Ramets

Just for giggles here's my personal experience. I bought my C5 1 1/2yrs. ago and paid $20K for it. It was a low mileage car with only 20K on the clock, and not a nick or chip to be found. I immediately changed all the fluids, got rid of those damn run flats, and did a few cosmetic upgrades. And that's it!! Since then she's won a couple awards at the only two car shows I've entered, and I get a ton of compliments on it all the time. I've driven it from my home here in SC to Md. 3 times, been to Tenn. once, down to Venice, Fl., and plan on a long road trip this summer out to San Diego, then up the coast to Wa. before slowly working my way back to SC. As soon as I win the lottery I'm going to do an engine swap, and put in a 2019 ZR-1 crate engine, that way I'll have the best of both worlds. What I consider the best body style, and enough oomph to probably get me into trouble.

WickedVetteLT4

It's safe to say that if the car has been listed for awhile with no action... the price is too high. You can listen to opinions on here all day but an accurate gauge on whether the car is priced right or not is shown by the amount of interest you've had in it.

Unfortunately, everyone shops for a deal. With the C5's getting older, the deals are out there and fairly often. If you're patient and dont need the money... list it high and enjoy driving it in the meantime. You might find that right buyer and if not, you can always entertain offers and work your way down on the price. I will say though (and maybe this is just me)... but having a car listed for an extended period of time can be a negative thing as well. If I get on the forum and I see a car with 40 responses that's been listed for months even if the price is fair... I wonder what's wrong with it and why it hasnt sold? If you're serious about selling it, pay attention to the price point similar cars are actually selling at (not what they're listed at as people can list cars for whatever they want) and price it more aggressively to spike some interest.

While I agree to an extent with mcfly when it comes to people being unrealistic with their pricing suggestions on posts like these... I've had no issues selling things on the forums. You just have to start in a fair range to begin with. For as many people that will tell you you're priced too high, I'd say just as many will tell you it's worth more than it is in hopes of their own cars value staying up. I've seen it go both ways.

Your car is an 04, has low miles, it's a nice color and it's a 6-speed which helps value. Being convertible hurts the value in most cases but to a person looking for one, it doesnt hurt it too bad. The market just seems to be smaller for convertible cars. IMO... and you can take this with a grain of salt but I'd say a realistic selling price on the car would be in the $15k range considering it's a last year C5 and the mileage is low.

Turpid porpoise

I bought my '99 FRC bone stock with 55K miles on it and zero issues for $15k almost 5 years ago. The market on these things has taken a pretty solid dip and used C6 pricing isn't helping the matter.

Yello95

You need to advertise it Nationally...not on lowball forums or Craigscraplist or fleabay...
Be patient, there are buyers out there that are willing to pay your price if your Vette is in really nice condition as you say it is....it is a fair price....and for chittsake do not listen to the political aholes here...they are crybabies....just sayin...

jackthelad

Sorry, OP, but your price too high. $14-15k is nearer the mark. At your asking price, just a little more will get a buyer into a C6. And lest we forget, all C5's are old cars now (15-22 years) with diminishing spare parts availability. I have an early C5 6 speed coupe, one owner, low miles, nice wheels, Behr brakes, etc., etc. Probably worth $8-9K tops. That's life.

ZEN357

You're asking to much for the market right now. Also the fact it's a convertible makes it harder to sell. I had a 91 Z/28 Convertible that I couldn't sell to save my life. I was asking $12,500 for it back in 2001. I ended up trading it on a 2001 Bullitt Mustang and got $11,000 for it from the dealership. I won't own a convertible ever again because only certain people want them.

byte_me

The market is weird, having just bought a C5 Z06, I can say that location is also key. I’m in South Florida where there really is no down time for driving a sports car. Additionally hard tops, like mine, while desirable to some don’t always appeal to those who want to cruise around in the sunny weather. I’ve seen prices all over the place for clean, low mile cars. My Z06 was a clean, documented 20k mile car with new tires and completely stock. Black on Mod/Red interior and I paid $20k for it. Perhaps it’s on the higher side for some opinions on the forum, however nothing came close to this car within 500 miles of me for the price.

I agree you need to probably open your range of advertising, and to be honest, the forum is a terrible place to sell a car! I have a buddy looking for a car like this, so please PM me the details and I’ll pass it along.

Good luck!

jackthelad

Oh, and fix that TPMS sensor. Anyone who knows anything about C5's will assume if one has gone the others will follow. Your non C5 aware buyer might well wonder, if there's something wrong I can see, what else is there that I can'r see?

WickedVetteLT4

That doesnt sound too bad. Low miles! Makes me happy to hear that. I've been hesitant to even share what I paid for mine as it was a steal and well below what anyone would prob believe or want to hear. Def not the norm. Car wasnt listed and a buddies brother had it sitting in storage. He just wanted it gone and I jumped on it for a daily driver/extra toy. I already have 2 C6 ZR1's but I couldnt pass it up.

2004 C5 Z06
Black with mod red interior
72k miles
Clean and clear title
100% stock with c6 shifter and lowering bolts
Super clean

Paid $8k for it 3 weeks ago

Like I said... that's not the norm. It was an absolute steal. Good example of what I mean though when I say the deals are out there. This one just fell in my lap. Car would easily sell for in the $18k area if I wasnt planning to keep it and play with it.

DetroitPlac

Surprised there's little mention of seasonality. These cars are very susceptible to seasonality...even across the country. Half the country wakes up in April/May to nice weather and is ready for a fun car. More buyers start looking. I've considered listing my car, but wouldn't do it before now...May.

4theboy

I would have to agree. After extensive searching in the Chicagoland area (purchased a '03 Vert in February) I would have jumped at your asking price compared to pricing and vehicles I was looking at. Location is a big factor. I think areas that have a stark change in seasons are a better market for the 'verts when people come out of hibernation.

Josephu

When you start at a high price, you loose a lot of potential buyers simply because they dont want to give you a low ball offer. They will move on to the next car. And if its motor is modded,, the older guys will say....Forget That. They want comfort and reliability. Which means clutch cars are out. Young guys,,,They dont have any money ,,,and cant get a loan on an almost 20 year old car. And the majority aint interested in corvettes anyway. Its a very hard time for the C5 Corvette.,, If you want to sell it, you had better price it low. That extra few thousand,, in the scheme of things,,, doesnt mean S***. . Once the C7's on the dealers lots dry up, you will not only be competing against the C6's, but the used C7's also.,,,and you can get a loan on a used C7!!!

Whipitnow

Nice car and I thought I got a good deal. That also could be telling of how bad some people are in a pinch today....

SLOWRYDE

Problem with the Corvette is they last forever! There is a glut of them on the used market and there are hundreds of new ones sitting on dealers lots right now with significant mark downs. The C5 really started with better longevity and quality in the Corvette line so these cars last seemingly forever. They appear to be available everywhere. Add to that, you now have C6's, C7's and soon to be released C8's available to a potential Corvette buyer. Now, factor in that the Corvette, to most people, is a specialty car and most are not used as a daily driver. That means low miles, minimal issues, and they rarely drop out of circulation due to end of life cycle. They sit in peoples garages in a sort of time capsule, meanwhile GM is pumping out more models from Bowling Green at a frantic pace. Hence, there seems to be more Corvettes available than ever before. High supply and low demand drives the prices down. Look at what the C7 is about to go through. Those prices are dropping fast. If you are patient, wait for the one buyer who has a particular car in mind and yours may be that car. If not, price it competitively and move on. Life is too short to fret over a couple thousand dollars you will replace with future earning anyways.

jrob56

Buddy and I have been watching and C5 and C6 market have been headed down from what I have seen and I dont think its stopping. Im definitely interested in buying one, but I want to see the market bottom for them. Im still a year or so from buying(paying off debt first, in case the whole market bottoms not just corvettes haha), but I like to keep an eye on all cars Id be interested in to gauge what I should be targeting. I can think of 3 ls2 c6s in good to great shape under 20k. More c5 zo6s under 20k then I can count, mostly 18-20k, some cheaper but rougher or track cars. Few LS3 C6s 22k-25k. Keeping my eye on cars like that, and they seem to be trending cheaper. Only base c5 or verts I have saved are 10-15k. Paying more than 15k for a c5 non z06 seems crazy right now to me. To me there is a cap regardless of mileage, one owner whatever, you're just overpaying vs newer/better cars.

If I was looking for a vert right now, I would say your high enough I wouldn't even contact you. I wouldn't have even finished reading the ad seeing 18.5k. My offer would be 4-5k dollars lower then where you started, usually that goes nowhere. Just my 2 cents.

WickedVetteLT4

I appreciate it bud and that's also a valid point! It was honestly just a lucky buy IMO. Def a case of being in the right place at the right time. I had just happened to mention to a buddy of mine at the gym that I was strongly considering buying a silver/mod red 01 Z06 that was listed in Dallas with 95k miles on it for $11,500. He then told me about his brothers car that was sitting in storage. He gave me his number and said he would likely be willing to sell it at a good price as he had mentioned getting rid of it a couple times as he hardly ever drove it. I called him up and he told me the price and I immediately went to check it out and picked it up. Seemed too good to be true at first but it was all legit.

Vetteman Jack

OK, the political discussions have been removed from this thread. There is a forum set up for that type of discussion and it is not C5 General. If you want to discuss political issues, move it over to the Politics/Religion and Controversy Section. Please do not bring politics back into this thread.

grampi50

I'm in about the same boat you are. I'm looking to buy one as soon as I retire which is in one year. I too am hoping the market keeps dropping on them. I know that's bad for those looking to sell theirs, but it's good for buyers...

Velocity_Vette

This persistently baffles me when the topic comes up. BAFFLES ME!

The reason C5 prices are falling and have fell so hard is because, yes, you have what is likely a very nice 2004 convertible with 35k miles and a six speed, but so do DOZENS upon DOZENS of other sellers. There's no incentive for a buyer to pay extra on a particular car because SO. MANY. PEOPLE. own really good C5s. Now if most of the market consisted of cars that have actually been driven, that is no car under 50K and ideally most of the cars around 100K and above, then the market for C5s would actually BE BETTER than it is now. The reason being is in such an instance lower mileage cars would command a premium, while higher mileage cars would also themselves adjust for the buyer set not willing to pay the premium for "really good cars." As it is there's no premium for lower mileage C5s to command because there's so many of them. This is also why I put a thousand miles on my 36K mile C5 the first week I had it; I drove it everywhere. I wouldn't be able to make back what I paid for it if I drive it 50K miles or 5K miles. People need to drive their cars more.

Don't take any of that as an attack because I don't mean it that way.

In the current market, I'd be surprised if you pull $15K. If you try and trade it in you probably wouldn't see $11K (although Corvette owners of ALL years currently get an extra $3,000 towards trade-in on a new C7, as a hidden bonus.). You do have a very good thing going for you being a six speed convertible, since six speed numbers for the targa and convertible are relatively low. You're just not going to get anywhere near $18.5K. I would finally though echo something posted a ways back; C5s haven't seen the complete rock bottom of their price floor yet. Once C7s are done for they're all going to be in the used market, and potential owners can still get loans on C7s. It's going to push C6s quite a ways down and C5s even a little further.

BlackVette87

Recent new owner here. Purchased a nice ‘02 6 speed targa 2 weeks ago for under $13k, with 72K on the clock.

in my searching for 6+ months I noticed the verts seemed to not sell quickly and the autos were wayyy cheaper the 6MT