We’re all eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new 2023 Corvette C8 Z06, that much no one can deny. Chevrolet, however, has learned from the launch of the C8 generation and the amount of cars that were flipped after only a couple of months for a massive markup due to demand, and have a pretty big carrot and stick method of dealing with those types of people.
As the Z06 is expected to be the hot ticket for 2023, GM and Chevy have offered the “carrot” of 500,000 My Chevrolet Rewards points, valued at $5,000, for you to keep your Z06 for 12 months from the date of purchase. While not direct cash, which would be nice, these points are valid for everything you can do or get from a dealership or Chevrolet themselves.
In simpler terms, you can use those 500,000 points for service visits, first-party upgrades (adding a carbon fiber wing kit, for example), parts, On Star subscription plans, any accessories you want for your Z06, and if you buy another Chevy vehicle after the Z06, you can even use those points to knock out $5,000 of the financing or loan right off the bat.
This is also a pretty fair carrot, all things considered. With the Z06 having been recently confirmed as starting at $106,395 MSRP, those $5,000 of points come in as 4.7% of the total MSRP. In other words, if you do some very rough rounding off, they’re offering a 5% “cash” back, but in points instead of cash.
HOWEVER…
GM has laid down the law on their dealerships. During the C8 launch and the supply issues during the first year and a half of the current global pandemic, some dealerships sold to known car flippers, who then sold those C8s on to out of country and even overseas buyers that didn’t have the Corvette yet in their country.
For the Z06, GM and Chevrolet are limiting the transferability of the car’s warranty within the first 12 months of ownership, basically meaning that if the car is found to have been flipped the warranty will be voided. As well, that registered first owner of the Z06 will be fully banned from placing a “Sold Order” on a new GM vehicle (not just Chevy, but all of GM), permanently.
Basically, it comes down to the fact that if you are lucky enough to be getting a C8 Z06, and you sell it within the first 12 months of ownership for any reason that even begins to smell like you’re flipping the car for profit, the stick will come down on you really hard, really fast. GM realizes that some people might experience emergencies, financial difficulties due to the fluctuating economy, et al, and they won’t punish those that have to sell because the bank ordered them to, or had to sell the car back to the dealership and the like.
But if you’re buying a Z06 for the express purpose of waiting a few months and then flipping it, it could very well be the last GM you’ll be allowed to buy new!
