oldmantex1

Hello everyone I've been a long time lurker and have enjoyed your forums very much.

I am getting up in age and figure if I am ever going to buy a Vette it needs to be while I am still working, so I shot the wife a link with a 2015 Yellow Vette for sale and asked "What do you think"? I'm working nights right now and in about 10 minutes my phone rang, of course it was her. She said it's beautiful, are you joking or are you serious. So within about 2 minutes I get the go ahead.

My problem is

a) I've never owned a Vette, but have wanted one for years so I have no experience to draw from on this purchase.
b) The car I'm looking at seems to be well below market value, which has my "radar" going off. It's a 2015 LT2 for 40K even. It has been on Autotrader here in Houston for a few weeks and the price started out around 43.5K. It has 26,000 miles and is listed by a "private seller".
C) I noticed the same car for sale on Autotrader via a import/export dealer which again has my radar going off again (Same VIN number). This make me wonder if it's this import/export outfit actually selling it, or is the owner using them as another source to sell the car. The price on the import/export outfit is 43.5K.

I guess I'm looking from some input from you guys that have owned these fine automobiles on exactly how to make sure I'm not buying a bucket of junk, or someone else's problems.

I haven't talked to the owner yet, and probably won't try to contact him until this weekend as I am on nights 6P-6A until Friday morning.

I have done a search based on the VIN number and don't see any claims or accidents, and services seemed to have been done at the proper mileages at a dealership not far from where I live.

Would I be amiss to have the car put in a shop somewhere to have it checked out? My wife was thinking this would be a good idea as I'm pretty sure the seller is not the original owner. Have a feeling he is the second owner but not sure at this time.

I would appreciate any help I could get on the best way you would proceed if you were the buyer.

Zymurgy

Get a Carfax report. Get your local Chevy dealer to pull a GMVIS report on it. Make sure there are no warranty blocks on it and find out what repair work has been performed.


If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Rebel Yell

And I agree with your caution. Do your due diligence before you buy. Good luck, I hope it's the car for you.

BTW, if possible post a link to the car here. It may help us help you a bit better.

02MillenniumVette

The "private seller" is probably running a scam on it or they have it consigned through the import/export place. I would go look at it in person to make sure it is legit and if there are any concerns have a shop look at it as well. And just a fyi, this would be a 2LT, not a LT2. No such thing as a LT2 in a C7. Not yet anyways.

cv67

Run the pics on google image search it will show everywhere those pics have been posted on the web

Unfortunately there are so many clever scams out there these days really have to be careful.

Night shift.

gateman7

Why not check out the Vettes for sale here on the forum under the C7 section, C7 Corvettes for sale. if you haven't checked it out already. You can list a WTB with what color and options you want. Good luck

oldmantex1

Thanks for all the help so far folks, as requested here is a link to the car in question. Again, thanks for all the input so far.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...odelCode1=CORV

Foosh

Ask a GM dealer to run a GMVIS check on the VIN. Carfax misses a lot of things, but GMVIS will tell you if the warranty is valid, all repairs made under warranty, and whether all scheduled services were done, which is important for future warranty reasons.

If the car has had all routine maintenance recorded in GMVIS, and has none, or relatively few minor warranty claims, it's likely to be a good bet.

If all of that looks good, you should also ask the owner if he's willing to have the car scanned at a dealer to make sure the ECM hasn't been reflashed with a non-OEM tune. If he's not willing to do that, that's probably a warning signal that would make me move on. The reason for doing that is that GMVIS may show a valid warranty, but the first time it goes in for a powertrain issue, an aftermarket tune would be found, repairs under warranty would be denied, and the powertrain warranty would be blocked forevermore.

nuke_1

So if you Google the VIN you will find this;
https://tdaa.ringlots.com/xap-tdaa/p.../10494/p_22279
Which happens to state-
Vehicle Announcements - AIRBAGS PREVIOUSLY DEPLOYED
May or may not show in the carfax report. But I would print that page and ask selling dealer about it.

Silver C7

For that kind of money and that it's a first time experience, my suggestion is buy new, not used. There are bargains to be had on new cars with dealers here on the forum.

Would a new car with a factory warranty be financially out of reach? If not I would think that would be your best insurance that your first Corvette would be memorable for all the right reasons.

sammyv

26k is a lot of miles. Air bag has been deployed. Two reason to move on. Good luck in your search.

Foosh

As I've pointed out many times on this forum, buying a new car is no guarantee of a trouble-free experience. A new car has no history.

A well-cared for, previously-owned car has a maintenance history. If you find one with 5-15K miles on it w/ a complete record of routine service visits, zero warranty claims, and available at a substantially lower price, I'd take that car all day long over a new one. I'd then purchase a Chevrolet Protection Plan (previously known as GMEPP) from Dennis Fichtner at Menholt Chevrolet with the substantial savings, and still have considerable money left over for other things, or possibly a professional, paint correction and PPF film.

I've been doing this for years with about half the several dozen vehicles I've acquired, and out of 50 or so, I've averaged better luck with the very clean, previously-owned ones. I've never been burned on one, but I have lemon-lawed a couple of new ones.

Rebel Yell

It is a nice looking car, but this report would send me on down the road looking for something else. There's a ton of nice pre-owned out there, so don't jump on the wrong one. Patience Grasshopper, patience. It will pay off in the long run. Good luck

LT4_CE

I haven't read through the thread, so my apologies if some of this has already been mentioned (I'd guess some of it has...)


First and foremost, imo, is do not fall in love with this one Vette. There are PLENTY of used Vettes on the market and this one seems to have some red flags.


Also, don't be in a hurry. I know it's tempting when the wife gives the go-ahead, but in the long run she'll be happier if you take your time and get a quality used Vette, instead of snapping one up too soon.


I'd also recommend joining a local Corvette club. There's plenty of good knowledge here on the Forum, but there will also be knowledge locally that cannot be duplicated online. For example, a member might have personal knowledge of whichever used Vette you're considering.


And of course, have the Vette thoroughly inspected, either by a trusted mechanic, or since it's likely still under warranty, the local Chevy dealership.


Those are just the thoughts off the top of my head. Congrats on deciding to become a member of the Corvette community! You won't regret it!

oldmantex1

Thank you all very much for the time you took to respond to answer my question, you all are very kind.

I think I am going to pass on this one and just keep looking around. I am also looking in the forum section for sale as well. Something interesting about this car, it was first shipped to Arizona with 5 miles on the car. It next showed up down here in Texas with just under 4,000 miles. Well after doing a search here on the forum, I found there is an outfit in Arizona that buys Vettes for a driving school, and this voids the warranty. I have a sneaky suspicion that this car is one of those, I could be wrong, but one VIN site I visited showed all of the warranties had "expired". As pointed out by one of the folks that responded to my questions, make sure there is not a warranty hold on the vehicle. I think there is now.

Again thanks to you all for your input and suggestions.

Baltimoron

Bondurant racing school is in Arizona. It sounds like you're likely on the right track. There's another member here who fell in love with a corvette only to find after the fact that it had the warranty blocked. It's kind of crazy to me that it seems these cars are able to land on the market without a giant red stamp on their record stating they have had a very difficult life, and have basically no warranty. There isn't a price low enough for me to buy one of those cars.

All that being said, you and I are in the same boat in that were both looking for our first corvette. I'm still a ways off from being ready to buy, but have spent a good bit of time looking. That price in and of itself wouldn't send me running for the hills, though obviously the other aspects would. The mileage can play a huge factor in the asking price for these cars, and that one is on the high end. Good luck with your search, and make sure you've got pictures when you do pull the trigger. This group won't tolerate any announcement of a new acquisition without accompanying pictures.

Foosh

There is a "giant red stamp," on these cars, which is called the GM Vehicle Information System (GMVIS), but most people don't check that, and unscrupulous used car dealers take advantage of that. All anyone has to do is call or stop by any GM dealership and ask them to look up a VIN.

There are also a number of people on this forum w/ access to GMVIS, who will do that for any member who asks.

Bmbl-Bee

As stated--if buying used take the car to a chevy dealer and have them do a vin check. The dealership should be able to pull a car fax report. You can tell a lot by meeting the seller and talking to him about the vehicle but always get the car checked out.

DAFFYDRUNK

A common theme I see in these threads is service history. What about cars like mine who have never been to the dealer for service? I did my own oil (wet sump) at 2400, 5300 and 10,200 with dexos approved synthetic. Wonder if that will be a problem down the road? Just have a bad feeling about taking it to the dealer, and no issues other than the airbag recall that needs to be done. Don't wanna swap service history for damaged car.

Baltimoron

Great to know! Clearly still learning!