stu12dozen

Grasshopper,

"A fair price is always determined by which side of the counter you are standing on".

Bluebeast17

Not really,I understand they have to make a profit but selling a car for 27,999 and offering less than rough trade in according to 2016 NADA guides and then selling for 22 to 24 thousand dollars is stealing with a license And I for one will never deal with them or any of their

Robert Perkins

I do not know where you are getting your numbers your car is worth 13K-15K trade-in and it will sell for 16.5k-17.5k . That is all it is worth. The C5 is a nice car but getting old people are looking to upgrade to the C6. There is not as much demand for the c5s. It is just a fact of life. I purchased a very nice low mileage 1998 vert new tires and wheels all maintenance records no flaws at all from a dealer for $13.5k out the door and he was glad to sell and it is a nice car for me already put 4000 happy miles with not one problem.

Bluebeast17

Got them from 2016 NADA Guide said clean trade for my car 18,200

stu12dozen

$18200 on a trade? In your dreams! Private sale, perhaps. Welcome to the real world of finance.

Black 02

So you'd give them $13k plus your car for the C6? I must have read it wrong and thought they were offering you $13k for your C5. Sounds like you're getting almost $15k for your car. If you're comfortable with the price of their car, I'd take it and run.

Bluebeast17

That's exactly what they offered me 12,900 they wanted 13 plus 699 doc fee taxes etc seemed extreme to me.

roadbike56

Bluebeast, You may not like this post.
That's not a bad deal. I saw that car on Hendrick's site but didn't like the mileage. Actually, under $14K and your car out the door for a 2010, 3LT, polished wheels, A6 is not bad. You didn't mention that you're getting a 3 month 3K mile warranty (verify this) and Hendrick stands behind their warranty. If you're OK with the 62K mileage, you might want to re-think that deal. Maybe you want to ask them if they'll throw in their extended 1 year bumper to bumper warranty for the same price. My C5 is about the same as yours mileage wise and it's in pretty nice condition. I expect trade in offers to be anywhere from a high of $17K to a low of $15K. Based on what they offered you, they're probably not wholesaling your car. If they did, the offer would be lower.
EDIT: If I got a trade in offer of $17K, it would probably be because they dealer wanted too much for their car.

Bluebeast17

I understand what you're saying but to offer me a little over 12 for my car and want retail for theirs I feel is to much ,They are selling cars worse than mine for 22 to 24 .I'm not willing to give 14 plus then watch them make another10 plus off of my car.I know they are there to make money but not off of me like that they can starve first.They'll never see another penny of my money and none of my family or friends if I can help it.
Maybe im wrong but that's the great thing about our country we can have such opinions.

Lee DeRaud

Something is wrong with the math here...
Your car plus $13K plus $699 tax/fees to get a $27900 car, works out to $14200 trade-in value. Not super high, but not outrageously low either. But it's $1300 more than you say they're offering you.
If they're really only giving you $12900 for your car and only want $13K+$699 cash, that works out to a sale price of $26600, or $1300 less than you say you're paying. I have no idea whether that particular car is worth $26600, that's up to you...I just like to see the numbers balance out one way or the other.

RueBurgundy

You can't even count the doc fee, their accounting people have to get paid don't they? You're being offered $15k for your car plain and simple. Now I don't know about the asking price of the C6 but that's a very good tradein offer for your car. Of course, all things must be considered together so C6 price is critical. Don't write them off just yet

S.C. vette

So true, no deals at any of his lots

BIC

First rule is: remember buying/selling cars is business, not personal--don't be insulted. I expect to be low-balled on my trade-in. They probably do that because some people accept the low-ball. Can't blame the dealer for that, they're trying to make money.

My goal is to be the occasional customer they make little or no money on just to meet a quota/goal or get rid of inventory sitting on the lot forever. They sometimes can afford to do that if they're making big money on some other customers. So as to compare "apples to apples", I've gone to new car dealers and agreed on say, to buy the new car at invoice, regardless of trade or not. From there, I have seen both identical and widely varying trade-in offers.

The identical offers: say I'm trading a Chrysler on a Chevy. I go to three Chevy dealers near one Chrysler dealer. All three Chevy dealers call the one Chrysler dealer and see what the Chrysler dealer will take it off their hands for. You get the same trade-in price at all three Chevy dealers.

On the other hand, I then seek out a Chevy dealer far from this crowd, and low and behold, buying the same new car at invoice, I get a trade offer thousands higher than the other group offered. I've had this scenario happen.

On the other (third hand), when I bought my 2015 C7 for supplier price ($200 over invoice), they initially offered $19,500 for two trade vehicles. After some back and forth, the trade eventually rose up to $24,000. Did they initially low-ball? Yes. Did they finally offer a fair trade? Yes. Did I get insulted? No. Was I ready to walk away if I didn't get $24,000? Yes.

Because they gave me what they considered a high trade, they couldn't wholesale/auction them. One sat on their lot for months and they sold it at break-even or a slight loss. The other sat for a bit, over one month, but I think they still made some, but not a lot of money on it. Overall, did the dealer make money on the whole deal? Yes, just probably not as much as they would have liked.

I treat the whole process as a game and try to have fun with it. Never get emotionally attached to any car you want to buy. There's always another car elsewhere. Once they detect you "have to have that car", you're toast.

Thirty years ago, a dealer said to me, "You'd let this deal fall though over $100?", I replied with the same question back to him. He dropped that last $100. I have no inside knowledge of the business, this is all based on my experience buying cars.

Black 02

Doc fees are nothing more than a rip off and shouldn't be allowed. Most businesses get a margin on their product and use that margin to pay their employee and operating expenses and keep the rest as profit. Why should you, the customer, be expected to pay their accounting people separately from the profit they are already making off of you? Some dealers even try to charge a service or admin fee on top of the doc fee in states where the doc fee is capped.

I understand dealers have to make a profit, and I've given them plenty of profit over the years, but some of the things they get away with are ridiculous.

Edit: Just noticed he posted the doc fee was $699. If they sell 100 vehicles a month then that's an extra $69,900 a month. You think the 18-25 year old girls working in the accounting department are getting all of that?

BADBIRDCAGE

So how much would be the correct price? Should the dealer trade you even up for your car that is six years older? Would you be satisfied if they charged you seven thousand dollars and your car for the 2010? Then the dealer would lose money but you would feel better.

If you could buy the 2010 for $14,000.00 instead of $27,000.00 would that be fair? If that would be fair then that is exacly where you are.

If you don't like the deal offered walk away. You have options. Keep enjoying your C5 or spend money to move up to a C6 or C7. Your money; your choice.

Velocity_Vette

I'm sorry - I think this is very reasonable. $13K for an 11 year old C5 that's two generations behind the current model offered as a trade in to a dealer that they'll then have to deal with selling? It's for sure reasonable from the dealer, and it's reasonable for the owner to quickly rid themselves of the car. Could you get more? Probably; if you were to sell privately. However then you'll have to deal with a buyer who either has the cash on hand or secured the money through their bank (if they're able to on such an old car); either will initially be difficult since you'll be marketing the car to a specific buyer.

C5s are not in the best market for a private seller. It's been that way for a few years now and is likely going to continue for the foreseeable future. I also feel that owners who have owned C5s a while haven't really accepted the price hits they're taking. The C4 (good C4s) are beginning to see a minor price resurgence as is most sporty cars in the 20-25 year range. C6s are seeing the atypical price drop of a prior gen car, and they're still going to see a decline that will eventually push post-08 base examples into C5 territory as more C7s enter the secondary market. Eventually C5s will rise just like any Corvette but that's likely a ways off as lower mileage examples become fewer and fewer with the passage of time.

I think it may be best to try and sell your car here on the forum (or any Corvette forum for that matter). You'll be catering the car to the right buyer market, and while you may have to wait on it to sell and even take a hit on the final sell price the likelihood of you selling it for higher than $13K is very realistic. Again initially it may be difficult but ultimately you'll be dealing with buyers who are looking for a particular Corvette and likely already have the funds on hand or the ability to easily secure funding.

For sure as mentioned, if you think that $13K offer is insulting you probably would have gotten even worse offers if you went to say something like CarMax or a similar type dealership that's not affiliated with a marque's network.

Shakeydeal

I don't think it's a bad deal. Probably not the one you would prefer, but still not too bad.

I trade a 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe in on my 04 Z. I got 2K less than I could have if I sold it. Problem is, I had it for sale on Auto Trader for almost a month and didn't even get ONE nibble. I went ahead with the trade because I wanted the car, plain and simple.

As for someone else mentioning that the price of the C6 was too high, you surely don't live near me. A 2010 Corvette coupe can hardly be had south of 30K around here. Most are 35-40K.

That is another reason why the deal wasn't so bad. Sure, you didn't get what you would like in trade, but the price of the car you were buying is pretty darn good.

Shakey

RueBurgundy

True enough

BIC

I know Hendrick charges a ridiculous $499 admin/doc fee on new cars; but is it really $699 on used cars, I find that hard to believe?