask them if the bypass valve does not fix the problem, what is the next step? Also ask them if the turbo does turn out to be the problem, will they refund the (incorrect) diag charge as well as the bypass valve parts and labor since the new GM turbo asm comes with a new bypass valve anyway? If indeed the bypass valve is faulty, sure you could save some money and do it yourself. If it’s not, then you’ve wasted more money and are going to hold the dealer in contempt. It’s your call how to proceed.
My Chrysler minivan (2018) is not a car that I will ever love - I'm not a minivan person, but my wife wanted it because of the stow and go folding rear seats, which makes life easier when transporting our two big dogs. I do have to say that it's been a great car - the only beef that I have is that stupid start/stop feature which I disable immediately after starting the car. If I was going to purchase another minivan (it's not all that mini), I would look at another Chrysler van. I did drive one that was a hybrid, but you have to give up the stow and go seats due to the battery location. I would not do that.
I get where you are going with holding the Dealer responsible. I'am so tired of having to confront Dealerships, their Service Manager and GM. In the begining of the investigation into what was the problem with the Chevy (not posted). I have a friend that owns a independent Service Station. He driven into the problem and also determined that the bypass solenoid valve was the problem too. He recommended I take it to the Dealer, which I did. The Dealer came up with the same problem BUT added in there maybe more underling problems. This is just to cover their butt if they happen to be wrong. I have another friend that owns a High Performance & Restoration shop that heard about this situation and has told me to bring the car to his shop and he will fix it. He's already buying the part. He does a ton of turbo upgrades and installs. So, i'am going this rout. Thank you for spend your time in an effort to help me and my daughter. Regards Vet
A qualified friend is always the best place to go! But - giving up on american cars because of a dealership issue is not good for American manufacturing. Yeah, the Honda is made in the US - but the profits go back to Honda corporate. Buy a used Buick!
I understand that John, however the Dealer is the facilitator of the Warranty. They can either make it difficult or easy for their customers.
I fully understand the economics of buying American products. Unfortunately, I cannot afford buying products that are not reliable. I might as well chuck my money into the nearest river. As for American dealerships, I've had too many negative experiences with them. Years ago, I bought a new car at another Chevy dealership. My wife was driving the car and it died on her. I had it towed to the dealership. It was found to be a bad fuel pump. It was 50 miles passed the warranty. The dealer refused to pay for the repair cost because of this. I was very angry, so I proceeded to remove my licence plates. The Service Manager asked me what I was doing? This car is no good for me, so now it's yours. I called a taxi to take me home. He realized I was serious. He proceeded to stamp the repair invoice with Paid via Warranty. He told me to put my plates back on they will take care of the repair and have some drive me home. I just don't have the energy to fight dealerships anymore. Vet
Most big corporations consider themselves global citizens anymore. I am not sure how corporate profits make any difference to any community anymore. What's important to me is where the big dogs are manufacturing and producing - and thereby employing fellow Americans both directly and indirectly. This domestic content table shows Honda is now outpacing GM in that regard.
That's exactly how I feel about the issue. If I were wealthy enough I'd drive a new Escalade until it needed new tires.
Cadillac used to be king of reliable cars, not so anymore. It's amazing, when I was growing up, the only cars that most people didn't trust were foreign cars. They were small and looked like over sized toys. Who would buy that? Even Rambers/AMC built reliable cars. Now the show is on the other foot. Now the MoPar guys have to contend with that Chrysler is foreign owned. Who would have ever imagined, we would see foreign manufacturers build auto factories in America. We all live in a different America now. VET
