Buying Your C8 Locally or Nationally?

[John]

So many options! Any thoughts? Have you mentally made your C8 2020+ purchasing plans yet?

Have you thought ahead as to which dealership you are going to purchase your ME Corvette from? Will it be a local dealership or a long distance one?

Part of the answering process is whether you have a local dealership that you have previously bought from, one who treats you right, and which has a good chance of an allocation for your specific offer.

Or has a local dealership option not yet worked out for you? And thus you are planning, either the first time, or as you have previously, to buy from a major long distance dealer, especially due to their going to have major allocations for the C8?

Of course, buying local if you can get a great price and if they have sufficient allocation to get yours around when you want it, has some advantages advantages (including, literally, local delivery of your baby).

Or are you going to “split” this, buying either local or long distance, yet doing a National Corvette Museum “Museum Delivery” pick up?

Or maybe you might be buying long distance, having your baby shipped from that dealer by a transporter you have hired?

Or, might you be planning on buying long distance, yet having it GM drop-shipped to a dealer near you via the GM “courtesy delivery” program?

Or are you going to play this by ear? As in the following:

For those who yet do not know how your purchasing plans might work out, a friend, currently a forum member, who decided once the C7’s started to be shipped and his local dealer totally screwed him (dealership stating their agreed-on MSRP price would “need” to be increased a full $10,000), spend two full days on the phone, calling 80 of the biggest dealers trying to find one who had an available C7 for sale. 80 calls equaled 80 failures, but then 24 hours after that initial failure, due to a customer last minute backing out (being unable to qualify for a loan), my firiend got the call he wanted, then had quickly his C7 shipped from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale where he lives.

What are your C8 2020+ purchasing plans as far as dealership choosing?

[meyerweb]

I'm fortunate to live about half an hour from Criswell Chevy and Mike Furman, so that's probably where I'd purchase. The best of a local and a national dealer.

[John]

You are one lucky person meyerweb, to live that close to a true Corvette lover, owns as you know, his 19th now, a 1967 coupe, has humongous annual Corvette allocation, and is superbly honest. How fortunate you are to live so close to Criswell, work/buy directly with Mike Furman (e.g., [email protected])!

[MidEngine]

I have friends who have bought many Corvettes from [email protected], who are planning to get their C8 from him. Also I have heard really good things about another top allocation dealership, MacMulkin, have friends who have bought from them and similarly been extremely pleased with their entire purchases. All of the friends I am talking about live way in excess of 1,000 miles from both of those dealerships, several almost across the country from both.

Both have earned their stellar relationships.

[makav]

Thinking about purchasing mine from Rick Conti, it would be more convenient to buy local however, Rick's youtube channel has me really wanting to buy from him. It would be a delivery from Ohio all the way to Arizona but I'd be willing to wait.

[John]

During the C7’s first few months, a person living in Phoenix had a nearly-signed deal with her local dealership for $10,000 over sticker. She contact me via a PM, and I connected her with one of the above two dealers MidEngine noted, and even with their shipping her car custom and enclosed in a mega-transporter, due to her having bought her there at MSRP, her net savings was a little over $7,700 by her saying “no” to her local dealer. While I am sure there are some dealers near you who would sell for MSRP, advance planning/research, IMO, is a key.

It there is the same or a bigger buying frenzy for the C8 as there was the first few months for the C7, with demand exceeding available order allocations are many if not most dealers, the following thread could be very useful to some:

https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...20-me-corvette

And here is another one, also specially useful for “first time to buying a Corvette” individuals, and/or to those who have not bought at times when demand exceeds supply.

https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...-your-corvette

[Fasttoys]

I live 4 miles from one of the largest GM truck dealers in the south, put my name on the list 1/2015 get the car at MSRP.

Purchased my C7 Z51 and Z06 from that dealer. The 15 Z had a hold on them because the MPG was not approved on the manual to avoid gas guzzler tax. My car was sold without the physical window sticker and was in my garage once released by the government in December of 2014. It was frustrating waiting to get the Corvettes released by GM and the dealers. You can see the blank window sticker on the car. Other cool thing I had the factory flip on my ONSTAR and was able to follow my car from BG to my dealer. The 1st and last picture is from when my Onstar pinged me that the car was close by, I ran out of a meeting and chased it down on the freeway. Another thing I like about my dealer, they will allow me to remove all the plastic and do my own delivery. I am very OCD and they put up with me

[Frenzy36]

I will be purchasing 903 miles away from Mike Furman. I heard he has a great reputation and I am unfamiliar with any of the Chevy dealers here in Florida except Cadillac and Mercedes.

[Mack]

I will talk with Mike, but I have 2 very good local dealers I will need to talk to. As of today, one of those dealers, has a ZR1 for sale. I must wait.......painful but must.

[John]

I live 4 miles from one of the largest GM truck dealers in the south, put my name on the list 1/2015 get the car at MSRP.

Purchased my C7 Z51 and Z06 from that dealer. The 15 Z had a hold on them because the MPG was not approved on the manual to avoid gas guzzler tax. My car was sold without the physical window sticker and was in my garage once released by the government in December of 2014. It was frustrating waiting to get the Corvettes released by GM and the dealers. You can see the blank window sticker on the car. Other cool thing I had the factory flip on my ONSTAR and was able to follow my car from BG to my dealer. The 1st and last picture is from when my Onstar pinged me that the car was close by, I ran out of a meeting and chased it down on the freeway. Another thing I like about my dealer, they will allow me to remove all the plastic and do my own delivery. I am very OCD and they put up with me

There are excellent local dealers and clearly Fasttoys, you have one of them. And because they treat you right, in term, you repeat buy from them. That seems to be such a simple concept, yet more than a few local dealers do not get it.

Glad your is excellent!

[Brian Kissel]

Even though one of my friends is a new car sales manager at a dealership about 50 miles from me, I’ll probably buy from one of the two dealers Midengine spoke of . I’ve Had contact with MacMulkin a year or two ago via email. I made no promises, and they have no time invested yet. Unlike another dealer when I stopped and looked at a C7. They didn’t have what I wanted, but they called or emailed every other day trying to sell me something I wasn’t interested in. Actually happened at two dealerships. I liked Mike’s recent vlog about people trying to get info or help from him so they can buy from a different dealer. I don’t play those games.

Regards. Brian

[Fasttoys]

There are excellent local dealers and clearly Fasttoys, you have one of them. And because they treat you right, in term, you repeat buy from them. That seems to be such a simple concept, yet more than a few local dealers do not get it.

Glad your is excellent!

Thanks not many can put up with me, my wife tells me this daily. Lol just kidding I think?

[JB]

I always enjoy purchasing from forum vendors.

[MikeC8]

Local dealership that I got the first C7 from. With the GM card bonus money. So basically 1600 under msrp. Sept 2013 the first one in the area. Old time family dealership that gets a good amount of allocations.

[George]

One thing I believe is quite important is whether the dealer has a really experienced tech in their service center. Small allocation dealers rarely have someone who is really good and works mostly on Corvettes.