Looking to buy a C6 Corvette. Should i get this one or skip?
07-31-2018, 01:09 PM
#1
2nd Gear
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Looking to buy a C6 Corvette. Should i get this one or skip?
Hi All!
New member here but i have been reading quite a few posts over the last two months.
Just some background.... I am looking to join the Corvette C6 family. My goal is to get myself a nice weekend car (not a daily driver) that i can enjoy driving around with my wife or on my own when i feel the need to play. Not planning to track the car, but you never know.
I have a decent experience maintaining and working on German cars and i am not afraid to get my hands dirty. My last car was a Stage 2 2012 Audi S4 (supercharged) that i fully upgraded and maintained on my own. I like maintaining my cars, i like working on them and i have an extensive selection of tools in my garage. Sadly i had to sell the S4 due to tiny rear seat and my 3 little kids that need to be moved around. I bought a new SUV, but sure enough, being a car guy, i got bored to death with the SUV and now i am looking for an extra fun weekend toy.
I've spent the last 5-6 weeks looking at C6 Corvettes. My budget is around $15k.... so i am expecting high mileage cars. I decided that i want 2008 or newer model, due to LS3 and somewhat better interior. I don't need "fully loaded" car, but some options are a plus. I also prefer 6-speed manual. Did not like the feel of the automatic.
Here is the specific car i want to ask you about:
Yesterday, i went to see a 2009 Corvette 3LT, 6-speed man with 114k miles. Car has 5 owners according to carfax + current seller. The first 3-4 owners maintained the car pretty regularly at Chevy dealers. Car was mostly in California. The owner before the current seller likely abused the car and neglected it. He had it for about 16 months.
The current seller is a transmission shop owner (shop has good reputation). The car was delivered to his shop on a flat bed due to COMPLETE transmission failure (lock up). Gears could not engage. Wheels were locked up. Lots of repairs were done to the car..... including installing a rebuilt transmission (sourced from 3rd party tranny shop), new clutch, slave cylinder, flywheel resurface, transmission cooling lines were leaking and replaced, radiator mount was found broken and "fixed" with ELECTRICAL tape, intake housing was cracked, the original transmission housing was bent/cracked.... and the original transmission did not have any fluid left in it when the car was delivered to the shop. They replaced all of it. At the end, after all the work was done, the owner of the car could not pay the bill for the repairs, the shop put a lien on the car and after 4 months, it became their property. Now the owner of the shop is selling the car. He has priced it around $16.5.... which is inline with private party KBB value.
He showed me actual receipts from his own shop (i hope they are legit) .... looks like radiator, radiator hoses, spark plugs, wires, radiator mount, rad fan, intake housing, left fuel pump, transmission, clutch, transmission lines, all fluids, brakes, rotors, belts, 2 DIN touchscreen JVC stereo, 4 new tires, were all replaced very recently. From my review of the car, i can see that there are many many NEW parts indeed, visible under the hood. Tires and brakes are also visibly new. No leaks under the car.
Here are my concerns:
- Current outstanding issues with the car include - bad windshield (couple of cracks in the upper corner). I would need to replace it for sure. Not sure how much $$ ? Also, there are 2-3 scratches on the body.... one on rear fender that was touched up poorly and one on the front bumper. Nothing major but it would require a professional body shop to fix these. They are deep and obvious enough where i can't fix them on my own. The interior is overall clean and would give it 7.5/10. Some bad scratches on the driver side door handle.
- The current seller (shop owner) according to the miles noted on the receipts he showed me, has driven the car a total of 200-300 miles only!!! Looks like they fixed it back in April this year, and now he is selling it without driving the car much! Makes me wonder what the reason is?...is he trying to quickly offload it because it's a ticking bomb? Or he simply had no need to drive the car?
- Most of the invoices/receipts he shared with me have the same exact miles IN/OUT written on them. The car was in and out of his shop and the Chevy dealer in a period of 2 months..... but it stayed at the same miles?? Fishy?
- The car was clearly abused/neglected when he got it on a flat bed in his shop. I mean.... who drives a car with no fluid in the transmission? How do you lock the gears where they can't even engage? The clutch was fully worn out.... there were heat spots on the flywheel.... and the tranny housing was bent and un-repairable. Really makes me wonder what exactly happened to this car before the seller got it??? Bigger question => Could there be any hidden permanent damage to it?
On the flip side.... after all these repairs, this Corvette now has LOTS of new parts and lots of things fixed. It has close to 115k miles, but many many problem areas were addressed. The car looks good now.
If i did not see all the receipts, i would never guess that it was in such miserable shape 6-7 months ago.
Based on everything said so far.... if you were me, would you go for this car, or would you pass on it? Am i taking a huge risk with a car that has been through so much? Is it a red flag that the seller is a shop owner who 'fixed' the car and sells is so quickly?
Thank you in advance for any input!
New member here but i have been reading quite a few posts over the last two months.
Just some background.... I am looking to join the Corvette C6 family. My goal is to get myself a nice weekend car (not a daily driver) that i can enjoy driving around with my wife or on my own when i feel the need to play. Not planning to track the car, but you never know.
I have a decent experience maintaining and working on German cars and i am not afraid to get my hands dirty. My last car was a Stage 2 2012 Audi S4 (supercharged) that i fully upgraded and maintained on my own. I like maintaining my cars, i like working on them and i have an extensive selection of tools in my garage. Sadly i had to sell the S4 due to tiny rear seat and my 3 little kids that need to be moved around. I bought a new SUV, but sure enough, being a car guy, i got bored to death with the SUV and now i am looking for an extra fun weekend toy.
I've spent the last 5-6 weeks looking at C6 Corvettes. My budget is around $15k.... so i am expecting high mileage cars. I decided that i want 2008 or newer model, due to LS3 and somewhat better interior. I don't need "fully loaded" car, but some options are a plus. I also prefer 6-speed manual. Did not like the feel of the automatic.
Here is the specific car i want to ask you about:
Yesterday, i went to see a 2009 Corvette 3LT, 6-speed man with 114k miles. Car has 5 owners according to carfax + current seller. The first 3-4 owners maintained the car pretty regularly at Chevy dealers. Car was mostly in California. The owner before the current seller likely abused the car and neglected it. He had it for about 16 months.
The current seller is a transmission shop owner (shop has good reputation). The car was delivered to his shop on a flat bed due to COMPLETE transmission failure (lock up). Gears could not engage. Wheels were locked up. Lots of repairs were done to the car..... including installing a rebuilt transmission (sourced from 3rd party tranny shop), new clutch, slave cylinder, flywheel resurface, transmission cooling lines were leaking and replaced, radiator mount was found broken and "fixed" with ELECTRICAL tape, intake housing was cracked, the original transmission housing was bent/cracked.... and the original transmission did not have any fluid left in it when the car was delivered to the shop. They replaced all of it. At the end, after all the work was done, the owner of the car could not pay the bill for the repairs, the shop put a lien on the car and after 4 months, it became their property. Now the owner of the shop is selling the car. He has priced it around $16.5.... which is inline with private party KBB value.
He showed me actual receipts from his own shop (i hope they are legit) .... looks like radiator, radiator hoses, spark plugs, wires, radiator mount, rad fan, intake housing, left fuel pump, transmission, clutch, transmission lines, all fluids, brakes, rotors, belts, 2 DIN touchscreen JVC stereo, 4 new tires, were all replaced very recently. From my review of the car, i can see that there are many many NEW parts indeed, visible under the hood. Tires and brakes are also visibly new. No leaks under the car.
Here are my concerns:
- Current outstanding issues with the car include - bad windshield (couple of cracks in the upper corner). I would need to replace it for sure. Not sure how much $$ ? Also, there are 2-3 scratches on the body.... one on rear fender that was touched up poorly and one on the front bumper. Nothing major but it would require a professional body shop to fix these. They are deep and obvious enough where i can't fix them on my own. The interior is overall clean and would give it 7.5/10. Some bad scratches on the driver side door handle.
- The current seller (shop owner) according to the miles noted on the receipts he showed me, has driven the car a total of 200-300 miles only!!! Looks like they fixed it back in April this year, and now he is selling it without driving the car much! Makes me wonder what the reason is?...is he trying to quickly offload it because it's a ticking bomb? Or he simply had no need to drive the car?
- Most of the invoices/receipts he shared with me have the same exact miles IN/OUT written on them. The car was in and out of his shop and the Chevy dealer in a period of 2 months..... but it stayed at the same miles?? Fishy?
- The car was clearly abused/neglected when he got it on a flat bed in his shop. I mean.... who drives a car with no fluid in the transmission? How do you lock the gears where they can't even engage? The clutch was fully worn out.... there were heat spots on the flywheel.... and the tranny housing was bent and un-repairable. Really makes me wonder what exactly happened to this car before the seller got it??? Bigger question => Could there be any hidden permanent damage to it?
On the flip side.... after all these repairs, this Corvette now has LOTS of new parts and lots of things fixed. It has close to 115k miles, but many many problem areas were addressed. The car looks good now.
If i did not see all the receipts, i would never guess that it was in such miserable shape 6-7 months ago.
Based on everything said so far.... if you were me, would you go for this car, or would you pass on it? Am i taking a huge risk with a car that has been through so much? Is it a red flag that the seller is a shop owner who 'fixed' the car and sells is so quickly?
Thank you in advance for any input!
07-31-2018, 11:23 PM
#3
Le Mans Master
I would probably pass. Try to find another $2K so you can buy an '08 with maybe 90K miles in very good condition. Prices drop considerably in October, almost everywhere.
If you do want to purchase this one, tell the dealer you expect him to warranty every item on the list of things he did for a period of one year. That is the standard warranty for repair work from Chevy, or a good indie shop. If he is not willing to warranty the work, I would not even consider buying the car.
If you do want to purchase this one, tell the dealer you expect him to warranty every item on the list of things he did for a period of one year. That is the standard warranty for repair work from Chevy, or a good indie shop. If he is not willing to warranty the work, I would not even consider buying the car.
07-31-2018, 11:58 PM
#5
I personally would pass. If it’s knowingly been beat up on you will start to see all the little things add up as you own it. The plastics ripping off here, or the seat is torn there, or there is a rip in the carpet here, a ding there a flat tire here, gashes on the wheels there etc etc, and start to realize the guy sold you a crappy ride. For the best deals honestly (and I have looked for quite some time), you need to search here on the forum in the for sale section. Of course there are some who strongly overprice their cars but then there are those who offer unbelievable deals on super low mileage cars that a dealer would charge 10-15 more thousand for. Check this out for example.. 73k Miles was well kept and from a member on the forum.. only asking 2k more than your prospective car https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...l-6-speed.html
08-01-2018, 01:47 AM
#6
Who knows what hasn’t been fixed that will soon break. It sounds like it got driven hard and put away wet. There are lots of better cars to be had for a little more money that won’t cost you a couple of thousand dollars in the first year of use.
08-01-2018, 01:57 AM
#7
Melting Slicks
I agree with everyone, with the major issues it has had I'd pass and keep looking. Based on what you've posted, it sounds to me like the current owner bought it to flip and I wouldn't trust the quality of the work done.
08-01-2018, 03:22 AM
#8
Keep looking...
I agree with others...keep looking and you will find a garage Queen with no problems...this car sounds like a fixer upper and will never be dependable and eventually will be very expensive.
08-01-2018, 07:13 AM
#9
Race Director
Pass. There are way too many well cared for cars out there to buy something that was abused. Take your time and find the right car.
08-01-2018, 10:22 AM
#12
Le Mans Master
Right now there are 2,000 C6s for sale in the lower 48 States and that is just on one (Cars.com) major site.
You should be able to find any color, any year, any model C6 and equipped the way you want and in far better shape with less history. This is hardly a rare car and no need to take what you can get or settle for less. Contrast that to the Viper. In the same MY range (2005 to 2015), there are only 82 of those for sale in the 48 States.
You're in CA. That market should be flooded with used C6s.
You should be able to find any color, any year, any model C6 and equipped the way you want and in far better shape with less history. This is hardly a rare car and no need to take what you can get or settle for less. Contrast that to the Viper. In the same MY range (2005 to 2015), there are only 82 of those for sale in the 48 States.
You're in CA. That market should be flooded with used C6s.
Last edited by BlindSpot; 08-01-2018 at 10:28 AM.
08-01-2018, 12:41 PM
#13
2nd Gear
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Thank you, all for the useful feedback.
It is becoming crystal clear that i should pass on this one, regardless of the long list of new parts installed on it.
Frankly, the only reason i was so excited about it is because of the same list of new parts. I figured, if they already replaced 3-4-5k worth of key parts (transmissions, clutch, radiator, hoses, tires, airbox)... i should be all set for awhile. But then i asked for the shop invoices and they made the 'mistake' to give me all the notes attached to them. I got to read word by word about the original condition of the car when they got it first and it was not pretty.
Clearly brutally abused by the previous owner. IF the seller did not share these notes with me....sadly, i would have probably pulled the trigger on this one, and never known what this car went through. Scary!
Also the seller is pretty firm on his opinion that this is a great, solid car, and he keeps repeating how much time and money/parts they put into this car .... even though he is selling it only a few months after they fixed it.
I don't expect him to significantly drop the price. I was thinking of offering him $14k for it (he is currently asking 16.5k for it) ...but now after reading all of your feedback, i am starting to think that i should just forget this car, even at 14k. Would you agree?
Plus.... i doubt he will even consider 14k.
It is becoming crystal clear that i should pass on this one, regardless of the long list of new parts installed on it.
Frankly, the only reason i was so excited about it is because of the same list of new parts. I figured, if they already replaced 3-4-5k worth of key parts (transmissions, clutch, radiator, hoses, tires, airbox)... i should be all set for awhile. But then i asked for the shop invoices and they made the 'mistake' to give me all the notes attached to them. I got to read word by word about the original condition of the car when they got it first and it was not pretty.
Clearly brutally abused by the previous owner. IF the seller did not share these notes with me....sadly, i would have probably pulled the trigger on this one, and never known what this car went through. Scary! Also the seller is pretty firm on his opinion that this is a great, solid car, and he keeps repeating how much time and money/parts they put into this car .... even though he is selling it only a few months after they fixed it.
I don't expect him to significantly drop the price. I was thinking of offering him $14k for it (he is currently asking 16.5k for it) ...but now after reading all of your feedback, i am starting to think that i should just forget this car, even at 14k. Would you agree?
Plus.... i doubt he will even consider 14k.
Last edited by danmm7; 08-01-2018 at 12:43 PM.
08-01-2018, 10:49 PM
#14
Team Owner
Member Since: Mar 2004
Location: Oklahoma City OK
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C6 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
I'd keep looking.
08-02-2018, 07:12 AM
#18
Safety Car
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Thank you, all for the useful feedback.
It is becoming crystal clear that i should pass on this one, regardless of the long list of new parts installed on it.
Frankly, the only reason i was so excited about it is because of the same list of new parts. I figured, if they already replaced 3-4-5k worth of key parts (transmissions, clutch, radiator, hoses, tires, airbox)... i should be all set for awhile. But then i asked for the shop invoices and they made the 'mistake' to give me all the notes attached to them. I got to read word by word about the original condition of the car when they got it first and it was not pretty. Clearly brutally abused by the previous owner. IF the seller did not share these notes with me....sadly, i would have probably pulled the trigger on this one, and never known what this car went through. Scary!
Also the seller is pretty firm on his opinion that this is a great, solid car, and he keeps repeating how much time and money/parts they put into this car .... even though he is selling it only a few months after they fixed it.
I don't expect him to significantly drop the price. I was thinking of offering him $14k for it (he is currently asking 16.5k for it) ...but now after reading all of your feedback, i am starting to think that i should just forget this car, even at 14k. Would you agree?
Plus.... i doubt he will even consider 14k.
It is becoming crystal clear that i should pass on this one, regardless of the long list of new parts installed on it.
Frankly, the only reason i was so excited about it is because of the same list of new parts. I figured, if they already replaced 3-4-5k worth of key parts (transmissions, clutch, radiator, hoses, tires, airbox)... i should be all set for awhile. But then i asked for the shop invoices and they made the 'mistake' to give me all the notes attached to them. I got to read word by word about the original condition of the car when they got it first and it was not pretty.
Clearly brutally abused by the previous owner. IF the seller did not share these notes with me....sadly, i would have probably pulled the trigger on this one, and never known what this car went through. Scary! Also the seller is pretty firm on his opinion that this is a great, solid car, and he keeps repeating how much time and money/parts they put into this car .... even though he is selling it only a few months after they fixed it.
I don't expect him to significantly drop the price. I was thinking of offering him $14k for it (he is currently asking 16.5k for it) ...but now after reading all of your feedback, i am starting to think that i should just forget this car, even at 14k. Would you agree?
Plus.... i doubt he will even consider 14k.
08-02-2018, 09:30 AM
#19
Instructor
Keep looking.
There are lots of C6 Vettes out there that are ready to go. You may have to pay a few more Dollars, but at the end of the day you will be saving money and headaches.
There are lots of C6 Vettes out there that are ready to go. You may have to pay a few more Dollars, but at the end of the day you will be saving money and headaches.
