Is Cadillac dealer service any better than GMC?

[chrisbusnut]

I've had about enough of sub-par service at local GMC and Chevy dealers. I've tried 3 GMC dealers and 2 Chevy dealers, and the service stinks. I feel like I am lied to, my concerns minimized, the communicationa are generally horrible and of course no loaner cars. I can go buy a Subaru and get a loaner car. For those with Escalades, is the service more on par with competitors, such as Mercedes/BMW/Audi/Lexus? When I walk into one of those service departments, it just seems much more professional, customer focused and they have a fleet of loaner vehicles for their customers. My wife has driven Audis for years, and I've never experienced the frustration with an Audi dealership that I have with multiple GM dealerships. Having paid almost $100K each for my Yukon and Sierra HD, I have just about had it with the GM service experience and am seriously considering jumping ship and going to another brand. That's really a shame, because for the most part, I really like the vehicles. I just wish the dealership experience would catch up to the vehicles "premium" pricing. I would consider an Escalade, however the local Cadillac dealer is owned by, and adjacent to, the same company that owns the GMC dealer with one of the worst sales AND service experiences that I've had.

 

[djnice]

My Chevy dealer sells and services cadillac too. They are better than the Chevy only dealer. The Audi service here is not that great. So I think this just varies by service department. I haven't tried gmc yet because nothing has been needed on this rig. I have 2 Audis and several chevys.

 

[GMCChevy]

Its all how they're managed. Our closest dealer is a mix with Cadillac included and they suck. The Chevy GMC dealers have been great.

 

[nomech]

I don't really have a complaint with the only chevy dealer that I've taken my car to, but I've only really take it there for oil changes and tire rotations. One minor annoyance is when I do get my oil changed and tires rotated, I typically see the tech drop my car off from the service garage to the customer parking lot about 35-40 minutes after I dropped it off, which seems normal for the work being done (obviously I'm waiting for my vehicle) but it takes the service writer another 25-30 minutes to get to me. I suspect that they are filling out work orders for customers that are arriving and they haven't 'closed' out my work order yet so they can't bring the paperwork to me so I can pay and leave.

Not having a loaner car is also problematic, they should have a fleet of chevy malibu's or something similar so I can drive to work or go run some errands while my car is being serviced (this would apply for bigger jobs). I realize that might not help someone with a big family, but it is better than nothing.

I've owned lexus and BMW and anytime I asked for a loaner it was provided, no questions asked.

 

[nomech]

Having paid almost $100K each for my Yukon and Sierra HD, I have just about had it with the GM service experience and am seriously considering jumping ship and going to another brand.

I'm with you on the pricing, it has jumped quite a bit, but I was looking at 2025 lexus SUVs and they start at 110k, for the one I was looking at. Many of the luxury brands are starting at 110k - 120k (at least the models I was looking at) I didn't bother building because I knew I was out of the range I wanted to spend.

 

[todayusay]

The big town dealers will be one brand - get outside the "city" and most dealers around here are GMC/Chevy/Cadillac. Even before covid, dealers on all "non-luxury" brands were only offering loaners to customers that purchased from them. There's a huge GMC dealer somewhat local that used to offer loaners to everyone....now even they only offer loaners to people that purchased from them....that's what you're running to on the loaner side. Quality of service dept is just a roll of the dice...even a standalone Cadillac dealer is nothing more than a GMC/Chevy dealer with frills.

 

[isp5190]

Our dealer has several GM dealerships in our area, one is Cadillac. I use the Cadillac dealer for our Escalade. When we had the Tahoe I used the Chevy and was happy with the service. When we got the Escalade I talked to the owner about using his Cadillac Service. He said the Techs have more incite to things with the Cadillac being they work on them daily. The Service adviser said the same at the Chevy Service, being that he was going to lose me as his customer. The service adviser even said the Techs at the Cadillac Service were very good. I switched to the Cadillac Service and have been very satisfied. One thing with Cadillac is with every service they detail the Escalade when I am in there. Great service, hats off to them.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I have a Cadillac and a GMC.

Jim Shorkey, my local Cadillac dealer has a trash sales department but a great service department.

My local GMC dealer, Jim Hardman has a great sales Department and a decent service department.

My local Chevy dealer, Hardy has a trash service department and I have no experience with their sales department.

For simplicity’s sake and because they have loaners, I go to Shorkey for service but once they run off all of the good people in service, I’ll go back to Hardman.

Basically, it’s all how the store is managed.

 

[steiny93]

in a past life I worked in various dealerships across a few brands (Ford, Chevy, GMC)
this part "It's all how they're managed" is 100% spot on

Audi / BMW / Merc do have a better service experience in the main; but they also focus on it more than our domestics

my suggestion; go into those events with hyper low expectations

 

[KMeloney]

I've had about enough of sub-par service at local GMC and Chevy dealers. I've tried 3 GMC dealers and 2 Chevy dealers, and the service stinks. I feel like I am lied to, my concerns minimized, the communicationa are generally horrible and of course no loaner cars.

Wait -- you've been to FIVE dealerships, and all of them have made you feel disrespected? Am I reading that right?

 

[NELLY1947]

I've had about enough of sub-par service at local GMC and Chevy dealers. I've tried 3 GMC dealers and 2 Chevy dealers, and the service stinks. I feel like I am lied to, my concerns minimized, the communicationa are generally horrible and of course no loaner cars. I can go buy a Subaru and get a loaner car. For those with Escalades, is the service more on par with competitors, such as Mercedes/BMW/Audi/Lexus? When I walk into one of those service departments, it just seems much more professional, customer focused and they have a fleet of loaner vehicles for their customers. My wife has driven Audis for years, and I've never experienced the frustration with an Audi dealership that I have with multiple GM dealerships. Having paid almost $100K each for my Yukon and Sierra HD, I have just about had it with the GM service experience and am seriously considering jumping ship and going to another brand. That's really a shame, because for the most part, I really like the vehicles. I just wish the dealership experience would catch up to the vehicles "premium" pricing. I would consider an Escalade, however the local Cadillac dealer is owned by, and adjacent to, the same company that owns the GMC dealer with one of the worst sales AND service experiences that I've had.

Some GMC/Chev dealers are not approved to service Cadillac. But that should not make a difference if u are paying for service. Call the district service manager.

 

[chrisbusnut]

Wait -- you've been to FIVE dealerships, and all of them have made you feel disrespected? Am I reading that right?

Yes, you're reading that correctly, unfortunately.

 

[KMeloney]

You never offered the circumstances of the various transactions/interactions that left you feeling this way from five dealerships. There's being unimpressed with the service, and then there's feeling "lied to" and "minimized." So, what happened?

...And from five dealerships? With five different service managers? Really?

 

[chrisbusnut]

You never offered the circumstances of the various transactions/interactions that left you feeling this way from five dealerships. There's being unimpressed with the service, and then there's feeling "lied to" and "minimized." So, what happened?

...And from five dealerships? With five different service managers? Really?

It's a long story covering multiple issues, however in a nut shell, it all boils down to very poor communications, being misled, lied to and my concerns minimized. I've tried to involve the service managers at 3 of the dealerships, with little to no success, and even went all the way up to the general manager at one of them. His promises were never followed through on. I feel like I am a fairly reasonable person...as long as I am being communicated with in an honest manner. It's really deflating.

 

[Blackcar]

I've had about enough of sub-par service at local GMC and Chevy dealers. I've tried 3 GMC dealers and 2 Chevy dealers, and the service stinks. I feel like I am lied to, my concerns minimized, the communicationa are generally horrible and of course no loaner cars. I can go buy a Subaru and get a loaner car. For those with Escalades, is the service more on par with competitors, such as Mercedes/BMW/Audi/Lexus? When I walk into one of those service departments, it just seems much more professional, customer focused and they have a fleet of loaner vehicles for their customers. My wife has driven Audis for years, and I've never experienced the frustration with an Audi dealership that I have with multiple GM dealerships. Having paid almost $100K each for my Yukon and Sierra HD, I have just about had it with the GM service experience and am seriously considering jumping ship and going to another brand. That's really a shame, because for the most part, I really like the vehicles. I just wish the dealership experience would catch up to the vehicles "premium" pricing. I would consider an Escalade, however the local Cadillac dealer is owned by, and adjacent to, the same company that owns the GMC dealer with one of the worst sales AND service experiences that I've had.

Can you post a list of problems with your vehicle there may be members that have same issue that can respond?

 

[KMeloney]

It's a long story covering multiple issues, however in a nut shell, it all boils down to very poor communications, being misled, lied to and my concerns minimized.

Right. You DID say all of that before. But no one knows what the problems were -- or just how unreasonable any of the dealers were.

 

[chrisbusnut]

The biggest problems were related to the front air suspension, and then a harness that was improperly secured in the transmission tunnel. This is on my 24 Yukon. Within weeks of purchasing the vehicle, the front would lower/sag when sitting overnight. It ended up sitting at the dealer almost a month in total, during which time someone came through one night and broke the windows out on over a dozen vehicles parked on the lot, including mine. it took the dealer 5 days to notify me of this, during which time it continued to sit on their lot, in the rain (they made a half assed attempt to cover it with a flimsy plastic tarp). After meeting with the service manager in person, they finally traced the problem to some module that regulates the front suspension. Essentially, the air in the front shocks was leaking back into the holding tank on the car, which caused the front end to sag.

On the harness, there was a vibration in the transmission tunnel at low RPMs. I dealt with "we don't hear it" or "it's normal" to finally getting them to agree to put the car on a lift and have a tech underneath the vehicle while someone else was inside giving it throttle (with me standing outside the bay watching). At that point, they heard it and agreed that it was not normal, however they couldn't figure out how to fix it. I was by then at my breaking point with this dealer, and decided to try another local GMC dealer. This dealer was quickly able to diagnose the problem and fix it. The way the harness was mounted, it was vibrating directly against the transmission, so once it was remounted properly, the issue went away.

I know these problems may seem trivial. Most of the issues with my 24 Yukon, and previously with my 22 Tahoe, have to do with squeaks, rattles and vibrations (admittedly, my tolerance for these is very low), however the dealers give me subpar service by not providing regular status updates, not returning phone messages or e-mails, giving me inconsistent or downright inaccurate information, etc. There is a consistent rattle on the driver's side b-pillar, a plastic flex/creaking noise in the center dash HVAC panel (where the HVAC buttons are), rattles under both rear seats and a blend door in the rear HVAC that continuously "taps" against the housing at certain temperature settings. Maybe my expectations are too high.

 

[Hrocks]

Pains me to say it after being a loyal GM guy until about 7 years ago, buy the Lexus. I have had four BOF Lexus SUV's and all have been great quality. (Still own three.) Lexus service has been fantastic. If you ever have the need to leave your vehicle even for an oil change because you don't have time to wait an hour, they will give you a loaner. It's a totally different service world than any Cadillac, GMC or Chevy dealership experience.

 

[Blackcar]

The biggest problems were related to the front air suspension, and then a harness that was improperly secured in the transmission tunnel. This is on my 24 Yukon. Within weeks of purchasing the vehicle, the front would lower/sag when sitting overnight. It ended up sitting at the dealer almost a month in total, during which time someone came through one night and broke the windows out on over a dozen vehicles parked on the lot, including mine. it took the dealer 5 days to notify me of this, during which time it continued to sit on their lot, in the rain (they made a half assed attempt to cover it with a flimsy plastic tarp). After meeting with the service manager in person, they finally traced the problem to some module that regulates the front suspension. Essentially, the air in the front shocks was leaking back into the holding tank on the car, which caused the front end to sag.

On the harness, there was a vibration in the transmission tunnel at low RPMs. I dealt with "we don't hear it" or "it's normal" to finally getting them to agree to put the car on a lift and have a tech underneath the vehicle while someone else was inside giving it throttle (with me standing outside the bay watching). At that point, they heard it and agreed that it was not normal, however they couldn't figure out how to fix it. I was by then at my breaking point with this dealer, and decided to try another local GMC dealer. This dealer was quickly able to diagnose the problem and fix it. The way the harness was mounted, it was vibrating directly against the transmission, so once it was remounted properly, the issue went away.

I know these problems may seem trivial. Most of the issues with my 24 Yukon, and previously with my 22 Tahoe, have to do with squeaks, rattles and vibrations (admittedly, my tolerance for these is very low), however the dealers give me subpar service by not providing regular status updates, not returning phone messages or e-mails, giving me inconsistent or downright inaccurate information, etc. There is a consistent rattle on the driver's side b-pillar, a plastic flex/creaking noise in the center dash HVAC panel (where the HVAC buttons are), rattles under both rear seats and a blend door in the rear HVAC that continuously "taps" against the housing at certain temperature settings. Maybe my expectations are too high.

The deal with windows broken out and left to set in rain is a buy back to me.
Did vehicle get wet inside that could be problem down the road. How was repair handled as per who paid and is that on car fax.

 

[squark]

There is a consistent rattle on the driver's side b-pillar, a plastic flex/creaking noise in the center dash HVAC panel (where the HVAC buttons are), rattles under both rear seats and a blend door in the rear HVAC that continuously "taps" against the housing at certain temperature settings. Maybe my expectations are too high.

Not to get too off-topic, but I've had most of these in my '23 Yukon XL. I tracked most of them down myself because I'm obsessive about these types of things, even though my dealer is great and has helped with some other noises.

I had a few rattles around the b-pillar. Most of it was around the plastic trim that follows along the top of the window. I slipped some felt underneath the plastic in the noisy areas and lubricated the weather seals which helped some. On the rare occasion it rattles now I just push on that plastic piece and it quiets down. The one I had the hardest time getting rid of ended up being the side curtain airbag. I pulled the b-pillar trim off and pushed on everything underneath until I realized it was the airbag above the headliner. Thankfully I didn't have to drop the headliner, but I was able to slip some one-sided felt tape under the edge of the airbag where it was contacting the metal of the roof. That took care of it.

The plastic flex/creaking was 95% cured by using a thin plastic trim tool to wedge felt along the sides where the panel touches the metal trim around it. I pushed it in far enough where you can't see it. I still get an occasional creak in that area, but it's usually the cupholder lid.

I also get the blend door tapping when it's cold outside. I haven't tracked that one down yet, and might just let it go since it's sporadic. I can adjust the airflow from ceiling to floor and hot to cold fine, so it seems to be functioning ok.