Convertibles discounted heavier than coupes?
 

I'm a current a Camaro driver and have been looking at an upgrade...still on the fence between a high-end Camaro (ZL1, convertible SS, etc), a used C6, or a C7. Also considering an Audi S4, the advantage of which is that for the same price point as a C7, it leases better which would free up the equity in the Camaro. I also have an A4 as a winter beater, and if I got the S4 I would downsize to 1 car. The C7 is top choice, but it's budget and practicality that hold me back...but I keep finding myself revisiting it. :focus:

Looking around New England, I'm seeing big dealers advertising coupes as MSRP and convertibles about $5000 off? Why is this? Equipment is not a big deal as long as it has Nav, so 1LT is fine....and it seems like the least expensive ones on the market are heavily discounted convertibles? And in reality, most of the coupes end up being 3LT and MSRP? Am I missing something?

According to Kerbeck who is one of the larger dealers, they can discount the convertibles because there is much more demand for the coupes. So they are discounting by 5k and some coupes for 2k.

If u want one, this is a good chance to get it.

Plus many of the discounters are volume dealers with overstock of convertible units since winter/spring and especially north of the Mason Dixon line. You'll definitely be able to get a good deal on one... I did. Cruising in a 'vert Stingray with the top down elevates the fun C7 experience even more.

Agreed. I'm actually ambivalent....I'd love a convertible, and would definitely go that route if I settled for a Camaro SS...but I'd be grateful for the C7 to the point where any of them would be fine, and it's just shocking to me that right now in New England- a convertible is the least expensive point of entry (~$56,500).

If a dealer advertises $5,000 off..is that just the best possible deal and I should run? Or is anything stackable or eligible for a higher discount, such as Credit Union program, GM Private offer, any sort of Loyalty or Conquest Program, etc?

Sadly, the Chevy $1K Private offer excludes the 2014 Corvette.

Bummer! And nothing for Conquest or Owner Loyalty either then I'm guessing?

As one who went from a 2011 Camaro 2SS, IOM, Coupe with an automatic, to a 2014 C7 Convertible, with a 7 speed manual, no regrets!! Bought mine in April and got $2000 off MSRP (down to $59,915) and got a fair trade-in amount for the Camaro. Obviously we have a little better weather (longer top-down time) here in Oklahoma than you do in the Northeast, but I wouldn't let that stop you.

Good luck with the decisions...

5K off at select dealers would be a minimum for now... as for the best of the best, you'll even get a tad better deal by using a GM supplier discount (~6K off) and likely the best deal with GM employee discount (nearly 10K off in my case) depending on the options the car has. Another caveat is that not all dealers will honor supplier or employee pricing so you'll have to contact each dealership to see.

Do you know the parameters of the Employee Pricing? Is it a fixed percent off?

That's actually the other curveball I hadn't mentioned...I'm employed by a dealer group that owns a Chevrolet store. I asked them for info on a Camaro SS lease, and it wasn't that impressive. I'd purchase or lease by the way, but I work specifically at an Audi store and I know our employee deals are best for leasing, and are open to anybody in our dealer group. Our Chevy store has pretty minimal Corvettes and Camaros, but there's an enormous/agressive Corvette facility about 30 minutes away. That's what got me thinking about it....they have $62-63k verts advertised $5k off. The two Stingrays in my group are DEEP into the $60's. But maybe they could locate something if the discount is right. Can you give me more details on the discount, and if employees within a dealer group are eligible?

You can get employee and supplier prices here, also GM credit Union member discount is same as supplier price.

https://www.gmfamilyfirst.com/

I assume you won't be able to get the discount and the employee pricing

I agree... GMS pricing (aka employee pricing) is literally thousands of $ below dealer cost/invoice and afaik no other incentives can be used in addition to that. Saving between 13%-15% off of the sticker is a substantial amount and presently a large amount of dealers will not honor this.

I agree with that completely. If the discount is as heavy as Stingray suggested, there's really not room to do anything else. Programs like that usually eat up all dealer markup save for maybe 1%, and are incentivized by the manufacturer.

I was only hoping to stack a Private Offer, or get a better deal with the Credit Union Program when the best I was seeing was $5k off. I know they DON'T do employee pricing on a ZL1 so I was assuming it wasn't applicable to a Stingray either.

Believe it or not, the Farm Bureau rebate is applicable on the Stingray. It's only $500, but it is something. And we started honoring GMS/GSU a little while ago to help move the convertibles that are starting to stack up. I'm also doing it on all '14's and '15 orders.