After seeing that one of the popular Z06 Youtubers I frequently cover is now flipping his Z06, the first question that popped into my head was, is this GM Vehicle Retention Policy really working? Austin from Speed Phenom seemed like one of the “loyalists”, and his Corvette content (with lots of Z06 track time!) was garnering hundreds of thousands of views. And you may recall from one of my previous pieces, Austin ironically fought Chevy to get his 500,000 My Chevy Rewards Points, after a glitch nearly cost him $5000 (the dollar equivalent of the points).
As a refresher, here is the original “Customer Acknowledgement Form”. The policy was adjusted to 6 months shortly after.
So, who really gets penalized in this used Z06 market? Well, the Z06 enthusiast gets screwed, twice. First, they get the shaft with crazy prices (like the ones I wrote about here). And second, if flipped before 6 months they get the short end of the stick by buying a high-tech 1st-year model with some known issues, (like the LT6 problems I covered here), WITHOUT a warranty. Yikes.
Just how crazy is the used Z06 market, and how many are available right now from private sellers?
My go-to sites for the best snapshot of available vehicles are Autotrader and Cargurus. Right now on Autotrader, there are 81 used Z06s available nationwide, with only 10 being offered by private sellers. And at least two of these appear to be from dealers. Nevertheless, look at these insane prices!
The ratio on Cargurus isn’t much better, with a total of 75 used Z06s available across the country, with only 5 from private sellers (all 5 appear to actually be from individuals). Once again, look at those prices!
So, are policies directed towards owners to curtail flipping, which penalize their buyers, really a solution?
Very simply, NO. The goal was to prevent private sellers from capitalizing on this crazy market, yet we only have a handful of private seller Z06s in the market. The overwhelming majority of the Z06s are being offered by dealers, and at high prices.
Wasn’t the whole purpose of this to keep prices lower? If anything, GM should have gone after its dealers with aggressive policies on “price gouging”. That being said, I am all in for a free market, so if the vehicles are selling at these prices (and they are) then let supply and demand and capitalism work their magic.
The solution really is simple, make more!
In any hot market, where demand outstrips supply, the fix really is that simple, produce more of what the people want! Our go-to guy for production numbers is Roger Kiel, who just posted this on the C8 Corvette Owners (And Friends) Facebook page. As you’ll note, total Z06 production for the year is just below 4000 units.
There have been many suggestions and theories on how to fix the markups from dealers on the immensely popular eighth-generation Corvette, and as we head into the fifth production year if GM could have figured it out they would have by now. There certainly are a lot more questions than answers, and I hope you have enjoyed this quick analysis of where we are right now. We have an active community on our Facebook page, I would love to hear from you! Douglas B.
Speed Phenom puts his Z06 up for sale right after he collects his $5000
