Ward Cleaver

A local small town dealer (with a good reputation) has a 1996 Corvette for sale. It has 13,877 original miles. The car looks brand new. It's black with a black painted top and beige interior. It has an LT1 engine and automatic transmission.
The paint looks fantastic. In fact, the entire car looks fantastic...inside and out.
His asking price is $18,000.

What do you think?

Regards,
-Ward

socalman

It's definatly at the high end of pricing. Good low mileage, but you are paying for the dealerships overhead etc.

Go the other direction, if you're willing to pay $18k for a C4..then shop around. You may find a low mileage 96 w/ LT4 for the less $$.

Add a couple thou and you may also pick up a nice GS (coupe/no blood).

Ward Cleaver

Here's a couple pictures of the interior...







Regards,
-Ward

purvissp

That is on the high side. Like cocalman said you are paying a dealer overhead.

The low mileage is cool, but there are a lot of good buys out there with a little higher mileage that I would look for.

I bought my '95 with 43m miles on it and it was in like new condition for a lot less from and individual.

Wathen1955

Have you made any offers to the dealer? I bought my 96 from a dealer here in town. The car had 80k miles. I paid $12k for it. Only item that did not work 100% was the antenna mast.
If you really want the car, offer the dealer $14k.

PLRX

I've seen Charlie's Vette and he got a decent deal. $18K for a 96 LT1 or LT4 is tooo high.

Nowhere Man

for 18K I would be looking for a C5. I like my 94 but for that coin I want a LS1

kimmer

A c5 zo6 in that range.

Ward Cleaver

Thanks.
A car can be an emotional purchase. With only 13,000 miles this car is gorgeous, but I needed the reality check that the above comments are giving me.

To the guy above who asked if I had made any offer yet...
No, I haven't yet. I was still just in the looking stage today (Saturday), but I'll make him an offer of $14,000 on Monday and see what happens.

Regards,
-Ward

kenv

WW7

Right now with prices the way they are I could get a real nice C5 for that kind of money.....WW

Wathen1955

Look over the car with a magnifying glass which will help in reducing the price. Examples would be radiator hoses, worn tires, or other items that may not work. Having cash to pay for it also helps.

GREGGPENN

Yeah, but with how many miles? A dealer isn't going to drop $4k on a car like that. $16k lowest, probably $17k before they take you seriously.

bb62

What is it about people here who equate cars with 80K miles with a car that only has 13K? Put it this way, how many years would it take for that 13K car to reach 80K? If you assume 6K miles per year, that's 11 years. Now divide by the $6K difference. The 80K car will in the meantime have well more than $6K in part replacement or higher maintenance costs. At the end of that period of time, the 13K car will have 80K miles while the 80K car will have nearly 150K miles.

Personally, I think 18K is high for the car too, but mostly because it has an automatic (which I would never buy in a Corvette), but it's a lot closer to $18K than $12K.

brian_ndms

For that price range I would either get myself into a GS or ZR1! Both will be collectors editions or already are! Prices are in the ballpark as mentioned on the car you are looking at. If you are willing to have a car with some higher mileage. I would keep looking. But that is me. You only live once. As long you can afford the car, go for it. With today's economy it is a buyers market. Good luck!!!

zr1fred

While a neat car, and arguably the best C4, you can find C5's with not many more miles in that range. You may want to drive a few C5s first, they can be quite adictive. Especially the automatics.

duramaxsky

I got a perfect 98 C5 with low miles from a dealer for $13,000. There is no way I would pay that for any C4. In this market I would not pay $10,000 for any C4. They are just not near as good as a C5. My C5 is black on black and has every option except dual tops. It has the transparent top.

duramaxsky

Except a car that is not driven will have more problems once you start driving it. Unless you are going to park it there will be problems. Sitting even in a garage kills cars. (lot rot)

zr1fred

Another thing to think about, is that the price reflects the super low mileage. If you drive it much, it will rapidly drop toward the $10k range.

bb62

Of course the 98 is also a 13 year old car - not exactly new. Choosing a C4 over a C5 becomes a matter of preference. Sure the C5 is a more advanced car, but that isn't the only consideration.

And as far as market value - there isn't a singe C5 out there that is worth as much as my C4.