Hello all,
New member here looking to purchase a 2004 C5 with roughly 54,000 miles.
black on black, clean, great condition, dealer is asking $18,900.

what im wondering is:
is that a decent price for those specs?
what are the normal things to look for while "tire kicking"?
(specific drip spots, body damage revealing something else, other 'not-so-well-known oddities or things to inspect)

thanks for the info!

-Steve

 

I'd say it's a good deal. I understand cars in Texas must be cheaper than here, but I found an 04 with 56K miles, GM certified, clean history coupe. I believe sold around $19,500.

I don't know how clean the one you're looking at is, but if it's clean, you should get it.

 

Price seems pretty low, especially for a dealer.

Have the dealer run a service history and also run CARFAX or something similar. Find out the history on the car.

What to look for:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ngths-etc.html

Good luck!

 

Sounds way too low for a dealer price. Do a search on Cars dot com and get some examples of what people are asking for the same year/miles/options (usually $25-$30k+). I'd guess a dealer would be asking mid to high $20k's for that car (taking much less to sell, of course).

There are some extra cheap deals out there from time to time. I'd just not seen a car that would have fit my needs when I was buying (for those cheapie prices). Beware of people on this forum telling you to only pay four dollars and sixty five cents (or something else ridiculous like that). Great folks here, but some pretty unusual ideas of what represents a fair market value price.

Check the sale section here on CF. Looks like there are some nice C5's at reasonable prices. Some have power adders (if you want) already. Also, lots of members are willing to go out and look over any prospective car with you (or without you if the car is out of town). You have a legion of serious Corvette fans/fanatics at your disposal!

I know you have to find the car that fits your budget. Just remember; the sooner you buy one, the sooner you'll be driving it!!

 

Sounds very underpriced but I'd have to see it to really know.

 

I disagree about the dealer price part. A dealer has no emotional feelings towards a car, it's just a trading commodity. Why do some dealers price higher and some lower? It is simply how they see the market and how fast they want it gone. The ones that have crazy high prices don't move them.

2 opposite examples in Illinois here. 04 coupe with 56k, GM Certified, clean carfax, sold for $19,500 (I almost bought it, but 2 weeks later it's gone).

The opposite is the local 03 coupe with 25K, also very clean, dealer asking $27K on dealer site and $25K on e-bay ads. The car has been sitting for over half a year.

I do agree often times cheap prices indicate there might be problems. You should always check out carfax and service history. That's why I'm so hestiant to buy (not many local or close to me, all far away). There are many many clean, well priced vettes across the nation. Just be patient. Don't over pay. If you can find the identical car for less money, why would you pay more?

 

thats a real good price as long as the carfax is clean and it looks like no damage has been done to it

 

I would ask the dealer to give you the name and number of person who traded it in. Call the prior owner and get information. If dealer doesn't want to give you name and number, I would walk away. Also, it could have come from auction, then you need to do vehicle history report and carfax. On surface, appears to be priced to sell quickly.
Good luck.

 

Dealers price cars higher than private parties so they can absorb negative equity, negotiate, and still make a profit. They have a little thing called overhead which drives their prices higher (they also tend to offer some sort of warranty). If a car sits too long, dealers will usually wholesale it to get it off their books (i.e.- to stop paying interest to their bank). Never seen a car sit on a dealers lot for a year around here (although somewhere, someone has probably seen it). Not smart business.

Like I said before; You will find plenty of people on Corvette Forum who will insist that you can buy exactly what you desire for a price that is ridiculously below current market. The chances of that happening are slim. OP, do yourself a favor; run a search of the exact year/options Vette you saw for $18,500. Run it within 500, 1000 miles, or even "all" distances. You'll clearly see the average asking price is far higher. Visit some of your local dealers and do some negotiating. That'll give you your real-life answers.

Most of the time you'll find that your dream Vette is not one of the "cheapies".

 

I would look carefully for any signs that it has been in deep water

 

Price doesn't sound bad at all. I've got a few Word files that might help you out in your decision making process. PM me your e-mail address and I'll be glad to forward them to you. Good luck finding the right car.

 

Hello and welcome

Is it a base coupe? Stick/auto?

There are many checks and preventive maintaince/services due at that age. Are they done? What about tires and brakes?
A clean car fax can lie! So will some dealers!! Is it a chevy dealer?
Find someone (3rd baseman) that knows Vettes and have them look it over and drive it. Get it on a lift. Look for damage.

Good luck There are many with half those miles if you keep looking.

 

A month ago I bought this (pics below) 2004 coupe for $20,800 from a private seller. This is a base model coupe with 15,400 miles. I wanted the softer ride of the base-model suspension, as I live in Rhode Island, where the roads SUCK, lol.

This car is very nice, no chips or dings. Previous owner upgraded the wheels and put Magnaflow exhaust on. The only thing it needs is new tires (now on order) to replace the rock-hard runflats.

IMHO, you should be shopping hard. If anyone is telling you these cars have some "magical" extra value, then I think they are dreaming. The economy is in the skids and it ain't gonna recover anytime soon. The days of easy credit are over, meaning toy cars (like Corvettes) will suffer in value. Again, just my opinion. But I would wanna be buying a nice car priced at the very lower end of the KBB valuation.

Best of luck in your shopping. Do your homework first, so you know what you're buying. Check the VIN and RPO codes. When I first started looking, I went to a local Corvette dealer in Plymouth, MA - Corvette Mike's. I test drove a couple of cars, but they weren't really what I was looking for, plus they were a tad over-priced. However, it was worth going as I met the best car salesman (Bob Baker) I have ever had the pleasure of chatting with. He's a retired teacher and a true Corvette enthusiast (and racer) and he gave me lots of great pointers and info.





-

 

here is the car in question:
http://www.alamocorvettesandclassics...l.asp?iPro=113

hopefully i will get to go look at it later this week!

doing second round of a job interview on Wednesday which might determine the outcome of the purchase lol

thanks for all the input and feedback!!

 

I bought my '03 a year ago at the dealer's asking price that was (at the time) significantly cheaper than average. I thought the car would be a POS but upon inspecting it, it was not. The dealer just screwed up on it, listing it originally waaay to high, and sitting on it for too long. By the time I got to it at a good price, it was probably written off by most people as a car that must've had something wrong because it sat on the lot for 6 months. I have had it for one year and 12k miles with ZERO issues.

I would try and get a carfax and VIS from the dealer. You can then see how many owners it has had and how much warranty work it needed. Then see if you can get any indication of how well the previous owner(s) took care of the car. I like looking under the car to see how much damage is on the radiator supports, bumper, and side rails. If they slammed it into curbs and bottomed it out all over the place they probably didn't care about the car that much.

If it all checks out, then you are probably looking at a car that the dealer just wants to get rid of. I think $19k is probably an end-of-the-day, get-the-car-outta-here price on a clean '04 with 55k miles. It does not have to mean that the car has issues, but it is up to you to make sure.

 

Perfect example.

While I'd say you got lucky and it's probably a little below market value, it proves the point that these cars are not worth as much as some want to believe.

 

That CARFAX is WAY overrated!!! If the car was involved in an accident and it was repaired via cash without insurance then there will be NO record of it ever being involved in an accident.

 

Get the vin and go to your local chevy dealer. Have them pull up history of whats been done to the car.

Sounds like a hell of a price.

Good Luck

 

If that same car was repaired and they did not report it to carfax(and they don't have to) it still wont show on a carfax report!

 

decent price your cash car and choice good luck