IRMB

Hey folks,

I've been pooling my money together to get a healthy sized down payment on my first Corvette. I want to get a GS 2LT.

There aren't too many of these cars sitting on lots - and the colors in stock at my local dealers are not exactly what I want.

BUT - I can get good deals on 2018 Grand Sports - sitting in inventory. They just may not be exactly what I want.

If I could place an order and get the exact colors and stripes and wheels etc, that would be swell, but it appears that is going to cost quite a bit more - due to uncertainty of rebates when the car arrives.

Wondering - how do people do this? Do you guys really order/buy a car without knowing your final price?

Are you able to place custom orders and still get competitive pricing?

Looking for your guidance and advice on this. If I'm going to spend this kind of money, I should really get exactly what I want.

Thanks!

Judgment Day

You're basically in my exact situation that I was in a year ago. And you're right: My take is that I'm putting a lot of money into this vehicle (which was also a 2LT) so I'm going to get exactly want I want. Others might not feel the same way, but that's just me.

There is risk that you may not catch a deal or a percentage off your vehicle, but that can be negotiated throughout the entire process depending on who you deal with. The whole procedure from "just looking" to driving off the lot was quite a few months, but that's just my situation. For the record, I was able to get a certain percentage off the MSRP when the deal was made so you can get some money off your custom order. It's not necessary to come in like Yosemite Sam, guns blazing, thinking you're going to rob the dealer blind, but at the same time, something can be done within reason.

To me, there's peace of mind knowing that there's no regrets off the end product (.ie "I wish I have this/that) if I make an order. Also, it never hurts to go to the car configuration page from the Chevy website. You can ballpark what you want, mix/match, etc. You can also get your potential MSRP in that regard, sans any additional fees upon the purchase date. Come prepared.

DWS44

Have you checked the inventories at the forum dealers? They will have considerably more inventory to possibly have what you are looking for and for possibly a considerable savings over your local dealer, since they do a much higher volume of Corvette sales.

I know purchasing a vehicle long distance can be a bit intimidating if you've never considered it before, but its really not that difficult and most of the larger volume dealers can certainly help you figure our deliver options and logistics.

stillcrazy

I just went threw it, see my earlier post about the car. I WANTED the ceramic gray vert with blue top.Almost impossible to find on a lot. Ordered it, the wait was terrible, but I got it exactly as I wanted It. Always check with the forum dealer's they will give you the best deal.

rmorin1249

The way I looked at it was that I could pay a couple % more and get exactly what I wanted vs buying a car that was close to what I wanted. On a $75K car you are only talking a couple thousand $ so amortized over several years it amounts to less than the cost of a cup of coffee each day. This is a small price to pay to get the car that you will not be disappointed with every time you drive it.

rrsperry

I went and talked to Mike Furman at Criswell. Test drove a bunch of cars, and sat down.

Put together what I want to order, he told me how much including discounts, rebates....

Gave him a check for $1000 (I didn’t have too, but did), picked up my car 8 weeks later. Exactly what I wanted, at the price we agreed too.

There were zero cars anywhere, with exactly what I wanted, and I didn’t want to settle for almost....

Ok, that said... 2 years later, I’d have probably passed on the pdr/nav, but it’s better to have it and not use it, than find out I want it, but don’t have it...

Nate@VanBortelChevy

Get exactly what you want, you'll enjoy it that much more and the little extra it cost you will soon be forgotten.

TOPSPOT

I am currently going through this process and the thing that bugs me the most is the wait. As far as pricing goes, the difference can be staggering if you are choosing between what has been sitting on a lot. You are also getting less changes (MRC upgrade, Mobil 1 oil, Backup Camera upgrade (pre 2018), and new paint shop paint/assembly (50/50 chance pre 17)).

If you plan on keeping this car from some time, I think it would be much better to order EXACTLY what you want so that you have no regrets once you start your long waiting journey.

MacMulkin

We will build up a car for you based upon your specifications and based upon what we may be doing for order discounts that particular month, you will know exactly what you will pay at the time of delivery...unless, GM releases manufacturer incentives that are applicable at the time you take delivery - then you could save more money than what we originally quoted you in the beginning.

Give our Corvette Team a call at 603-888-1121 or fill out our 2019 Order Form at:

http://macmulkincorvette.com/contact...-order-wanted/

We're happy to work up a build for you with pricing!

Yatagon41

mschuyler

That's the way it works. Buy from inventory and you get a slightly better deal than ordering exactly what you want. When I bought last year the difference was a whopping 1%, i.e.: The discount for in stock cars at the time was 13%. The discount on ordering was 12%. So to get exactly what I wanted cost me an additional $700. Assuming the discounts this year follow the same pattern, I guess it depends on whether $700 is more important to you than getting exactly what you want.

IRMB

I was quoted a $4,000 difference.

saleen556

saleen556

Double post

Dave@Ciocca

My guess is you're looking at 2 different year cars. You can't order 2018 Corvette any more and other than a few forum dealer us and some of the others in this thread, there are not many 2019s on the ground.

So you must take 2 things in account. You're looking at a custom order and it's a year newer than the one on their lot.

We have about 70 2019 Corvettes here now with more coming this week. If you email over to me what you are looking for I'll see what we have that may be close or work out a price for an order.

Dave

zo6hcir

IRMB, I actually had my heart set on a Viper but could not find the color combinations I wanted and with Viper production stopped I could not even order what I wanted. So I jumped ship and ordered a 19 ZO6 3LZ. In my opinion, to spend this kind of money and not get what you want in the car is just crazy.

jtranger

Try: cars.com. You can search nationwide and even put in the color combinations you are looking for. There are a lot of good deals out there with low mileage cars. Of course you would have to have the car shipped to you. I did this and found the car I wanted at a great price.

IRMB

You guessed wrong. But since you're in the industry - guide me. how does a consumer do this and get the best deal and have some good idea what the final cost will be. Again - no uneducated guesses - just assume all other things being equal.

saleen556

LIStingray

It is pretty simple, at least from my experience with MacMulkin & Kerbeck. They give you a set discount at the time you order the car - let's say 10% for the sake of calculations, and when the car comes in that is exactly what you pay (MSRP $75,000 - you pay $67,500) plus any special GM incentive (GM Loyalty or GM points top-up) that is in effect at the time of delivery. Most times, the extra incentives come at the end of the model year, so it is unlikely to apply to a factory order.
Most of us who order what we want are glad to get a very fair price for exactly what we want, compared to getting an end of year car off the lot in a less than perfect match for a somewhat better deal.
In my case, for my 2018 GS, I wanted a car as early in production as possible so that I had it for the entire summer (production started 6/2/18), so in exchange for an 11% discount from a forum dealer (compared to 15% for a leftover 2017) I had a day 1 (6/2) build in the exact configuration I wanted delivered to me before the first day of summer (6/21) and I ended up getting $750 in additional GM bonus cash that was an unexpected gift. I knew my deal was MSRP - 11%, and that is what I expected - I was neither counting on nor expecting anything more from GM or the dealer.

One other thing - since 2019's have been in production for the last 3 weeks and are on dealer lots, the deals on 2018's should be 4-5% better to account for them being 1 model year older.