[Anti-Venom]

It comes down to how long you want to keep the car.cause it has a 5 year 56k powertrain
Warranty. What color you are looking for ? And how close is the dealership to you?

I over paid for my 2018 Zl1 HBM. But even through the miles were higher they i was looking for (27,000) HBM was the only color I wanted. I traded in my 2017 2ss HBM for a ZL1.
The dealership was only 20 mins from my house and in June it was pretty limited availability of ZL1s period. Used ZL1s were all marked up at least 5 to 6k from the year before. The positive for my situation was that I have lifetime free oil changes.
This is my dd. It’s such a fun car to drive ! I have 0 regrets.
My plan is to keep it close to the 56k mark. Then look for C8 Elkhart lake blue.

So I’d say just do what makes the most sense for your situation.

[Bangkok_ZL1]

Originally Posted by ZX-10R

Disagree - best deal is always very low miles (<5k) and 1-2 years old buying from a private seller where you can interview them and get a sense how the car was maintained. You can usually tell a meticulous owner, and you can tell when a car has been tracked or abused.

You literally save 10-15k buying like new used, it's well worth the small risk, and the GM certified used warranty is every bit as good - if not better - than new. Granted you have to buy from a dealer to get it but I had the opportunity to talk to the previous owner in my case (he bought a Hellcat, car was too cramped for him)

Actually, it really depends on how much you value 10 grand. Because if you lost nothing in value driving the new car off the lot, you'd buy new, almost everybody would... To me 10k is about a half month's work.... so I'm inclined to drop the cash and get the extra little satisfaction of knowing I broke the car in correctly. That when I'm installing the catch can, I know I torqued the bolts down correctly. Everything is my way on my vehicle. It's sort of like when I fly to the states from Thailand. Sure I can get there for $800. But the lay down bed in Business class for $2500 is just worth it TO ME, so I pay. It depends on what you value more. 10K or knowing you torqued down the blower bolts in the correct order to the proper inch pounds, and all other items like that.

[Marty31]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Your points are very reasonable and sensible. However, don't forget that these cars are emotional investments into an experience, not utility. The near-zero mileage, the new car smell, the self-performed break-in, the satisfaction from initial mods like PPF before the first rock chip, the knowledge that absolutely nobody else beat on the car etc. do make a difference to people, and rightfully so.

I agree and those reasons are the exact reasons I ordered a new car.

[Bangkok_ZL1]

Originally Posted by JLM1956

When you bring a trade into the equation it does muddy the numbers a little but it sounds like you did really good. I have not talked to a lot of dealers but the ones I have in the last month were all at sticker. I even saw over MSRP at one on line dealer and hoped that was a typo and not a look at where this might be going. Last year I called on several 19's on that Black Friday sale but was to late. Fantastic deals.

Rarely do you want to bring a trade into a car deal, unless you don't care much about getting wholesale money on the vehicle you're parting with. And if you do bring a trade in on the deal. If the dealership wholesales your trade, you wholesale the new car (and you can get that exact Wholesale price easily from the bank or insurance company). If they retail the new car, which they'll want to, you tell them that you want retail for your trade. Retail to retail or wholesale to wholesale, That's exactly what you tell them. And this works no matter you want to buy a brand new car or used car from a lot. And you can have the book with you on your iphone, use it as your ally. That is unless you just want to get rid of the car and don't care about the approximate 2-4 grand you're giving to them. And believe it or not, there are people that just don't care, or they let it go requesting preferential treatment in the service center. This is a few of the things I learned when I was a sales employee working at Romania Chevrolet 25 years ago.

[Petrol Head]

Originally Posted by Bangkok_ZL1

Rarely do you want to bring a trade into a car deal, unless you don't care much about getting wholesale money on the vehicle you're parting with. And if you do bring a trade in on the deal. If the dealership wholesales your trade, you wholesale the new car (and you can get that exact Wholesale price easily from the bank or insurance company). If they retail the new car, which they'll want to, you tell them that you want retail for your trade. Retail to retail or wholesale to wholesale, That's exactly what you tell them. And this works no matter you want to buy a brand new car or used car from a lot. And you can have the book with you on your iphone, use it as your ally. That is unless you just want to get rid of the car and don't care about the approximate 2-4 grand you're giving to them. And believe it or not, there are people that just don't care, or they let it go requesting preferential treatment in the service center. This is a few of the things I learned when I was a sales employee working at Romania Chevrolet 25 years ago.

This is why I've never traded a car in, I've only ever sold my old cars privately.

I sold my 2000 Honda Prelude, which I bought new in Dec. of 1999, for $3000 in 2010 with 225,000 miles and some rust on the rear quarter panels. I knew there was no way even the most generous dealership even give me a thousand for it on trade when I bought my '09 Accord. I knew who and how to sell the car, and I sold it in 2 days. I was asking $3500 and probably could have even asked a little more for it.

Half of it is that a lot of people just don't want to deal with the hassle of selling a car themselves, or don't know what they have or how to sell it - where to aim it.

It does help if you're a car guy and know where other car guys hang out and the groups they have.

[gtfoxy]

Originally Posted by Petrol Head

This is why I've never traded a car in, I've only ever sold my old cars privately.

I sold my 2000 Honda Prelude, which I bought new in Dec. of 1999, for $3000 in 2010 with 225,000 miles and some rust on the rear quarter panels. I knew there was no way even the most generous dealership even give me a thousand for it on trade when I bought my '09 Accord. I knew who and how to sell the car, and I sold it in 2 days. I was asking $3500 and probably could have even asked a little more for it.

Half of it is that a lot of people just don't want to deal with the hassle of selling a car themselves, or don't know what they have or how to sell it - where to aim it.

It does help if you're a car guy and know where other car guys hang out and the groups they have.

Being in a similar business that has evolved our sales model over the last couple years, I agree. We actually push people to sell their trade. It has freed up man hours & has increased profit & productivity. We still get trades, but it’s reduced by at least 2/3.

Markets shift & you have to take a lot of socio-economic variances into account.

In my circumstance I did get Blue Book retail for mine, it was the highest trade for what was comparable asking price as other places at the time. Like I said, for the car itself I only lost $500. Dealer ended up probably making $2,500 on my car. While I have no idea on the profit along the deal strings I wasn’t going to hold out for $2,500 & go though the hassle of selling it myself & miss out on the car I wanted.

Being a dealer myself I don’t begrudge a dealer making money. If I did I’d be a hypocrite.

[ZX-10R]

Agree I should have sold my '16 SS privately, I only got $28k for it on trade but I thought that's about what they were going for - plus it had the infamous A8 shudder that wasn't completely fixed by the fluid flush

[Petrol Head]

Yeah you’re basically giving the dealer a grand or two for the convenience of not having to deal with selling a car, having strangers come drive your car, and transferring the title.

But in reality it’s not that bad. I just insist up front in the ad that it’s cash only, no checks, and we meet in the parking lot of my city’s police department. Pretty much ensures the only people who will call you are serious interests with real money not looking to murder you lol

[LT4Greg]

Another option for selling your car would be Carvana. I see their commercials asking for used vehicles.

[ZX-10R]

I do bank wire sales - never had a problem - how many people are going to hand over $28k in cash?

Yep I sold a car (2019 Accord) to Carvana and got a good price from them

[MoreSpeed]

I have a 26K mile 2017 ZL1. No issues, no drama. Great car. It looks like new and drives like new. I also have a GM truck. It is pretty easy to get over 100K miles out of the trucks. I don't see why that doesn't apply to the cars by the same company. I put high mileage on my Porsche GT3. I am om "the cars are meant to be used" camp, and it is pretty easy to keep a GM going at low cost, unlike the Porsche.

So I like buying new and driving them for a while. I am not sure I get the logic of buying a low mileage car at a premium price and then being afraid to drive it because the value will drop. You wont hesitate to take a medium mileage car on a road trip. You will hesitate with the low mileage car.

You have three simple options.
1) Maybe a stretch for new ZL1 with good incentives. That is my choice. I would rather haggle across the country for a new one at a great price and have it shipped or drive it back. Deals are out there on new ZL1's if you get dealerships working against each other.
2) or buy a well-maintained used car at a great price with a little higher mileage. Really great price, 10's of thousands off for a car that still looks almost the same, runs great and continues to run great for 10's of thousands or more miles.
3) or a relatively expensive good 4K mileage car. I don't see 3 being worth it.Yes, I know. You can save $5K to $10K off the price of a new car. It is still used. You still don't know how they used it, or really why they are selling it after so low a mileage. And you can get $5K to $8K off a new car with work, patience and a country wide search.

[Bangkok_ZL1]

Originally Posted by MoreSpeed

I have a 26K mile 2017 ZL1. No issues, no drama. Great car. It looks like new and drives like new. I also have a GM truck. It is pretty easy to get over 100K miles out of the trucks. I don't see why that doesn't apply to the cars by the same company. I put high mileage on my Porsche GT3. I am om "the cars are meant to be used" camp, and it is pretty easy to keep a GM going at low cost, unlike the Porsche.

So I like buying new and driving them for a while. I am not sure I get the logic of buying a low mileage car at a premium price and then being afraid to drive it because the value will drop. You wont hesitate to take a medium mileage car on a road trip. You will hesitate with the low mileage car.

You have three simple options.
1) Maybe a stretch for new ZL1 with good incentives. That is my choice. I would rather haggle across the country for a new one at a great price and have it shipped or drive it back. Deals are out there on new ZL1's if you get dealerships working against each other.
2) or buy a well-maintained used car at a great price with a little higher mileage. Really great price, 10's of thousands off for a car that still looks almost the same, runs great and continues to run great for 10's of thousands or more miles.
3) or a relatively expensive good 4K mileage car. I don't see 3 being worth it.Yes, I know. You can save $5K to $10K off the price of a new car. It is still used. You still don't know how they used it, or really why they are selling it after so low a mileage. And you can get $5K to $8K off a new car with work, patience and a country wide search.

Actually, You think you're getting 5K off a new car, but you're not. Maybe you're getting 5k off a dealer's retail price. But the fact is, it's extremely rare that a dealer will sell a car at anything close to a loss on a stylish car. It's even rarer for a dealer to sell an in demand car for much less than MSRP on a "new" lot. If you bring in the trade, they'll less than wholesale your trade to make up for the better deal you got on the car. And the desk never lets us salesmen know where we're at on the deal until it's done.
Also, you'll always get a slightly used car cheaper than a new car, unless you're buying the used car at a super premium for some reason; it happens, but it's rare. However, to me, it's not worth it to ever buy used, except for some special case (a 70 hemi `cuda convertible 1 of 8, ok, I get that). As you said, pay and keep long. That is best in my opinion. After working on 2 car lots, I've seen too much, LOL. Especially, what appears to be nice cars, actually coming from auctions, and rental lease returns. A nice 2017 Camaro Convertible with only 12,000 miles might easily have been a rental car. But nobody will tell that story. They'll have some BS Story made up. And you know how people drive rentals, or lease getting close to returning..... Anyways, to each their own... I'll paid the extra 3.2 million for new. There was a 2013 LHD ZL1 here for sale for 3.5 million (105k) with only 5,000 Kilometers. I don't see that one anymore. but there is this
https://www.one2car.com/en/used-cars...evrolet/camaro
but there is a 2014 and they want 4.8 million (145k). Sorry, I'll pay 80k more and get a new one (6.7 million = 225k). That's how much I believe in what I'm saying. That Yellow `15 Convertible they want 5.5 million. That's the price of a new SS. I passed on that too. One more week and my baby is here. I plan to take it to the "working girls alley". They dress pretty sexy on a nightly basis. I'm gonna take some pics with them all over my car. Camaro6, be prepared for some sexy Thai ZL1 action, LOL.......Sorry so long, I'm too excited!!!

[ZX-10R]

Originally Posted by MoreSpeed

I am not sure I get the logic of buying a low mileage car at a premium price and then being afraid to drive it because the value will drop.

Who said anything about being afraid to drive it? The point is saving the big depreciation hit off the lot. Yes you don't know previous use, but it's usually pretty easy to figure out if the car has been tracked and modern engines are so good (in terms of the tolerances) break-in isn't the issue it used to be - in fact the problems usually arise with easy break-in. I see new owners droning down the freeway, lugging the engine, which is the absolute worst thing you can do. I believe in a fairly hard break in with early oil change.

[Bangkok_ZL1]

Originally Posted by ZX-10R

Who said anything about being afraid to drive it? The point is saving the big depreciation hit off the lot. Yes you don't know previous use, but it's usually pretty easy to figure out if the car has been tracked and modern engines are so good (in terms of the tolerances) break-in isn't the issue it used to be - in fact the problems usually arise with easy break-in. I see new owners droning down the freeway, lugging the engine, which is the absolute worst thing you can do. I believe in a fairly hard break in with early oil change.

I'll be droning mine.... at 2000 RPM's, maybe 2500 at times. But not much more than that. I can't wait. I'm freaking going stir crazy waiting for this thing. i can't wait to experience the power again.... Turn the safeties off and lets see how I drift this beast. Maybe I'll find out that I'm not that good, that my 7 was just too balanced and made me look great, when I really wasn't that great. But, it will be SOOOOOO nice to hammer some pavement and find out. I'll have it broke in in one or two days, LOL.