SHORTLINE GMC SOLD ME A NIGHTMARE

My name is Daniel. Late July of 2024, I bought a brand new 2024 GMC Yukon XL from Shortline GMC in Aurora, Colorado for my business. I’m setting this up to share my experience owning this vehicle, and my dealings with Shortline. You will read about the various repairs, from reasonable to paying to replace missing parts, to having services added on that I never asked for or consented to, a continuing problem that persisted through several repairs, commentary on engineering, my correspondence with Shortline GMC, and details about my driving habits. Hopefully, this will help a future prospective GM buyer.

I bought this SUV on the brand name of GM (the gold standard of workhorse vehicle, and garage performance my entire life). I had no idea that they seem to have been making poor drivetrains that are prone to catastrophic failure for the better part of a decade now. It seems that I got off lucky with mine. Doing research, I’ve come across many examples of people needing multiple engine and transmission replacements, on the same vehicle, and those repairs taking months to complete. Even my brother-in-law had a 2020 Yukon that only made it to 86k miles before blowing up. Thankfully, mine wasn’t as bad, but I still find my experience unacceptable.

First things first: I drive for a living. So, even though I’ve had the Yukon for only two years, I have put on about 150,000 miles in those two years. This means that I’ve had very few cold starts, comparatively, since I drive for hours on end and rarely give it the chance to fully cool. Most of the time when it’s parked in my garage, I keep the engine block heater attached to keep it at temp. I’ve never towed anything or driven off road. Since I drive people around, I don’t race around town either, my driving style is controlled for my passengers’ comfort. Generally, the Yukon is driven under minimal load, only me and one other person. Most of the miles are highway driving. I maintain my vehicle well. Every 5,000 miles, I change the oil with Amsoil 0W-20 DexosD, and Pacific Performance Engineering brand oil filter rated for half the microns as the stock filter. The fuel filter is changed approximately every 20,000 miles. I’ve changed the transmission pan to an aftermarket Pacific Performance Engineering specialty pan for better transmission cooling, changed the transmission filter, and changed the transmission fluid to the Amsoil ULV (approved fluid for this transmission).

The conditions I’ve driven this SUV under are ideal for longevity in any vehicle, but this vehicle has been falling apart and needing major repairs beginning under 50,000 miles. Since the 100,000-mile mark, the repairs became even more extensive, as shown in my receipts. Between the beginning of 2026 and my last diagnostic, the cost of repairs needed (Roughly $11,000 between April and June) exceeded the amount on scheduled car payments for 2026 to that point. Most of the price tag on the repairs seems to be due to engineering that prioritized maximizing labor costs on repairs than ease of the repair. Having a vehicle that not only is prone to failure, but difficult to impossible for home mechanics to work on, is a bridge too far. I can handle prone to failure if I can do most of the repairs myself or have a vehicle that is impossible to work on if it is bullet proof, but not both. This is not acceptable to me, and my experience does not match, what I would imagine, consumer expectations of a GM flagship model.

Unfortunately, I never anticipated it would come to this, so I haven’t been saving all of my invoices. I had the service manager print out the work orders he had. I noticed that the dates on the “Repair Order Detail – Internal Copy” don’t match with the few invoices I have. There may be a reason for this, but I’m not sure what.

I’ve told my story to the sales floor. They directed me to the service manager. I told my story to the service manager. He directed me to GM corporate. I told my story to GM corporate. They directed me back to the service manager. After some back and forth emails, the service manager ghosted me. I never asked for anything for free, nor was that ever a goal. The emails are in the correspondence tab.

To be clear: My issue isn’t with the employees. With limited and understandable exception, everyone I’ve spoken with has been quite amicable, and pleasant to talk to. But everyone with weight to do something maintains that this is the experience I should be expecting, and all of these repairs, from paying to replace missing parts to multiple component failings from 35k ish miles on, are simply the cost of GM ownership.

I respectfully disagree. And if this is what all prospective buyers should be prepared for, then they need to be informed of that. I certainly wasn’t.