offthehook1

Was toying with the ideal of trading in my 2009 C6 coupe and buying a 2011 GS. Trade in value at 50% of original price. Car is like new condition 9,000 miles. I guess it should not have surprised me but have any of you had a similar experience?

Tom's_03SVT

I was quoted $41K on a 2010 2LT, hert package, NPP with 750 miles on it by a forum dealer original sticker was around $61K, you might be better off keeping it or selling it privately.

peter pan

Sell it to an private owner you will get the most

CO Lightfoot

I think it's a common winter-time daydream. Trade for something more climate-appropriate, like an S4 or whatever "car-du-jour" strikes your fancy.

Probably not a good idea anyway... right now might be the worst time in history to sell a late-model C6. The economy, big discounts on new C6's, time of year, etc etc.

Another Don

It's just my opinion, but what they are giving you for trade on your car is only part of the equation.

In Texas (where I reside) you only pay sales tax on the cash difference on a car trade, so getting $40,000 in trade is equivalent to selling to an individual for $42,500 and then buying the car from the dealer. The point being that while you might get more selling to an individual owner, but still lose economically.

I know that I don't have the patience to sell the car myself, so I generally trade. By the time I place the ads (which aren't free) and then deal with the low-ballers and tire kickers, I get fairly exasperated with the entire process. It might cost me something to just go ahead and trade, but my life is too short to put up with all the nonsence. Hell, I don't even buy green bananas anymore.

So, I'm very much a trader, not a sell-and buy person. Now, back to your question. It seems to me that what they are giving you for trade on your car is not the most important number in the trasaction. The focal number is how big a check are you going to have to write to complete the transaction. How much they charge for their car and how much they give you for trade is nothing more than dealership bookkeeping. Let's say that have a new GS with a sticker price of $72k and you can trade for it with your car + $20K. They can write up the deal to show sales price of $72k minus your trade of $52k for that $20k net or they can write it up as Sticker price of $72k minus dealer discounts and rebates of $10k and then show your trade at $42k for a net of $20k. Doesn't really matter which way the contract is written, you wind up paying the same. Using my approach, you simply decide how bad you want that new ride measured in Dollars and then approach the dealer based on my car plus $XX,XXX for that car. Let the dealer figure out how to write down the values of the cars to get the same net that you're looking for.

Last autumn, I toyed with trading my '09 coupe for a GS vert. I was prepared to pay my car + $20k but the dealer wanted my car plus $28k. That was more than I wanted to pay, so I'm still driving the coupe.

Like I said, it's just my $0.02. YMMV

davidtcpa

bsjones1335

I would just keep the 2009....But if you decided to get the 2011 GS, I would sell as a private seller and not trade in. But I do agree it would take some time to sell depending on where you live and the inventory around your area. Good luck with your decision.

SRQStingray

Well, trading a car is always wrought with emotion and the feeling of being screwed. It has always taken me a week or two to get over the **** pain of being bent over by the stealership. Bottom line, the stealership is always the winner. A couple of years ago, we were going to trade our 06 911 Carrera S cabriolet on an Aston Martin Vantage, a really awesome car. The deal was almost a go until they offered us a real low ball on the Porsche. We had had the front bumper painted by the best body shop in town because we had some stone chips. They took off $10k from a trade-in value because of paint work. They also tried screwing us by appraising the Porsche as a Carrera rather than an S. The Porsche still shares the garage with the Vette.

rjwoerheide

The dealer I bought mine from keeps sending me letters asking me to trade mine in on a GS. Resist the urge! The wide body and other upgrades are nice, but at least with your current C6 you don't have to deal with the dustiest brake pads in the world! And seriously, you'll end up losing money in the end, any way you cut it.

phileaglesfan

The car you want is always worth the most when the dealer is selling it to you and the least when he is buying it from you. Unfortunately 50% is not a low ball price, they are giving you the auction price of the car. That way they can dump the car at the auction if they cannot find someone to buy it for their sticker. Dealers also seem to factor in the tax savings on the deal if that applies. I considered trading in an 07 Impala SS that I bought for $27k in July 2007. This was in Oct 2008. The value all the sudden dropped to $11k. Needless to say it is still parked in my garage as my daily driver.

I tell the dealer now to not even discuss trading in my Vette right now unless he is willing to offer a fair price for it, not the auction price. GS is a nice Vette but as mentioned it does have its issues over the base (brake pad dust, gas mileage, summer only tires).

One option you have is to take it to Carmax to see what they offer. Of course you'll lose the tax benefit if that applies. If I do trade my Vette in someday my dealer's best chance of getting me to buy a new car from him would be to give me a fair deal on my car. If I sell it at carmax/privately, I will most likely go to Tim at Boardwalk for my new car. I would consider trading it in to Tim also although CA doesn't give you a break on sales tax and their tax is 9%.

bearman95

I would not even consider trading my 2009 coupe 3lt with z51 option for a GS. When i bought this car on Oct. 1st of 09 there were several coupe Grand Sports on the lot but we like the narrow body with the z51 better plus we saved thousands of dollars that we would have otherwise spent just to say we have a GS which was basicly the same as the z51 but with a wider body which we did not like in the first place.

not08crmanymore

The good news is if you keep the miles low,in 3 or 4 years it'll still be 50%!!

Garret

So let's say you paid 50k for the car....which I bet I'm pretty close, are you saying trade in is only 25k? If so, I'll give you 28

VetteRulz

DON'T DO IT! There is not that much of a performance difference between the 2 cars to justify getting hosed on tens of thousands of dollars. The GS might handle a little better but that is about it. Do you like losing $40K in just 1 year?

Unless you are rich, in this economy, I would save my money. Wait for the C7 but don't make a stupid trade like this.

Dans C6

Unless you really like the GS and what it comes with don't make the switch. Maybe you should hold off until the C7. Who knows what it will look like. It may be a 100x better thatn the GS, we will see.

offthehook1

Thank you to all. Appreciate all of your advice and opinions. Looks like the 09 will be around for a while, and that is not a bad thing at all. Never been a trader. Most cars we keep for at least 6 years and sell privately. Exception being my SUV which is now 13 years old and running strong.

My wife had me going to dealers this weekend as her Volvo S80 is 6 years old and she has the itch. When she looked at the Audi A6 and I protested it cost too much she reminded me of the C6 sitting in the garage. Tried pushing her to Camaro with no luck.

Any way thanks again to all. Very useful post for me.

steve miller

I picked up my 09 AO 1lt in sept. I bought it at auction with a dealer friend of mine. 9700 miles and I paid 32,000.00. Remember this is Fl. I coulda bought new for 10K more but what was the sense? It's anyones guess what it's worth wholesale today but it ain't worth 32 anymore.

Mtnvettes

Keep the 09 coupe and purchase a 2011 GS convertible. Can't have too many corvettes.

Z06LUST

Ummmm you didn't quote original MSRP (nor level of car 1lt, 3lt etc), you didn't quote what YOU actually paid for it (just the car not reg, taxes etc) and you did not quote the 'offer'...kind of makes it hard to figure if it is a good deal or paid in terms of the dealr offering you a fair price.

BUT with NEW 2010s being sold at $15,000 OFF MSRP your offer may have been really fair. New '10's with 60k msrp would sell now for $45,000. That is 25% off for a NEW car...your is clearly used, 2 going on 3 model years old...........what kind of price were you expecting?

Now I'm not talking about financial sense or Coupe vs GS. l'm speaking just in terms of pricing and the dealer seems right in the ball park...he has to pay wholesale in order to sell retail.

If a USED 2009 would sell retail for 40%+ off original sticker just how much should dealer pay for it?

offthehook1

Two more good responses. Probably why I bought new in 09. Same deal, with 15k off msrp. Like I said, I wasn't surprised, just checking with others experience. Certainly understand the financial aspects. Not complaining or dealer bashing either. I really like the guys I deal with locally and their service is great too. Mtnvette has the right idea, can't have too many, but a second is not in the cards. Actually looking at other vintage drivers from my youth.