03 Envoy and a Ferrari...

["Jeff Krause" <jeff@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Whew, is ol Envoy boy gonna get ROASTED in here! We had a 94 Ferrari 348 TB
with 9k miles on it a while back and a gentleman missed seeing the car on
the way to the Chevy store on Friday evening. Monday, he DID notice it, and
stopped in with his 36 hr old black/black 2002 Corvette 6 sp coupe. ( You
KNOW where this is going, don't you?) The window sticker, which I still
have, was $47,900 with the Premium Pack #2 etc. All in all, a nice Corvette
if you are into that sort of thing. The selling dealer would not put a buy
bid on the car AT ANY PRICE. They had a hard enough time selling the thing
to begin with, they sure as hell didn't want it back.

The highest bid we got for a 300 mile, 3 day old car, was $33k. Sounds like
highway robbery, but let's look at it from a dealer's perspective. They
didn't give the damn thing away to begin with, so let's say they made $4k on
an almost $50k car. You really need to be $4-5k cheaper than a new one or
you won't get anyone interested in it. If you can swing $42k, why not just
buy a new one? Then you have the matter of 0% financing, which makes another
$5k difference in someone's total cost, or close to $100/mo.

So the car depreciated about Fifteen GRAND as soon as he signed his name.
And a Black/Black Corvette is pretty good merchandise.

I wish Mr. Envoy all the luck in the world, and I truly hope he enjoys the
truck enough to keep it 6-8 years. But if he changes his mind in the next 48
mo, he will find out just what an 'expensive car to own' really looks like.
And it isn't an E36 BMW! As a point of reference, a 1997 Chevy Blazer with
60k on it is now a $6500 truck. They were over $30k new. A 97 328iS with
similar miles is worth over $20 Grand. I've told people over and over, the
reason I'm driving old BMWs and Porsches is because I can't AFFORD a new
Civic! :)

Jeff Krause
The Driver's Edge
http://driversedge.com/
Make your Hobby Pay You...
317-506-7314

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