pistolpete817

I am planning to order a C7 as soon as pricing is available. I have GM supplier discount, so I will probably order through an out of state dealer.
This does somewhat dilute the discount value. In Texas we pay sales tax on the difference between the new car price and the trade in value. So I lose about 2K buying it without trading in my C6 as part of the deal.

What do I do with my C6? I have sold cars of much less value through ads or just painting For Sale $1000 on the window. With my other Corvettes I simply traded them in when I bought a new one. I got tired of dealing with non serious buyers wanting a test drive and people wanting to take it to their mechanic for two days for a check out.

So how have you handled this? It's months between order date and C7 arrival day. Did you wait for delivery and sell the old car to CarMax or a local dealer?

Floridian

I wrestled with the same issue. Ordered my C7 in March for a May delivery. Used GM employee price (saved about 8K). Great local dealer, took my VIN in March while there was still snow on the ground, and my car was stored, and gave me trade in amount. It was a very fair trade. Could have sold it for a little more, MAYBE, but like you, didn't want to mess with buyers with desire but no money. And it's hard to find someone with cash for the purchase.

Then, when I drove the C6 in to pick up the C7, I mistakenly parked the C6 next to my C7. While looking at the two beauties side by side, I told my wife I was going home to get our year old F150. She asked why, and I told her, "I'm trading the truck and keeping both Corvettes!!!"

She talked me down from that ledge, and we came home with the C7.

No regrets on the trade in value, and the dealer has been great to work with.

You may have better luck there in Garland, than I would have had here in Mid Michigan. Suggest you run an ad locally, and on-line for what you want for the car, cash only and see what interest you have. Lot's of Vette owners in the Metroplex. I have an office in Arlington, and several are in our parking lot each day as daily drivers.

Hope this doesn't make your decision harder.

mjmc1273

Take your C6 to the Dealer and then Carmax to get an appraisal. Then do the math on their wholesale pricing versus what you could sell it for privately. I would bet even with the trade-in the $2K trade-in tax benefit would would be leaving a good some of money on the table (which your dealer is happy about, since that is how they make money). I live in Texas (buying a C7) and just sold my C5 for $7K more than the dealer wholesale offer.

Mdm23

Sell it yourself. I've sold my last three cars on forums and have had great buyers. Matter of fact, neither ever test drove the cars, and two bought sight unseen.

beepster

Seems to me you are in the ideal position...you have the opportunity to offer your C6 on the open market until your C7 arrives. I was able to sell my C6 from an ad placed in the for sale section of this forum. I would try to obtain a commitment from your C7 selling dealer to match the quote from CarMax on a trade value if you are not able to sell it yourself...thereby saving you some sales tax. Good luck!

hope2

simple, trade car in "on paper"

you save tax, dealer simply bills car to new owner.

beepster

Best idea yet...!

Mike Mercury

been there; just did that.

Trade-in on the wifes Corvette was 22k; which would of saved us $1,430.00 sales tax (Ohio) on the C7 purchase.
Instead; sold her Corvette on eBay for $26,500.00 (after all the selling fees subtracted).

Ended up with $3k extra - over trading it in.

keep it !!! We went with dual Corvettes for about 10 years; sometimes going together in one... sometimes taking both. It was

Larry/car

Just sold my C4 convertible (10,500 miles). I determined price from observing similar cars that sold or were for sale. Took me two months and got my price. I didn't have it listed in the right media at first and experienced few inquiries. I then listed the car in Auto Locator, sold it in one business day. Have purchaser know/agree to the price prior to setting up showing, if they balk at pricing no use wasting time. The first customer purchased car on the spot, fastest transaction I ever had.

rcooper

Sold 2 through Auto Trader and it was easy. Require a cash deposit to drive the car, with proof of financing and insurance. This kept the lookers away. I live in Texas also and the extra money off set the tax cost.

Dean2144

Don't know about Texas, but in Missouri on a private sale as long as you get a bill of Sale signed by the purchaser you can use it towards a tax credit for 180 days.

stingraymyway

You've got time before the new car arrives. Try to sell it. Post it here and EBay, etc.

mjw930

Nice idea as long as you don't get caught. No honest dealer will ever do this deal and risk losing their business license.

metal

TEXHAWK0

I also live in Texas, and my dealer gave me enough for trade in value on my C5Z06 that including the sales tax savings, it was equal to the best I could have gotten by trying to sell it myself. I went ahead and let the dealer have it when I ordered my C7 so he could have a chance to sell it at the current value. Turns out it sold in only a couple of weeks.

Larry/car

I did the pre delivery trade-in. It worked to my favor, had two Corvettes, sold both for one new C7. Don't think I 'll pre-delivery trade again.

halt00

I recommend eBay, I have sold two cars on there, no problems. One a truck (klunker) and a great condition M3. The M3 the guy just had it shipped back to his state, sight unseen. The truck was a local sale, guy test drove and paid. Just be very honest with all the issues, post lots of pics, you will be fine. If you have service documentation, all the better.

silky1

This was also an issue for me as I am in Texas ordering from an out of state dealer. I sold mine on ebay to a local buyer. I had to list it three times to get it sold. You will have to deal with people contacting you offering you 25k for a car that blue books for 33k. I did take it to car max to get an offer just in case it didn't sale in time. They offered 28k. It sold for 30k. So by doing this I pretty much made up the sales tax I would have got if I had traded it in. Problem is I couldn't find a local dealer to do supplier for me.

dwward

For the non-ebay private sales, how have you guys handled payment?

mjw930

Direct wire into my bank account prior to vehicle leaving my possession. I use my local bank's branch manager as in neutral 3rd party.

If the buyer is out of state they contact the branch manager. I sign the title and bill of sale in the presence of the branch manager, who is also a notary. She notarizes the bill of sale and overnights the title and bill of sale to the buyer once payment is confirmed.

If it's a face to face transaction we go to the bank and once the branch manager confirms the wire is received we complete the paperwork and the buyer goes on their merry way with the title and vehicle.

In those cases where my vehicle still has a lien the buyer issues certified funds to the lien holder in the entire amount of the sale. Once that is received by the lien holder I turn over the vehicle. I then sign and overnight the title to the buyer when I receive it from the lien holder. This transaction requires a certain degree of trust on both parties but having all the money go to the lien holder is a show of good faith the buyers usually accept. The lien holder will issue me a refund for any over payment. If there is very little owed I sometimes ask the buyer for 2 checks, they can hold the 2nd one until the title is available.