I am going to Kerbeck. I bought a C5 from them awhile ago. Looking to order a '19 GS, very soon. Who should I talk to? Thanks.

 

Dave is out key contact here on the forum but I bought two cars from them over the phone and found all are very good. They only sell Vettes!

 

I called up Kerbeck to order a Corvette. They wanted a non refundable deposit. That was five years and four Corvettes ago. Maybe they have changed the way they handle deposits. Good luck.

 

I'll be picking up my new C7 @ Kerbeck on Monday. Everything so far has been very smooth. If you fly in, they will pick you up at the Phila. airport. I'll let you know Monday how the actual pick up goes. I have friends who have purchased from Kerbeck with great experience and some with not so great experience - I think that is true with every transaction. As a point of reference, when I was looking to buy the new Vette, I had called one of the top Corvette salesman in the country at one of the bigger Corvette dealers. Told him what I wanted to order. He said he would look at his allotment and that he was going to place a new order for Vettes. Well, he never called me back, so again, it can happen anywhere.

 

Good luck with your purchase. Hope all goes well for you.

 

Been there, done that (bought two in one afternoon), went great! All the best!

 

All of their salesmen know the car inside and out and have been there for years so you really can't go wrong. My salesman is Sam Kelley and he is very personable and patient. Dave, our forum liaison and Rich the sales manager will also be involved with your purchase either directly or indirectly so it's not like you are totally dependent on just one person in the event it's their day off or you need assistance and your salesman is tied up for other reasons.

 

Hmmm??? Why would you expect anyone to "order a car" to your specs and NOT ask for a deposit? I recall I ordered my '88 Vette from a local dealer in town to my specs that included a standard shift. The sales manager said "I'll have to charge a non refutable $2000 down since if for whatever reason you don't want the car I could not sell a standard shift easily around here!" Was no issue for me it was my car. Kerbeck usually has several hundred in stock. If you don't like the idea of a small down payment, just pic one of those!

So you order a car with specific options and what are they supposed to do if for whatever reason you decide you don't want it - sit on what might be a dog for others?

I know we are all different but for example I would not own a 1LT, or Vert, or Automatic or a Blue Vette! Couldn't sell me any of those for a $10,000 discount!

 

Factory ordered my 16 Stingray from Criswell no deposit required

 

Maybe they looked at what you ordered and if it was white with an automatic they know they can sell that easily to others!

I bought my Grand Sport from Kerbeck but if I bought that car in Town with it's standard shift I'll guarantee they would want a non refundable deposit. Getting tough when only ~20% of us buy standard shifts! I don't understand the big deal, if you spent the time to plan a car "to your specs" what is the issue with paying a small amount up front?

 

It wasn't the deposit. It was the nonrefundable part. I have never ordered a Corvette from a dealer who has the non refundable deposit rule and I never will. I have ordered seven Corvetts from six different dealers and paid a deposit on all of them. Not one of those dealers told me my deposit was non refundable.

 

When finally got the OK from my partner in Life.What's mine is Her's..Her's mine.
Before that decision changed.I checked the BIG 3 Inventory.Fortunate to be within a not so long day drive to their Huge Inventories.
You may not have to order.Usually get a better deal with what's in stock...
The only dealer at that time had a 2 Tone Gray interior vert on a WGG Exterior was Kerbeck,Got Lucky.
If you know Exactly the combo you want? Checking Inventories may ease the Pain of the Wait

 

 

On any given day, just about any configuration of Corvette (or actually, anything) can sell right away, or sit, and sit. For that last part then, every deposit could be ruled to be non-refundable. Or a dealer could make all deposits REFUNDABLE. And most do make it refundable. Saying that, however, it still doesn't seem to affect Kerbeck sales.

While I fully understand what JerryU says, as a customer I agree with robert.

 

I've bought 5 Vettes ordered exactly as I wanted, the first 2 from a local dealer and all but one required a non refundable deposit. Perhaps because I ordered a standard shift, custom wheels I wanted and other options others might not want. No big deal so they had my ~$2000 for an extra ~6 weeks!

The one time was when I put down a refundable $1500 to be #9 in line to order a C7 from a very large Vette Dealer with high allocation. That was many months before any C7 details or pricing was available BUT I had a guaranteed price of MSRP, whatever it was! As soon as pricing and details were available I had to decide what they would order. They could care less if I didn't want the Crystal Red Tintcoat, Z51, standard shift, 3LT with visible carbon fiber roof, NPP and black wheels I ordered! They could have sold whatever it was for more than MSRP as many were the at the time!

In fact, the sales manager was upset as GM would not produce any dealer showroom cars until all "customer cars orders were eilled!" Recall when we drove to pick it up about 2 days after it arrived at the dealer, it was in their large Showroom-the only C7. A salesman, who had no idea who we were, was discussing the car with a potential customer. We were also looking at it before we reached for our salesman. When that potential customer asked that salesman if he could sit in the car he was told, "Sorry it's locked and we cannot have anyone sit in the car as it belongs to a customer!"

SIDE BAR
Your comment "...and I never will," remined me of a good friend Fred, who was the President of the US company of the Swedish company we sold our business too. That was based in Chicago and was integrated into our 1000 person facility in our relatively small town. He became our VP of Engineering and being from Chicago where there are lots of restaurants, he refused to eat at the one really good restaurant we had in town. They were unique for our small town having only two seating times and it was difficult to get in! Remined me of the Yogi Berra, "No one eats there anymore it's too crowded!"

I would tell him he's cutting off his noise to spite his face but he would not listen. I often made reservations on short notice by promising the hostess who managed the seating I would come early and be sure I was out at 8 PM where she often had reservations but none for "that table" at their 6:00 PM start time!

It fact, if it was getting close to 8 PM, I would tell customers, , "I had a great place to desert" and we would leave and go there! My friend Fred would never do that!

Some of us will do what's needed to get the result desired!

 

 

See my Side Bar in post #15! Sounds like you would also not have eaten at the "best restaurant in town!"

Actually that restaurant owner moved from that small location to a much larger one and recently also opened a great large restaurant with a bar on the roof in our multimillion dollar renovation of downtown! We have become the medical center for the area, including Myrtle Beach, which is 1 1/2 hours away! We have two competing hospital complexes, one currently building several multilevel parking garages! We have 4 or 5 MRI units as GE builds those in town! I often joke with visitors or those who pass through Florence on I95 to be careful if you have indigestion as we have 4 open heart surgery teams and you're sure to get a 4-way bypass!

 

Went with Macmulkin for my '19 GS and Kerbeck is only a 90 minute drive from my house. Yes, they have hundreds in stock at Kerbeck but they are all generic options. All standard black interior (too boring for me) and all usual options. How can a northeast dealer not put the battery protection option in all its cars knowing most have to store for the winter! Yes some arctic white have red interior but that's about it. Macmulkin also had lower prices. In all fairness kerbeck did have a better finance rate by about .75%

 

 

After reading your posts I have changed my mind and from now on I will be ordering my Corvettes from dealers who have non refundable deposits. And what is the name of that restaurant you keep talking about. Next time I drive the Outer Banks I will swing down and check it out.