June 2025. I am having difficulty having offers accepted for used C8 at car dealerships.
In particular, I have made offers on 4 different 2023 HTC 3LTs, under 10k mileage models.\, in California

How much depreciation is real (2.5 years of age)?
Resellers are only adjusting, and not moving from, 10% off MSRP.
Auction values, are they in the low 60s?

One particular example is a MSRP of $98K dealer ask $81K and then add fes/tax/title $95K.
For $90K, a new 2024 or 25 can be bought.
That's my rant.

What do my co-members think?

 

Dealers around here don't have any new Corvettes of any model so there are no discounts, no cars to discount. Six months ago, a year ago was totally different with a glut and 10-15% off MSRP achievable. The big three nation wide seem to have a good amount and still some discounts.

Used is another story, many paid MSRP or over for their car and don't want to haggle. Add that, for here, there are no new Corvettes and that is keeping used car prices higher than 6-12 months ago.

 

98k MSRP being offered at 81k is 18% off? That is considerably more that the 10% max you said you are getting. Cant add tax and title into that to get your discount as your paying that if you buy new too. Should be able to find used in this range if not a little more. 10% off new shouldnt be too hard to find now even if you need to go outside California.

 

Buy a new one. Many owners purchased above MSRP in the early model years, and are now upside down based on the current market. In January of 20204 I purchased a Z51 HTC. At that time MSRP seemed to be the norm. I am sure some purchased below MSRP at that time. This market continues to change making it hard to get a handle on used prices. In any case, buy a new one so you have a full factory warranty and no chance of getting a problem created by someone else.

 

Pricing is affected by location, inventory and the dealerships greed level. I started looking for another C8 about 4 months ago, first focusing on low millage used 2023/2024’s within my immediate area, Southern Alabama. There was a decent inventory of used low milage C8, deals at the start looked promising with fair pricing when factoring in standard depreciation. However, things would usually start to fall apart when I requested “Out the Door” (OTD) pricing prior to going to the dealership. The so-called good pricing were negated by super low ball trade offers and the ridiculous dealer fees and other silly add-ons for extra dealer profit. I then started searching for new 2025’s. This was difficult at first since inventory was low, discounts off MSRP in my area were averaging around 5%, When I did find something interesting, I experienced the same results, deals would fall apart with the typical dealership money grabbing tricks. I decided to increase my search area and look at dealerships outside of my area. The results were basically the same but I didn’t give up and eventually I found a great deal and purchased a new 2025 C8 from a small Chevrolet dealership in Wiggins, MS, about a 4-hour drive from my home area.

 

Your situation was exactly why I bought new. Believe it or not while I was commenting about the prices of used ones, even 3-4 years old my wife said "You should just buy a new one!"

 

same here! At this point when comparing prices I’m going for a 2026 once they reveal the MSRP if it isn’t too much of a jump. I’ll probably buy from MacMulkin. I’ve heard $0 increase for a stingray, to $1k-3k

 

BUY A NEW ONE
Don't forget "option R8C"

 

Plenty of new C8's on the lot that are already discounted and probably have a little more room to budge on top of that if you are ready willing and able to pull the trigger. Most dealers already know they are only going to get harder to sell once 26 production starts. As mentioned previously, a lot of owners either 1. paid over MSRP and are in denial or 2. aren't that motivated to sell and will only cut it loose if someone is willing to overpay(not unlike many housing markets right now)

 

Saw an article (on the internet so it MUST be true) that used C8s are nearly impossible to find for less than $50,000. They gave several high mileage examples from around the country. ..

Good Luck Hunting.

 

Some thing to consider also is corvette buying is “in season” nationwide. Prices reduce in fall and winter months.

 

Your issue might have more to do with SF Bay Area dealers. A lot of them treat certain cars like rare exotics, and honestly, car shopping in the Bay Area kind of sucks in general, too much tech money and not enough patience. That combo drives up prices on anything desirable.

Whenever I buy a car here, I try to work with volume dealers or look out of the area entirely. If you're buying new, there are still a few local dealers who don't play games, but with used cars, you're more limited.

There are plenty of good cars out there, just take your time and cast a wider net. You'll find the right one.

Prices are highly regional. You may want to post this in the Nor Cal section, instead of general for advice on buying a car if you're going local.

 

I always buy used cash no trade if I can find what I want within a 1500 mile radius ....there are a half dozen search programs on the internet that you can use .....and sites like Facebook and Craigs List, Ebay, Bring a Trailer have search functions......hunting is half the fun....... and I make insulting offers till I get what I want at a price ( out the door including shipping if appropriate) I am willing to pay......patience grasshopper ..... there are always distressed sales in any market....

 

This is the high season for Corvette. Beginning of summer, the prices could not be any higher..
Look out of town. If you are trying to buy in a big city, prices are probably high.

There are a lot of Corvettes for sale in Texas. Shop around, it might pay off.
Talked to a guy at a show recently. He had just bought a new E-ray from Texas for 10K under.
The deals are there, you just need to search them out.

 

Check out Autotrader, they have 886 2023 Corvettes for sale using the nationwide search

 

Hell, wait for the Winter. The interior refresh is about to do a number on the '20-'25 values. I wouldn't be shocked if they hit Low to Mid 40s for a 20/21

 

Thank you all for the comments and stories.

I surmise be patient, search nationwide, buy new.

FWIW
I am searching in a 200 mile radius.
A co-member wrote above my area is treating C8 Vettes same as exotic cars, yes I too can see that.
Yes, the near 10% Calif sales tax & DMV ruly adds to the OTD price.
Co-pilot AI show depreciation for an HTC as:
Year Estimated Depreciation Residual Value (from $90K MSRP)
1 ~10–15% $76K–$81K 2 ~18–22% $70K–$74K 3 ~25–30% $63K–$68K 4 ~30–35% $58K–$63K 5 ~35–41% $53K–$58K

Again thanks for the great co-member responses.

 

This may not be relevant to your situation, but I'll offer this encouragement to you. I looked for a replacement for my previous corvette for the better part of two years. I made my purchase last August. I used various search engines, autoTempest, autoTrader, Carfax, BAT, Hennings, Hagerty, et al. I was replacing a '90 ZR-1. I was not specifically looking for a C8, as I felt that my budget of 70K was too short for anything new with the equipment level I was used to with the Z. I was not even remotely considering a used C8 as I felt sure I would never find one with equipment that would suit me for my budget.
Like you I look at the price with what it costs to have the plates on the car. I know that's wrong, but that is my out the door cost idea. I know I could have gotten a 2LT C8 for close to 70K brand new but was not having much luck finding one that jumped out at me. I was seriously looking at C6 ZO6's, C6 GS's, even C5 ZO6's, and even ZR-1's (but I wanted a '90 as they are the best looking & have the best seats. JMHO).
One day my CarFax listed a 4800 mile '21 C8 3LT Z51 at a local Ford dealer for 69.5K. I checked the report, and it was a local bought & owned car (Jacksonville, Fl.) and I actually dismissed it as using up "all of my budget & then a bit". I say that because I calculated the sales tax and DMV fees and the deal would have been 75.5K. I thought about it for two weeks and finally gave in and went to look. The P.O. traded it in on a Bronco Raptor. The list on the car was 95.5K.
I'm not sorry that it took two yrs for me to pull the trigger and get a C8. I'm getting used to her, and I think we'll get along just fine. Her name is Red.

Tom

 

Not exactly C8 related but more of patience in searching for the right car. A few years back I went looking for a Miata (the one I sold to get the C8) I wanted not only specific options but a specific color.. I called a service that promised (in its ads) to FIND YOUR CAR. . .No luck. Called a couple of dealers around the country and was told I was looking for a unicorn... but after a time (a year and half maybe) I found it. It still was under factory warranty (a lease return). ... ...
I missed it so much I went looking for another (keeping the C8) and again patience paid off. .. I found a 10 year old car with fewer than 12K miles, in the color and with options as before....

Have patience. YOUR car is out there. (I used AUTOLIST, and CARVANA in nationwide searches)

 

Yeah I finally got tired of looking (since 2020) and just bought new. I never found a car that had the equipment, color and the maintenance performed per the manual. Literally thousands of cars with no DCT maintenance.

MacMulkin had a nice Red Mist 24 on the lot and offered 8k off the 86k price so I pulled the trigger. I remember when I bought many here talked about corvette saturation. And that prices would fall off a cliff.

It never happened. GM slowed production and the NADA prices stayed steady. The NADA on my car with my options last I looked was 84k. Could I expect to get that? Doubtful. But dealers are also looking at these NADAs and are keeping the price of nice used C8s higher. So to me it seems the C8 is holding its value pretty well. Im sure theres many here who disagree and that they can find a near new for low 50s. Surely anyone can find a stripped down 1LT with low miles in the mid 60s but buying new is a better option right now.