Pre-Delivery (PDI) Inspection Form

About 10 years ago, I bought a Mustang (yeah, take it easy, I was poor). They salesman showed me - not kidding - that if you pulled the headlight knob out one step, your parking lights turn on. All the way, your headlights turn on. Turn the knob, your dome light dims (it was a convertible, but the dome light wouldn't have been the only dim bulb if it had one). Use the lighter? Push it in and wait.

That I don't need. But conversely, is the guy that's been there 3 weeks going to teach you a lot about the Corvette infotainment stack? You'd like to believe it, but you'd be silly if you did.

My general experience in dealing with Chevrolet salespeople is:

1) They have only been there 10 days
2) They don't have business cards yet, so they just scratch out the name and number of the guy that worked at that desk 2 weeks ago
3) By the time I'm interested in a make/model, I know far more about it than any salesman by time I get there. It's their job, people!
4) They will tell you anything. Can I get it with a Nintendo? Sure!
5) They will etch your panels with your VIN even if you don't ask, then be perplexed you won't pay for it. Did you read your MSRP sheet? Are you sure "Aftermarket $199" wasn't on there?
6) Since they don't deal with a lot of Corvettes, they know even less about it than most Chevys
7) Since it's a Z06, they've never even seen one, but saw it on the cover of a magazine at Safeway that one time
8) You -will- be accosted by the most junior salesman standing outside the moment you pull up
9) When you're done, if any of 1-8 were not done 10/10, it's a failure. And NOW they will sit there and coach and watch you. No joke.

Now, there are exceptions to every rule. There are no doubt salespeople that treat -their- job with the same dedication I did mine (in a different field). I bet some of the high volume dealers have people very knowledgeable about Corvettes.

But they are the exception.

In January I took my son around with me to look at trucks. Everything but the Honda Ridgeline. The Toyota dealership was by far the best. The Chevrolet dealership was by FAR the worst. I mean I still bought a Silverado, because that turned out to be the best truck, and I drove them all. But I would really rather have ordered it from Amazon if that was possible, because the dealership experience really tarnished my experience with the truck. I'll have the truck long after I've forgotten about the dealers, but no wonder they went broke.

I don't know a lot about AutoNation, but they're buying everything around here now. They can't make it any worse.

I half-expect the lot attended to do burnouts in my Z before I get there and the dealer principal's spouse to take it for the weekend before they call me.

The dealership that I dealt with is a good one, though. Family owned for 100 years, but it's like a 2 hour drive to get there. And there are probably 50 other dealers in that radius, so 2% don't suck. You just have to look. But you really should never have to.

No, I didn't mean that. The glass is 2% full. You just have to want it and go -find- it.

My implied point (poorly stated or entirely omitted) is that I don't want most Chevrolet dealers doing ANY of the stuff on the PDI sheet unless I trust that dealer. The PDI process would be great if done by knowledgeable people in a straightforward and trustworthy manner, I'm just saying that it's far from the default at the dealers in my area. Heck, I'd back it off the trailer if they let me.

That said, I had a BMW V12 7 series, and the dealership was beautiful. It might have had someone playing a grand piano (no, that's our Lexus dealer - seriously). Yet when I had my 10,000 mile inspection, they checked off that they'd inspected my clutch, my transfer case... none of which my car had (so they had just checked every box). So it's not just Chevrolet. It's really up to the quality of the people working at any particular dealership, which is probably a function of who the dealer principal is.