A Man Has Been Paying $1,200 a Month for a Chevy Silverado He Cannot Drive. It Has Been 15 Months.

TL;DR

• A New Hampshire man has been making payments on a $72,000 Chevy Silverado ZR2 he cannot drive for 15 months because GM cannot produce a single wiring harness that fits.
• Five replacement harnesses shipped. None worked. Two GM engineers flew in from Detroit. Still no fix.
• The hidden cost of a truck you cannot drive: $16,000 or more in payments, insurance, depreciation, and alternative transportation while a manufacturer figures out its own parts catalog.

Key Numbers at a Glance

Last verified: March 18, 2026

John Rice bought a 2024 Chevy Silverado ZR2 Duramax diesel because he always wanted a nice pickup truck. For a few months, that is exactly what he had. Then a collision in November 2024 sent it to J&T Auto Body in Fryeburg, Maine, for what everyone expected would be a two to three week repair.

Fifteen months later, the truck is still in pieces.

The problem is a single component: the wiring harness. A wiring harness is the central nervous system of a modern vehicle, connecting every electronic system from the engine management computer to the airbag sensors in the ceiling. In a pickup truck like the Silverado, that harness runs up to three miles of wire through the frame, across the back wall, into the seats, and up into the roof. Without it, according to body shop owner Jason Leavitt, "the car won't move. Won't start. Nothing."

Chevrolet has shipped five separate replacement harnesses over those 15 months, according to a CBS13 I-Team investigation published last week. None of them fit. GM even sent two engineers from Detroit to inspect the truck in person. They looked at the vehicle, looked at the harnesses, and according to Rice, "scratched their heads and said, 'Wow, we got a problem.'"

The Cost of a Truck You Cannot Drive

Here is where this stops being one man's customer service nightmare and becomes a cost-of-ownership story that should worry anyone financing a modern vehicle.

Rice is still making monthly payments on a truck that cannot move. A 2024 Silverado ZR2 Duramax carries an MSRP between $72,000 and $75,000 according to Chevrolet's own configurator. At current average rates, according to the Federal Reserve's G.19 release from March 2026, the typical 72-month auto loan at 7.1% APR on that purchase price means a monthly payment somewhere between $1,000 and $1,400, depending on down payment and trade-in.

GM recently began covering half of that monthly payment. But half of $1,000 to $1,400 still leaves Rice paying $500 to $700 per month for a vehicle sitting in a dirt parking lot.

How we calculated the 15-month ownership cost

That is up to $33,000 in real costs for a truck that has not turned a wheel in over a year. Even the conservative estimate of $20,500 is more than many Americans spend on an entire used car.

Why This Happens More Than You Think

Rice's situation sounds extreme, but it points to a structural vulnerability in modern vehicle ownership that rarely gets discussed.

Modern trucks carry up to three miles of wiring, significantly more than vehicles from even a decade ago. Every added feature, from adaptive cruise control to lane keep assist to heated and cooled seats, adds complexity to the harness. When something goes wrong, you cannot just splice in a replacement wire. The entire harness is a single integrated component, custom-routed to each specific vehicle configuration.

The result: if the manufacturer cannot produce or source the correct harness, no one else can either. Rice says GM told him that pulling a harness from a salvage yard truck would void his warranty. Having a third party build one? Same answer. The warranty that is supposed to protect him is actually preventing repair.

What GM Says (and Does Not Say)

Rice wrote a letter directly to GM CEO Mary Barra. State Farm, his insurer, declined to total the vehicle because they found it "hard to believe GM does not make a wire harness for a truck that is not yet a year old" at the time of the collision. GM declined to buy the truck back, telling Rice it does not qualify as a Lemon Law violation.

When CBS13 reached out for comment, GM ignored their questions. When The Drive followed up, a GM spokesperson said, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have reached out to the customer and are looking into this matter."

The Drive's specific questions about why the part is unavailable and what GM is doing went unanswered.

What You Should Do if This Happens to You

1. Document everything from day one. Keep a written log of every call, every promise, every part number shipped. Save emails. Record dates. You will need this paper trail if the situation escalates to a legal dispute. Time investment: 10 minutes per interaction.

2. File a complaint with your state attorney general. Rice filed with the New Hampshire AG, which is the right move. Most states have a consumer protection division that handles auto complaints. Find yours at usa.gov/state-attorney-general. Script: "I purchased a [year/make/model] that has been inoperable for [X months] awaiting a manufacturer part. The manufacturer has been unable to supply the correct part despite [X] attempts."

3. Research your state's Lemon Law carefully. Lemon Laws vary significantly by state. Some cover vehicles only during the first 12 to 24 months of ownership. Others apply when a vehicle has been out of service for a cumulative 30 days for the same issue, regardless of cause. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration maintains a state-by-state lemon law summary at nhtsa.gov.

4. Request the manufacturer buy back the vehicle in writing. A verbal "no" means nothing. A written refusal creates a record. Send a certified letter to the manufacturer's customer assistance center requesting a buyback or replacement, citing the specific repair timeline and number of failed attempts. Keep the certified mail receipt.

5. Contact your insurance company about a constructive total loss. If the cost to repair exceeds a threshold (typically 70% to 80% of the vehicle's value, varying by state), insurance companies may declare a constructive total loss even if the vehicle is not physically destroyed. The issue is that repair cost here is not the problem. The part does not exist. Ask your adjuster specifically: "At what point does indefinite parts unavailability qualify as a constructive total loss under my policy?"

FAQ

Can I use an aftermarket wiring harness? For most modern vehicles, no. Wiring harnesses are vehicle-specific, routed to exact configurations. Even if a third party could build one, the manufacturer may void your warranty. This is one of the strongest arguments for right-to-repair legislation.

Does insurance cover my payments while the car is in the shop? Standard auto insurance does not cover loan payments during repairs. Some policies include rental car coverage (typically $30 to $50 per day with a cap). The manufacturer may voluntarily offset payments as GM is doing here, but they are not legally required to in most states.

How common are parts shortages on newer vehicles? More common than the industry admits. Post-pandemic supply chain disruptions have improved since 2022, but specialty components like vehicle-specific wiring harnesses, certain electronic modules, and body panels for newer models still face delays. There is no public database tracking parts availability by manufacturer.

Could right-to-repair laws have helped here? Potentially. If independent shops or third-party manufacturers could legally produce compatible harnesses using manufacturer schematics without voiding the warranty, Rice might have had his truck back months ago. Currently, the manufacturer controls both the parts supply and the warranty terms.

Is GM required to provide parts for vehicles still under warranty? The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act requires manufacturers to honor warranty terms, which implicitly includes parts availability. However, enforcing this typically requires legal action, and the timeline for resolution often exceeds the timeline for the part itself.

Sources

• CBS13 I-Team, "Repair Roadblock: NH man's Chevy truck sidelined nearly 2 years over missing part," March 2026, wgme.com
• The Drive, "This Chevy Silverado ZR2 Has Been Parked for More Than a Year Waiting on a Wiring Harness," Caleb Jacobs, March 17, 2026, thedrive.com
• Chevrolet, 2024 Silverado ZR2 configurator, chevrolet.com
• Federal Reserve Board, G.19 Consumer Credit release, March 6, 2026, federalreserve.gov
• Edmunds, vehicle depreciation data, 2026, edmunds.com
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, state lemon law summaries, nhtsa.gov
• Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. sections 2301-2312)