You may have some control over whether you can hand over your keys to a valet or not, but dealing with mechanics is an entirely different matter. The fact is that sooner or later, your Corvette is going to have an issue, and if you aren’t prepared to fix it yourself, you’ll inevitably wind up taking the car to a shop where any number of things could happen.

Case in point: on January 13th, a C7 owner in New Jersey posted a thread on Corvette Forum titled “Dealer screwed up my car,” and the tale that unfolded is enough to shake up anyone’s faith in the average fix-it garage. The story goes that the owner, named “swaite” on CF, dropped off his Stingray at RK Chevy in Vineland to work on some problems relating to the Check Engine Light and fuel gauge.

The technicians claimed that the fuel tank had a bad sensor and would need to be replaced. Once that was done, swaite took the car for a drive and noticed the rear camera wasn’t working, as well as a few scuff marks on the spoiler. The camera was plugged in and the scuff marks were buffed out, and all seemed to be well again.

That was until swaite discovered that he couldn’t shift into second gear without difficulty. He went back for the third time to demonstrate the issue in a ridealong, but the mechanic flatly stated that everything was fine and “that is how it is supposed to be.” It soon became clear that the mechanic was not a Corvette expert, and yet was allowed to tinker with the C7.

The issue was “fixed” and then came back as swaite was pulling out of a toll booth. A more experienced technician was called in to replicate the problem, which he did, but it turned out that he was being blocked from working on the Corvette; each time, it seems, the car was being fiddled with by the same jamoke without any experience under his belt.

Swaite decided to get GM involved at this point, and also plugged in a hidden telemetry device which reported the car exceeding speeds of 90 and then 100 mph, followed by very quick stops, and all on public roads. After a great deal of hemming and hawing over the matter, swaite decided to lawyer up and go do valiant battle against the dealership.

As of the 27th, the ordeal is still ongoing, and swaite is demanding a replacement Corvette. We’ll have to wait and see how this all turns out, but in the meantime, what are your dealership war stories? Pop down below and tell us what happened in a comment.