GM seat cover and trim repairs

[Hank D]

Our ASM (district service mgr) has instructed us that we must order the material from GMSPO to repair seat covers and door panels instead of replacement. He further tells us that we are the only dealer in his area that replaces entire parts, that all others only replace a panel of the seat cover. Does your store order the material?

[Doug]

No, but we DO repair as many trim items as we can without replacing them. One consideration for us (in small town USA) is the quality of work available from the local trim shop.(We've only got the one !) They do a good job on minor repairs but to give them a yard of upholstery and say "Here ya go. Sew it up to match the rest of the seat" just ain't a happenin' deal ! Too many complaints that the material or the workmanship does not match the rest of the interior.

I have the trim shop look at the problem and if they can't handle it I'll indicate on the repair order that a repair was at least considered before deciding to replace the item.

After six years at this dealer I've never had any problems with factory reps with this policy. I have proven that we DO repair as much as we can instead of arbitrarily replacing trim items.

[Hank D]

We repair as much as possible as well, but as you state, quality of work in small town is not always acceptable to the Corvette or Cadillac customer. Our AVM also tells us that in the case of the plastic channels on seat covers (like the Venture APV) that will not stay together, even with hog rings, that we need to take them to upholstery shops and have them tear out the plastic channels and sew in zippers! I've already told parts dept to stock up on duct tape, super glue, and mechanics wire. Gimme an Opel and some paint and I'll build you a Catera!!

[lovemotors]

Here we go with the repair vs replace saga again. I too am from smalltown USA and trying to please a new Corvette customer with a repair is tough. The factory doesn't seem to understand just what we are up against however we are able to repair quite a few truck seat covers and the upholstry shop that we use comes up with a lot of their own materials and makes them match. Good Luck!!
P/S We do replace entire door panels when they can't be repaired perfectly.
Take care of the customer and justify everything on the hard copy.....

[warr_wiz]

I agree with lovemotors final statement. The bottom line is will the customer be happy with the repair. Luckily, we have an excellent upholstry shop close by that does most of our work. More often than not we replace the entire cover. But they have done quite a few repairs as well. If they don't think it is repairable, they will tell me. And so far, their track record proves they are interested in our satisfaction. Which of course boils down to customer satisfaction. I guess the shops available to you are really a factor in any choice you make. And as always, write your reasoning on all documentation.

[Michael White]

We send out about 2-3 trucks with worn thru leather bulsters a month for inserts to be replaced. lately, however, customers are complaining too much about the differences in the new versus old material. If a seat cover has 30,000 miles of wear, a new insert is going to look different. I am struggling with this now and am not sure which direction I am going to go. I have told some customers that wear is not really a warrant issue and the inserts are a one time goodwill adjustment. This really does not go very far for CSI.

Mike

[jargonaut]

This is also a neverending battle it seems all over the country. I have suggested successfully to purchase a digital camera and to take pictures of all the interior trim repair needs so you can visually document the repairs needed on these vehicles. Further you have to document them strictly and I imposed a requirement that all interior trim repairs be required to have prior service management inpsection before ordering parts to avoid those times when a vendor can more cheaply make a repair which will satisfy owner. In the end the quality of some of the trim items used by GM often lacks for durability and general all around quality and you simply wind up having to replace so many of these parts. But really when GM runs its expense reports and my dealer has been high in Glass/Trim for 20 months running it isnt easy to justify.

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Alan The Warranty Guy