The 2014 Corvette Stingray is in high demand and GM says they're not going to up the supply. While this is likely good for the company, it's created shortages at dealers and huge markups are now inevitable. Now one California dealer thinks you should pay $25,000 over list price for the privilege of owning a new 'Vette.
It's not rare for a new car to be marked up over the retail price, especially something with as much buzz as a new Corvette or a 911 GT3. Whatever price you can get for a vehicle is a fair price, so long as both parties fully understand what's going on in the transaction.
That being said, $25,000 is a full third of the price of a new Corvette. Courtesy Chevrolet in the San Francisco Bay Area seems to think that it's a fair price for a C7, as reader Aashish found out on a recent visit to the dealer, where he saw two Corvettes marked up $25,000 under the column identified as "dealer installed equipment."
I was surprised that they had 3 of them out front. One was red that was sold, one was black and then they had the blue car in their showroom. The blue is beautiful! When I asked what was so special about the car to have a $25k markup, he told me it was a numbered car.... I told him they are all numbered. And the sales guys said, well it was a specially numbered car from the first set of cars built. Whatever.
According to Courtesy's website, the two Corvettes that have been marked up are both equipped with the Z51 package. The black car is an auto and the blue is a stick. I'm fairly certain both are 3LT equipped, based on the MSRP.
I called Courtesy Chevrolet to find out why exactly they were marked up so much, and even though the receptionist was one of the most welcoming and polite people I've ever spoken to on the phone, I got sent straight to voicemail when I asked to chat about the Vettes with someone.
This 33 percent markup is the largest we've seen so far for the new Corvette, and it makes sense. While the 'Vette is brand new, in a few months, it won't be so brand new anymore. Supply will catch up with demand and pricing will get back to a sane level.
Courtesy Chevrolet has to cash in now on its first-run cars. Even though $25,000 seems like a big markup, I bet that someone will pay it. This dealer is near Facebook, Google, Intel, Apple, and other big tech companies, so chances are there is someone with plenty of money to buy a new Corvette at a giant markup and not think twice about it.
Or, they could just wait three months and get a car at a decent price. Either or.