When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I see a car that was originally delivered to a dealer in the Buffalo, NY area and then shipped cross country to California. Then I see low miles and some trips to the dealer for rear axle fluid change and brake pad change. Not a lot of miles and then another service. I don't see any hint of any issues based on the service history shown on CarFax. The car may have seen some track time which would account for the alignment, rear diff fluid change (OM says to change after first event and then after every 24 hours of track usage) and brake pad replacement at 4K miles. Not a lot of track time but some since the pads lasted 4K miles and over a year. With heavy track use a person would go through a set of front pads two or three times a year.
It is a manual transmission and there does tend to be some leakage that shows up every now and then. I know mine leaked at one event last year and after the trans was cleaned and covered with a leak detection coating it didn't leak again for another year. That might be why the car was bought back and then auctioned off at a GM dealer auction and shipped back to Wisconsin.
GM doesn't auction these cars off if there is something wrong with them. They are fixed first. I really don't see anything wrong with the car. As somebody said you could talk to a local dealership and see if they would print out the GM VIS records showing the repairs the car has had done to it.
Since the car is in Wisconsin and we are approaching the winter months when Corvette sales drop close to zero in that area the dealership management must be wondering if they are going to be stuck for the next 5 months with the 9 used Corvettes they have on hand. It might be the time to make a deal that will entice them. It isn't like somebody is going to come in the door in that time period looking to buy a Corvette. When you have to walk around in knee deep snow to look at Corvettes you usually don't bother.
I would have to pass, bad history too many unknowns, even if they give you an extended warranty do you want to spend the majority of your time driving it or scheduling service for it.
I agree with the above. Will you be financing this car? You, are 30 and very likely "stretching" to get this car--is that right? Since it's a '16, can you afford to get an "extended warranty" from GM/Chev which will be anywhere from $800 to maybe as much as $2K or more? Why do I ask---your B2B warranty is about to expire if it hasn't already. Your powertrain warranty will expire at the end of five total years since the in-service date. If you don't get an "extended warranty" all major repairs will be on your dime for non-wear and tear items.
If you are doing the right thing for you (financially) and can afford all of the above and more, fine. Go ahead. Or, you can be like some and roll the dice but if your luck doesn't hold, it will be a lesson. The question is, are the odds against you? It's for you to decide. Me, I wouldn't want to be upside down on a car loan (owe 50, car worth 40=come out of pocket for 10 more)
Last edited by AORoads; 10-27-2018 at 07:33 AM.
Reason: spelling
Ok don't be super scared of a branded title or lemon buy back. Just make sure it was properly repaired and try to get a warranty if they offer it. I'm 33 and have had plenty badass rides and still do ( multiple) since 2011 because mine are rebuilt salvage. Tbh I never have an issue selling them and I do not list or sell 50% under blue book. The disadvantage is it's yellow, branded title (2 huge hits), use those to ur advantage but if it checks out and you like it don't let that deter you. Buy it and enjoy, just know it will be worth about 20% less with the title than a clean title one. Remember you drive the car not the title.
If it's a good deal and you want it buy it. I bought a lemon my self and have been enjoying it for the last 6 years. I know when I sell it will take a hit. But I'm did not buy it to sell it, I bought it to enjoy and I have enjoyed putting 30,000+ trouble free miles on it including some awesome track days.
If it's a good deal and you want it buy it. I bought a lemon my self and have been enjoying it for the last 6 years. I know when I sell it will take a hit. But I'm did not buy it to sell it, I bought it to enjoy and I have enjoyed putting 30,000+ trouble free miles on it including some awesome track days.
I don't think you will take a hit. If you have been driving it trouble free for the last 6 years what does a GM Buy Back have to do with anything? We all know that some cars are bought back because GM just decided to do so even though all that was wrong with them was in the owner's mind and no where else. Sometimes you get the best deal possible on a great car by purchasing a buy back.
Much to my disappointment I found out that this car was a manufacture buyback A.K.A lemon.
I called the dealership and the salesperson told me it had a leaky transmission “adapter” and that they replaced the entire transmission system after the buy back and that there is nothing wrong with the car at this point so they claim.
The reason I’m having trouble looking past this car and moving on is due to the fact that this particular example happens to have each and every option I want and nothing I don’t- and due to my constrained budget, it was just affordable enough for me
To my more wisened Corvette enthusiasts: what would you do in this scenario? Am I currently in denial and should stay the heck away? Do I lowball them, and if so how low? Any input or advice would be extremely welcome
I see a car that was originally delivered to a dealer in the Buffalo, NY area and then shipped cross country to California. Then I see low miles and some trips to the dealer for rear axle fluid change and brake pad change. Not a lot of miles and then another service. I don't see any hint of any issues based on the service history shown on CarFax. The car may have seen some track time which would account for the alignment, rear diff fluid change (OM says to change after first event and then after every 24 hours of track usage) and brake pad replacement at 4K miles. Not a lot of track time but some since the pads lasted 4K miles and over a year. With heavy track use a person would go through a set of front pads two or three times a year.
It is a manual transmission and there does tend to be some leakage that shows up every now and then. I know mine leaked at one event last year and after the trans was cleaned and covered with a leak detection coating it didn't leak again for another year. That might be why the car was bought back and then auctioned off at a GM dealer auction and shipped back to Wisconsin.
GM doesn't auction these cars off if there is something wrong with them. They are fixed first. I really don't see anything wrong with the car. As somebody said you could talk to a local dealership and see if they would print out the GM VIS records showing the repairs the car has had done to it.
Since the car is in Wisconsin and we are approaching the winter months when Corvette sales drop close to zero in that area the dealership management must be wondering if they are going to be stuck for the next 5 months with the 9 used Corvettes they have on hand. It might be the time to make a deal that will entice them. It isn't like somebody is going to come in the door in that time period looking to buy a Corvette. When you have to walk around in knee deep snow to look at Corvettes you usually don't bother.
bill
Bill is right. GM won't auction the car if it hasn't been fixed right. Manufacturer buybacks can actually be very good deals as long as you go in with your eyes open, know what really happened and how it was fixed, and get a very good discount from what similar cars in good condition are selling for. As I recall from my BMW dealership days the used car guys used to discount a trade in that was a buyback by about 30% off a normal wholesale price. Usually the customer bringing a trade had no idea their car was a buyback or a maybe even a salvage title; the dealer they bought it from never disclosed it. I once got a customer a buyback BMW 5 series wagon just like the one he wanted because the reason for the buyback was very minor and mostly related to a very unpleasant and unreasonable customer. It was a car we took in for BMW and we could either buy the car from BMW or send it to auction. Had him sit down with our service manager to discuss it and he came away completely satisfied about it and got the almost new car for about 20%-25% less than he could have otherwise. As others mentioned, however, I am concerned that you are dealing with a dealership that did not disclose the buy back. A buyback car is usually a tough sell--assuming the dealer discloses it to the customer. The dealer probably got it for a very low auction price and trying to get a big profit selling it without disclosure. At this time of year they probably are desperate to move it. You should be able to get it for a much lower price that the asking price. Just be realistic about what you will be able to get for it when you sell or trade it. And note that its original factory warranty expires shortly as the in-service date is November 7, 2015--Bob
I bought a buyback 2015 z07 $106,000 MSRP exactly a year ago. I paid $58,000 which included a seven-year 70,000 mile extended warranty which I negotiated. At the time I bought the vehicle similarly equipped z06s were basically unavailable under about $68,000 used .Here’s my story: I like you was very concerned I was making a huge mistake, at some point you have to just decide whether you want to take the risk. The best thing you can do is educate yourself and speak to the servicing dealer ship service manager about the car. My car came from California and the service manager explained to me that in California the lemon laws are very lax, and it is well known in California that all you have to do is take the car in for multiple items even if they cannot be re-created by a tech and GM will have to buy the car back. My vehicle had been taken in for transmission noise, noise in the rear end,clutch noise, All of which the dealer could not re-create. Additionally it had been taken in for a misaligned glove box rain leak at driver side weather stripping, wind noise at highway speed. Luckily and the year I have owned the vehicle I have not had a single issue with the car.
I figure I paid about $10,000 less then a non-buyback car, and since I have the extended warranty I can drive the car for five years or so and even if I sell it for $10,000 less than what the average retail will be at that point, I drove a kick *** z07 that I probably could not have afforded otherwise. My only other consideration is that I was driving and a 2009 z06 which was going on nine years old and needed brakes rotors tires and a general Going over, and the dealer gave me a fair trade. Go for it!
I am in the buy it and drive it camp. Yes, you should get some kind of extended warranty. I don't know the inservice date, but my 16 was inservice in late Sept of 16 so still has 11 months of factory warranty left. If you can get a good 3 years extended warranty you should be good to go. The car is about $5-7k under market. That is a pretty nice savings for you. You can hem and haw and let somebody else buy it or talk to them and be driving it next week.
Funny, I actually looked at that car too as it is exactly what I was looking for as well, but 1) it's in WI and I'm in SC so I decided to pass 2) I found out my Z06 actually wasn't totalled after my hydroplaning incident and will be repaired. I digress. There have been some good points made here and the biggest one I'd like to jump on and agree with is that winter is coming up and sales are going to go down. I'd also like to point out that manual yellow vettes sell for less. Not sure why, but it's a thing. To put that price in perspective for everyone saying that price is too high, I bought basically the identical vette (Z06 3LZ, yellow, manaul) back in march (coming up on a year ago but in spring when people are buying sports cars) with 5k miles on it and I paid $64k for it and it DIDN'T have the Z07 package or the stage 3 aero. That's $11k worth of options right there. Even if you cut that value in half for depreciation, you're still looking at a car that has 2k less miles and at least $5k more of goodies for $2k less. Also, to the person that said the car is 5 years old, it's 3 (not sure where that math came from).
Here's what I'd do. I'd offer something like $57k. Keep in mind you'll still have the power train warranty for 2 more years, though the bumper to bumper is expired. They'll obviously haggle and I'd settle on $60k as long as they extend the bumper to bumper part of the warranty for another year as you're "extremely concerned" about the recall and just want to cover your bases. They may not budge on price. The dealership I bought mine from wouldn't. If they don't, I still think it's a good buy.
Hello everyone and thank you for all your input. After reading what everybody has to say, I’m actually still pretty on the fence about it. I’m more leaning towards waiting to see how the market pans out in a half year or so. I’m hoping by then there will be more trade-ins that I might like.
Thanks for updating. Hate it when people pose these kinds of questions and never say what they ended up doing! BTW, it's obviously a good chunk more, but if you're interested, I found this C7R edition in Charlotte which was what I was absolutely going to get if they totaled mine. It has gone down in price about 5k since I first saw it https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ngId=494110463
Thanks for updating. Hate it when people pose these kinds of questions and never say what they ended up doing! BTW, it's obviously a good chunk more, but if you're interested, I found this C7R edition in Charlotte which was what I was absolutely going to get if they totaled mine. It has gone down in price about 5k since I first saw it https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ngId=494110463
i thought it it would be rude to have everyone who took time from their day to advise me and for me to not even have the courtesy to respond
i have seen that c7r edition; it’s 15,000 more than the one I had my eye on!!! That’s a whole ‘nother car...
the spacing got kinda messed up so it’s hard for me to make out what it all says. Did anyone else notice it said there was problems with the suspension? I talked to he dealership last week and they mentioned that the original owner had complaints about the suspension but it could not be replicated.. my biggest concern is that the car had some sort of defect early on in assembly and it’s going to cause issues to other systems in the car
I bought a buyback 2015 z07 $106,000 MSRP exactly a year ago. I paid $58,000 which included a seven-year 70,000 mile extended warranty which I negotiated. At the time I bought the vehicle similarly equipped z06s were basically unavailable under about $68,000 used .Here’s my story: I like you was very concerned I was making a huge mistake, at some point you have to just decide whether you want to take the risk. The best thing you can do is educate yourself and speak to the servicing dealer ship service manager about the car. My car came from California and the service manager explained to me that in California the lemon laws are very lax, and it is well known in California that all you have to do is take the car in for multiple items even if they cannot be re-created by a tech and GM will have to buy the car back. My vehicle had been taken in for transmission noise, noise in the rear end,clutch noise, All of which the dealer could not re-create. Additionally it had been taken in for a misaligned glove box rain leak at driver side weather stripping, wind noise at highway speed. Luckily and the year I have owned the vehicle I have not had a single issue with the car.
I figure I paid about $10,000 less then a non-buyback car, and since I have the extended warranty I can drive the car for five years or so and even if I sell it for $10,000 less than what the average retail will be at that point, I drove a kick *** z07 that I probably could not have afforded otherwise. My only other consideration is that I was driving and a 2009 z06 which was going on nine years old and needed brakes rotors tires and a general Going over, and the dealer gave me a fair trade. Go for it!
After a couple of years of you driving the car with no maintenance issues nobody will care whether or not the car was a buyback. There are just too many buybacks that are so much BS and all GM was doing was getting away from an objectionable Customer.
**UPDATE**
The sales person from the dealership just called me today and asked if I was still interested in the car
I told them I was concerned with the problems reported on the car and that I would require an extended warranty if I were to consider purchasing the vehicle. The sales person told me that it wouldn’t be an issue at all to provide me with an extended warranty. Next I asked about the price. I offered $58,000 for it (as of this posting it is at $61,999) to which she replied ‘unfortunately our vehicles are not priced to have that kind of leeway- which sounds like a bunch of sales person hogwash to me- but I digress.
A good friend of mine gave my very stern warnings about lemon cars when I told him about my situation (he has a background in car brokering) but the more I ponder the issue and the more I read the opinions of everybody in this thread the more I lean towards saying **** it and pulling the trigger.
Is there anyone else with useful insight/feedback?
any additional input would be greatly appreciated!
Last edited by LiuBearPig; 11-03-2018 at 12:27 PM.
That's awesome they offered you the extended warranty. Just make sure they aren't trying to charge you for it. I maintain they'll take 60k for it. If THEY are calling YOU, they ain't got people knocking down their door for it. Hope it works out for you. If not, there's always that C7R 😋
That's awesome they offered you the extended warranty. Just make sure they aren't trying to charge you for it. I maintain they'll take 60k for it. If THEY are calling YOU, they ain't got people knocking down their door for it. Hope it works out for you. If not, there's always that C7R 😋
10-26-2018, 09:59 PM
