Selling a broken-down Chevrolet

One thing is worth knowing before you call: some dead Chevrolets have a free repair waiting at a dealer. So this page leads with the 6.2-liter V8 recall, then the air bag, ignition, park-outside and do-not-drive recalls, then the GM programs that pay for repairs after the warranty is over. Complaint counts, a short history, how a sale goes and all 57 Chevrolet models in our list come after that.

If the 6.2-liter V8 in your 2021-2024 truck failed

In April 2025 GM recalled the 6.2-liter gas V8, engine code L87, under campaign 25V-274. On the Chevrolet side it takes in 2021-2024 Silverado 1500, Tahoe and Suburban trucks whose build dates fall between March 1, 2021, and the last day of May 2024. GMC and Cadillac models with the same engine are in it too, and GM's defect report counts 597,630 vehicles across all three brands, not Chevrolets alone.

GM traced it to supplier parts. The report says the "connecting rod and/or crankshaft engine components in these vehicles may have manufacturing defects that can lead to engine damage and engine failure."

The remedy is what matters if your engine has already let go: "Dealers will inspect and, as necessary, repair or replace the engine." Trucks that pass the inspection get a heavier grade of oil. NHTSA's recall file says the repairs are free, and GM mailed owner letters on June 18, 2025.

So if a 2021-2024 Silverado 1500, Tahoe or Suburban with the 6.2 is knocking or seized, run the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before you sell it. If the truck is not on the list, or the recall work was done and something else broke, we still buy it as it sits.

Air bag and ignition recalls on older Chevys

Takata passenger inflators, 2007-2014 trucks and SUVs. GM petitioned NHTSA over the Takata passenger inflators in its GMT900 trucks and SUVs, and on November 27, 2020, NHTSA denied the petition. It covered "approximately 5.9 million MY 2007-2014 GMT900 vehicles," a total that takes in GMC and Cadillac models along with the Chevrolets. The Chevrolets named are the Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500 and 3500, Tahoe, Suburban and Avalanche. GM's recalls followed in February 2021, split by model year and by state; 21V-050 and 21V-054 are two of them. The danger is spelled out in the recall text: "An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death." Dealers swap in a different inflator free of charge.

Ignition switches, Cobalt and HHR. On February 10, 2014, GM recalled 619,122 cars for a switch that could slip out of the run position, a count that includes the 2007 Pontiac G5 as well as 2005-2007 Cobalts. On February 25 it added 748,024 more vehicles, 2006-2007 HHRs among them. A later expansion reached 2008-2010 Cobalts and 2008-2011 HHRs that may have been given a faulty replacement switch. With the key knocked out of run, a crash may not set off the air bags. The new switch is free.

A car that sits dead in a yard can still carry an open recall from years ago, and NHTSA's VIN search will show it.

When NHTSA says park outside or don't drive

NHTSA's recall file flags two kinds of warning. Every park-outside recall below is a fire risk, and a do-not-drive recall means the car should stay put until the repair is done. These Chevrolets carry one or the other:

The Bolt recalls are the large ones. GM found "two rare manufacturing defects in the same battery cell," and each replacement battery carries its own limited warranty of 8 years or 100,000 miles. Two follow-up recalls in 2024, 24V-481 and 24V-812, went back to cars fixed under 21V-650 because diagnostic software may not have installed correctly.

Under a do-not-drive notice, leave the vehicle parked where it is until pickup, which is free anywhere in the US. Under a park-outside warning, let it wait in the open, as the recall texts ask of owners.

GM special coverage: repairs paid after the warranty ends

Chevrolet's warranty booklet explains that the company may set up "a special coverage adjustment program to pay all or part of the cost of certain repairs" its warranty does not cover. Most run for a set number of years or miles, and each clock starts at the car's original in-service date. Several of the bulletins add that coverage applies "regardless of ownership," so a second or third owner can use it.

These are the Chevrolet special coverage bulletins we read in NHTSA's files. Our search was not a full index, so others may exist. The four that can still apply come first, then the rest, newest models first:

As of October 2026, a 10-year clock is still running only for a car first placed in service after October 2016. Most of these programs stop at older model years, so their time is up. Four reach late enough to still matter:

• HHR steering assist has no end date. The bulletin says "for the life of the vehicle, regardless of ownership," and the dealer replaces the power steering motor.
• Brake assist on trucks reaches the 2018 Silverado LD, Suburban and Tahoe. It still applies to a truck that went into service less than 10 years ago and shows under 150,000 miles.
• The Malibu pedal sensor works the same way for Malibus from 2016 through 2018.
• The Cruze pedal stalk program runs through the 2016 Cruze, with a 120,000-mile limit, so only a car placed in service after October 2016 is still inside it.

The 2009 Traverse is the only Chevrolet named in the timing chain program. A parts retailer's claim that it reaches 2008-2021 Traverses and Impalas is not backed by any GM document we read. A Chevrolet dealer can look up a VIN for every program that still applies.

What owners report to NHTSA, by Chevrolet model

NHTSA's complaint file holds 182,476 complaints against the 57 Chevrolets in our list, counting model years 1984 and later. Ten models account for 115,652 of them, 63%.

Each total adds up every model year on file, and the Silverado 1500's run covers 28 of them, 1999 through 2026. What sits inside the counts says more:

• Steering leads seven lists: the Malibu, Corvette, Cobalt, Colorado, HHR, Celebrity and SS. Of the 2006 Cobalt's 2,330 complaints, 1,160 list steering.
• The Equinox is the engine case. Engine is the component owners name most in every Equinox model year from 2010 through 2014, on 1,407 of 3,550 complaints. Those years overlap GM's three 2.4-liter programs in the table above.
• Fire: more Impala complaints report a fire than for any other Chevy in our list, 326, with the Silverado 1500 next at 319.
• Old peaks: the Suburban's, the Blazer's and the C/K Pickup's worst model years all fall in the 1990s.

From Louis Chevrolet to Geo: a short history

Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss race driver and engineer, and his brother Arthur started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in Detroit in 1911 with William C. Durant and other partners. It was incorporated on November 8 of that year. Durant had already formed General Motors in 1908, as a holding company for Buick. GM bought Chevrolet in 1918, and it has been a GM division ever since.

More than once, models from other GM labels have ended up under the Chevrolet name. The Spectrum was a Chevrolet from 1985 to 1988, became a Geo for 1989 only, and gave way to the Isuzu-built Geo Storm. Geo itself ended after the 1997 model year and merged into Chevrolet, so the Metro, Prizm and Tracker wore Chevrolet badges from 1998 until they were dropped in 2001, 2002 and 2004. Those are the same spans our list shows. Later, GM's bankruptcy in the 2008 financial crisis ended Pontiac and Saturn, and some models, the Captiva among them, were folded into the Chevrolet lineup. The Captiva Sport is in our list for 2012 through 2015.

Of the 57 nameplates, 17 are still in the lineup by our count. Only the Corvette and the Suburban show up in every model year from 1984 to 2027.

Getting a dead Chevy sold

Nothing has to come off the car before it goes. If parts are already gone, say which ones.

We'll want a plain description. That means the year and model (for a Silverado, whether it's a 1500, 2500HD or 3500HD), roughly how many miles, whether it starts, rolls and steers, and what is damaged or missing. Dig out the title too. Without it, the steps vary by state, and selling a junk car with no title covers the usual routes. Last, tell us where it is: a driveway, a side street, a storage yard or the shop that gave you the bad news.

If a seized V8 or a slipping transmission is why it sits, our guides to a blown engine and a bad transmission weigh the repair against selling. Pickup is free anywhere in the US. Once it's gone, take care of the plates and the state paperwork.

You can also reach us by phone at (877) 421-6008.

The Chevrolet model index: 57 nameplates

Here is every Chevrolet in our list, oldest first, with its model years. A gap means the name is missing from the EPA's fuel economy list for those years: it has no Blazer from 2006 through 2018, for example, and no Camaro from 2003 through 2009. The EPA file never lists the Silverado 3500HD and carries the Express only through 2017, though the van is still built, so those two rows rest on other records. The newest years are still filling in.