Order now at MSRP or wait 4 months?

[msm859]

Originally Posted by Glen e

nice try...not a z51...try again....

So you tried to "order" and they said what?

[H2OStingray]

When they say "$2000 off" are they just taking 2000 off their already marked up/over msrp price?

[Richardlord]

As I have written in other threads, I got $1,000 below MSRP way back in July. The key is how highly you option your C7. The more options you order the more leverage you have to reason with a dealer. It goes like this - The dealer makes more profit on a highly optioned car sold to you below MSRP than if it sells a base C7 to someone at MSRP. The more options the more of a discount you can negotiate. Plus, given allocation and constraint issues, the dealer knows, and you can argue, that it will sell C7s well before your turn comes up.

As to when to order, as if later timing shall help you, my dealer told me it took 1 1/2 years before it had to appreciably discount the C6 when it first came out. The production figures for the first two years of the C6 confirms his assertion. He says given the demand for the C7, it shall be 2 years or longer before he shall have to discount the C7 below MSRP. He gave me the $1,000 below MSRP because he accepted my reasoning about his profit margin on my highly optioned C7 v selling a base C7 to someone else. Plus I am sure he knows he shall be selling C7s before Chevy gets around to building mine with the likelihood of delays given all my options where one or more of them shall bump up against constraint issues.

My advice to everyone looking to wait to order a C7 to get a discount below MSRP is that waiting likely shall not help you. This car shall continue to be in great demand for several years where supply v lowered demand shall not materialize for the foreseeable future. For one thing, the fact that Chevy is successfully going heavy for the international market lowering US supply shall work against you. I have already railed against GM for not putting US customers, who bailed out GM, first and foremost. Even a Middle Eastern county now touts having a C7 as part of its fire fighting force of all things. There are also folks waiting to order a 2015 figuring by then Chevy shall have worked out the first year bugs and like you hope, may be able to get a discount. Chevy already announced a price increase for the 2015.

So, don’t wait based on figuring you may be able to get a discount when demand wanes, as it shall not for the foreseeable future. Do, do you research as to MSRP v dealer invoice, figure out the dealer profit on your order v selling a base C7 at MSRP, and reason and negotiate with your dealer. Like me, you shall find some smart dealer that will accept your reasoning.

[Stingray]

^ Well put however... my deal was similar to yours and I only had one option (though not the norm; end of Oct so I was lucky) but I do agree that discounts, from a few hundreds to a few thousands, won't be available from every single dealership. There are high volume dealers who will still try to stick as close to sticker as long as possible and as long as they are moving units... and many are. The 2K off for non-Z51's by Macmulkin and Kerbeck has started and this is a good deal presently but Z51 units are still scarce/in-demand so dealers are not so quick to moderately discount them. If it will take many months or a few years to see huge significant discounts, we'll see... time will tell. But I think it's reasonable to predict that as you stated highly-optioned units will be more & more discounted especially more so for non-Z51 C7's.

[Jay_Levine]

I agree with the comments above. Keep in mind you also have to factor the cost of waiting. If you are trading in a car, every month you wait puts more mileage on it and it is a month older. If it flips a model year, it drops more in value. So, if you are going to save say $2K by waiting, how much does your trade drop in that time? Net it and say is it worth the chance that the C7 is discounted vs. the pleasure of driving it sooner. You would need a great crystal ball to know for sure, but I would think in most cases, the net difference will be very low. If you can afford the C7 (and the gas to go in it) is $1k going to make a difference?

[msm859]

I disagree with the comments above. The economy and landscape is NOTHING like it was back in 2004/2005 when the C6 came out. This is a lot of wishful thinking by some dealers. The demand to date has been driven by the hardcore enthusiasts (why they all want Z51's) however, I suspect that pool has shrunk - at least the ones in a position to buy. Less then 2 months after they started delivery it is easy to get a non Z51's for at least $2k off. Within 30 days of going off constraint with the Z51 those orders will all be filled and you will readily find those discounted.

[panerainovice]

After reading through some posts, I see many comments like "my dealer says this" "my dealer says that". You have to believe me when I say this but dealers are the scum of the earth trying to squeeze every penny out of you. They will say anything to get you to pay top dollar. I do probably agree that in 3-4 months the prices might not go down a whole lot but I'm sure there will be some C7s sitting in the lot that the dealers want to move?

[Richardlord]

Let's do the math - For the C6, Chevy put out 18 cars per hour. Chevy has four 10 hr. days for a 40 hr. production week. Chevy now may be a a bit higher or lower, depending on efficiencies and problems. That means 18 x 40 = 720 C7s per week. At 52 weeks (assuming no holiday breaks) that is an optimistic 37,440 per production year. How many C7s has Chevy produced thus far for public consumption? - Again you do the math - Not a lot - Maybe around 4,000 or so - But doubt it. We have 5 weeks until the end of December meaning Chevy can possibly, but not likely, produce about 3,600 more. Given demand, and my C7 on order is a 3LT Z51 Vert fully optioned, I dont expect it to be among the next 3,600 over the next 5 weeks, or anytime soon thereafter. So, I don't see an oversupply of C7s to the point of significant discounts any time in the near future, especially as we get into the Z51 demand and hopefully soon the Vert orders. Then, again, sadly, there are all our would-be C7s being shipped overseas to satisfy what I expect is an ever increasing foreign market diminishing our supply.

[msm859]

Originally Posted by Richardlord

Let's do the math - For the C6, Chevy put out 18 cars per hour. Chevy has four 10 hr. days for a 40 hr. production week. Chevy now may be a a bit higher or lower, depending on efficiencies and problems. That means 18 x 40 = 720 C7s per week. At 52 weeks (assuming no holiday breaks) that is an optimistic 37,440 per production year. How many C7s has Chevy produced thus far for public consumption? - Again you do the math - Not a lot - Maybe around 4,000 or so - But doubt it. We have 5 weeks until the end of December meaning Chevy can possibly, but not likely, produce about 3,600 more. Given demand, and my C7 on order is a 3LT Z51 Vert fully optioned, I dont expect it to be among the next 3,600 over the next 5 weeks, or anytime soon thereafter. So, I don't see an oversupply of C7s to the point of significant discounts any time in the near future, especially as we get into the Z51 demand and hopefully soon the Vert orders. Then, again, sadly, there are all our would-be C7s being shipped overseas to satisfy what I expect is an ever increasing foreign market diminishing our supply.

Actually your math is wrong. GM started production in August and fully ramped it up by September. For a while they were actually working 6 days per week. They have already built over 8,000 (Kerbeck's highest VIN is 7772). The Z51/carbon fiber shortage is a double edge sword. It keeps up the anxiousness of shortages and for people who must have it the prices. However, there is/or soon will be too many base models that will have to be discounted to move. Some of those buyers will come from people who wanted a Z51 but are tired of waiting or got a great deal on a base. Eventually there will be equilibrium in supply and demand - I suspect they could reach that in 30 days with no constraints.
If your vert was ordered by a dealer with allocation you would have had no problem getting it built this year but for your Z51 and perhaps if you have FAY.

[Richardlord]

Originally Posted by msm859

Actually your math is wrong. GM started production in August and fully ramped it up by September. For a while they were actually working 6 days per week. They have already built over 8,000 (Kerbeck's highest VIN is 7772). The Z51/carbon fiber shortage is a double edge sword. It keeps up the anxiousness of shortages and for people who must have it the prices. However, there is/or soon will be too many base models that will have to be discounted to move. Some of those buyers will come from people who wanted a Z51 but are tired of waiting or got a great deal on a base. Eventually there will be equilibrium in supply and demand - I suspect they could reach that in 30 days with no constraints.
If your vert was ordered by a dealer with allocation you would have had no problem getting it built this year but for your Z51 and perhaps if you have FAY.

Great that Chevy started production in August and is up to 8,000. Although, we don't know where all those cars went - to US dealers, overseas, etc. Still, it can build just so many cars per week, around 700+, and as I said, the production for the rest of the year through December shall be around what I calculated. Given the demand, I don't see production equaling demand anytime soon and not within 30 days. My Vert is a Z51 with everything except special paint, auto trans, and competition seats; and so I am not counting on getting it this year. My dealer has allocation, I ordered in July, I have an order #, I am at 1100, Chevy has confirmed my order, and Chevy says my next step is a Target Production Week; but other orders behind me shall bump me if Chevy and my dealer can fill those orders but not mine based on constraints and what it decides to build and when. My dealer (with 4 locations) and lots of allocation says it has more requests than it can fill for the foreseeable future given allocation and constraint limitations. I expect other dealers are in the same position, and this does not even consider all the dealers that did not get allocation that shall get allocation sooner than later and want at least 1 for their showrooms for attraction. Then, there are all those folks waiting for the debugged 2015 model. Then, there is the ever increasing overseas demand. If my dealer is correct, and I believe it is, the C7 shall be in high demand and short supply for over 2 years, as the C6 was for almost 2 years when it came out, where it does not have to appreciably discount. So again, waiting to order to get a significant discount probably won't happen unless one is willing to wait a really long time or accept a base model already produced that most of us are not ordering. I debated to wait or order now, but when I was able to negotiate $1,000 below MSRP I jumped at it. But, my C7 Vert MSRPs at $76,000 and so it would be smart for dealer (mine was) to give $1,000 off MSRP. Some dealers are smarter than others as I have found out in my negotiations with about a dozen. To sum, the C7 likely shall be hot for at least 2 years with supply lower than worldwide demand, and waiting to order 4 months or so to get a sizable discount is unlikely to materialize; and so order now if you want your car within a reasonable wait-time but you can order below MSRP following what worked for me.

[laborsmith]

Bowling Green is a five day eight hour day work week plant. It has been working nine hour days. I am not aware it is assembling on Saturdays. It was four ten hour day work weeks for the last couple of years of C6 production but was only assembling every other week for much of that time.

Laborsmith

[zimm888]

When does the 2015 actually go on sale? Sept?

[laborsmith]

No annoncement and too early for an announcement.

I think your question should be when does the 2015 start production. My guess is the first Monday in August 2013 and will officially go on sale the first Monday in October. There will be several hundred retail deliveries between Labor Day Weekend and the first Monday in October but those not withstanding, the official on sale date should be October 6, 2014.

Laborsmith

[Richardlord]

Originally Posted by laborsmith

Bowling Green is a five day eight hour day work week plant. It has been working nine hour days. I am not aware it is assembling on Saturdays. It was four ten hour day work weeks for the last couple of years of C6 production but was only assembling every other week for much of that time.

Laborsmith

Thanks for the update - Looks like a 40 hr. week and maybe plus 5 - Hope the extra 5 hrs. continues and results in my C7 sooner than I expect