New Z, how do I avoid in advance the long distance purchase pitfalls ?
 

Good Afternoon,

I'm typically not an early adopter so I'm at least four years out before I consider getting a C8 Corvette.

I would like to trade my current Z which is a 16 for 19.

Have any of you done this and what do you think is a reasonable amount of money to step up from a 16 to a 19 equal to equal cars, with the 16 having just under 10,000 miles on it?

I'm not considering doing it for bragging rights. I like to buy a car that is at the end of it's evolution. One that is basically perfected. I get a car with no cosmetic imperfections and a mileage clock reset.

Thank you for your input,

Kevin :-)

Not enough information. So let's assume that your 16 had an MSRP of $105,000 and the new 19 will have the same options which with inflation will give you about a $112,000 MSRP. Your 16 with 10,000 miles is worth a tad over $60,000 but as a trade-in you would be lucky to get the $60k. Also the 19 should be nicely discounted down to mid $90's. So you are going to spend $35,000 plus tax and fees to get a car that looks just like your 16 with maybe a different color and 10,000 less miles?? Makes no sense to me. I paid $1050 for a $100 deductible GMEPP warranty out to 7.5 years from inservice date on my 16 (9/2016) and a total of 60,000 miles when mine was 2.5 years old with 10,000 miles on it (about 4 months ago). So I am good as new until early 2024 when hopefully the C8 widebodies will have all their problems ironed out. And I can get part of the $1050 back as a refund if I decide to trade it sooner. And $1050 is much less than $35,000 + likely $5k worth of tax/fees.

I have a 15 and I just ordered a 19 a few weeks back. I'll end up paying around 40,000 when it's all said and done. For me it's worth it. I track my car and I wanted a new one. Ordered Cry to replace Vy. I wanted it and am not really worried about how much sense it makes. My car will be here sometime this month and I'd do the same deal again in a minute. If you want it go for it.

If you are serious about trading and buying then contact Mike Furman @ Criswell Chevrolet in Gaithersburg, MD

I traded my 2016 Z06 in for a 2019 Z06 and it cost me $15,000 to trade.

You got a great deal!

I’d sell your 16 outright. Then snag a sweet deal on a new or used 19. Lots of low mileage cars out there just like yours. With the C8 coming I think there will be more than usual.

Congratulations. Outstanding deal. Sounds like you either found a stupid dealer or traded a loaded 16 for a stripped 19.

actually I went from a 1lz to 2lz

Pkincy,

Thank you for investing your time in such a great reply.

I am torn between, what will be about $5000 to add the GMEPP warranty and then the tires, maintenance and fluid changes I should do to the car with 9600 miles on it.

There is a car that I have found somewhat locally, that would be what I would order with exception of one thing, I would like Kalahari interior and it has black, that would be the reason for me to order, if I did.

I can trade from one car to the other with out spending the $5,000 for $20,000 all in. Not as good a deal as others are quoting here. I appreciate you're down to Earth grounded point of view and I am less prone to do it at this point based on your comment and a few others. I might call a couple of the big dealers before the ordering deadline and see what's involved with ordering and having car delivered.

Thank you very much for your input,
Kevin :-)

Kevin I'm not sure but the ordering deadline may have passed. My dealer told me that if my order didn't get picked up, that week, several weeks ago, that I'd have to find one somewhere else. Depending on the trim level you could probably get most of what you want in the Kalahari interior just by ordering seat covers. You'd probably spend 1500 or so but then you'd have what you want. You might could even use that to get the dealer to throw in the seat covers in the deal.
It's never going to make sense financially if nothing is wrong with your current car. You can try to justify it but it just won't. It doesn't have to. I also wouldn't put a lot of stock in the stories about all of the great deals. I'm getting a great deal on my 19 and I know because the dealer showed me all of the paperwork with everything on it. I'm getting 51,000 for my 3lz zo6 with 15,000 miles. Is that a great price? No. Is it realistic? I think so. pkincy is dead on with the pricing.

BadHabit,

Thank you,

I'm getting 64 for a 2LZ against a car discounted to 84 so I am at 20 K.

I don't think my car has anything wrong with it that couldn't be fixed with maintenance, warranty and fluid changes except for some minor rock chipping from sticky tires from the Blue Ridge Parkway in your neck of the woods.

I just like the current car, I might like the new car more, I don't really know. I just figure if I can make a great deal at the end of the evolution I might as I won't adopt the C8 for four or five years.

Thanks again for your feedback,
Kevin :-)

Sounds like a good plan to me. Even though I was paying a lot more I thought it was worth it. My car had a lot of hard track miles so that played into it. My car was coated expel ultimate and believe it or not didn't have any pain chips. There was mechanical wear and tear I'm sure. I'll be starting out with 3 years of warranty and I think I'll extend that to 5 years as soon as I get the car. then when I can make a good deal on the c8 I'll get one of those.

My switch will be a couple grand shy of that AND my msrp will be up by almost 3k on the 19.

Waaaaay. More than reasonable.

Mike Furman @ Criswell is the way to go. Factory order the car 12% off. Cannot go wrong brother.

I really do need to check with Mike,

I would love to save money where I can and I know Mike at Criswell as a first class dude.

I'm thinking I'm going to visit the dealer with my trade and see if I can get closer that 15 number if not then I need to reach out to the other guys.

Thank you so much,
Kevin :-)

Next week, 7/18, is the final opportunity to order a Z06 coupe.

Hey man I appreciate your feedback as it takes time,

If I take a $96,000 car at 12% off it brings me to $84,500 which is about where I am at. If I am getting $64,500 for my current car doesn't seem too bad, based on what I see people online selling the car sell for.

I would be happy to work with Mike, I don't know I am going be able to get to that 12 or $13,000 number that you're at which sounds very enticing.

Truth of the matter is I don't drive my car very often I probably haven't had it out in three months I just uncovered it gave it a quick bath and drove it up to the dealer. All the way up there I'm saying man this car is bad ass.

Got to the dealer and Laguna blue and Elkhart blue are really close although I still prefer the Laguna just a little. I'm over any potential color objection so it's really just trying to get me comfortable with the Trade difference number and right now I'm at 20 gees and I don't want to do it I think I need to be at 15.

Thanks a great deal for your reply I truly appreciate it, I lurk if that's the term on the forum all the time so I know who's who and I see you posting all the time so I know you're a learned guy.

Thanks again Kevin :-)

Congratulations, unwinding from one car to another is an add-more-money deal.

If you have an HTGD trade number, the new car is maxed out on GM discounts, and you LOVE the new car, throw your $5k less offer in the ring and see if the dealer salutes.

HTGD - Honest To God Dealer trade number: a rare species found only inside the dealer's showroom, which flies into the customer cubicle about 15 minutes after the customer arrives.

Not to be confused with:

KBB "buy your car" dealer website appraisers - promise the moon, but nobody at the dealership never heard of no such ridiculous number as that.
NADA guide - "we would like to pay you full value NADA trade-in, and if you were buying our car at full MSRP, we would; but we are discounting the car so we are discounting the trade-in"
or: "we can only pay you what the NADA "loan value" on your car is, (much lower)
The "Auction Network:" "Published guides are a month old, we use the real time auction feed network, guaranteed to show your car is sinking like a lead weight in value as identical ones roll past the gavel, even as we speak. our lowball offer is only good for the next 30 minutes"

And the rarest of all quotes: the Mike Furman quote. Mike Furman DID give me a price in May, it was $1,325 less than the NADA eastern edition trade in value for May; but i believe that is because there is a 2 month time frame from order to receipt of new car. Every forum member who has posted his experience ordering from Mike advises here that he honors his trade-in quote. It is as good as you can get, especially since it is sight unseen on your car. I didn't order a car from Mike, i did find one on a lot i loved.

As for your car, a black interior new car that you have personally inspected with no paint blemishes is worth 3 ordered kalihari cars that may arrive and require days of hours of dealer service, should you get a newly ordered fender paint peeling car from the hurry up and lets get to the friday night paaarty bowling green assembly line, or worse, the monday morning hangover assembly line. Good Hunting!

SilverGhost,

Thanks for a great reply, apparently we all understand the car business to well.

I would love to find that HTGD species that you refer to showing up in about 15 minutes !!! Usually it's least a couple hours of every song and dance on the planet in an attempt to wear you down so you will just throw money at it.

I'm glad to hear that Mike Furman has a reputation for honoring his sight unseen trade quotes two months into the future.

I've visited the dealer they've inspected the car, there are at 20 I'm at 15. We will see where it goes.

There have been a few other very smart people here as well that have chimed in, and kind of said it's not smart money. All my car really needs is a set of front tires, an alignment, an oil change and maybe a trans fluid update.

Secondarily, I can get an 84 month and 54,000 mile forward warrantee For about $1700 from Dennis.

Like Shakespeare said a fool and his money are soon parted. If I can get them to the 15 number I might move, if not I'll spend a little money on my car and be completely content. For "now" it's a Corvette disease.

Thank you for all the thought and time you put in to the Great reply.

Kevin :-)

Kevin... you only love once.... it's only money.... you wouldnt be contemplating a new 19 if it wasn't getting to you. . Is that 5k bucks gonna change your life?

Try this one. In your mind be resigned to the fact that its 20k... go to the dealer and stay fast at 15k... ask to speak to the boss man. Tell him you're going to deal with Mike furman @ Criswell if they don't do the deal right now.

If they balk? You walk.. then GO TO MIKE FURMAN @CRISWELL.

if they take the offer you made out. And if somewhere along the way that middle ground is reached?
It's a fair deal. A fait deal is when both sides feel like they left something on the table. Karma usually gets off those with a "great deal" in the craziest ways. Have had it both ways lol