Chevrolet certainly has a hit on its hands with the C8 Corvette Z06 but pricing on the super sports car is ruffling some feathers. Last week we told you about how the Stradman upset some by seemingly flipping his Corvette after buying it at MSRP. Now, a dealer has simply put its Z06 allocation up for auction on Bring a Trailer to the highest bidder which raises a big question. Why does Chevrolet penalize those who flip the car while allowing dealers to slap brand-damaging markups on it?
The Z06 is a hot commodity and demand certainly outweighs supply. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen a number of dealers doing all they can to squeeze every last cent from the car possible through greedy markups. At the same time, GM said last year that it might penalize dealers who demanded: “sums far in excess of MSRP.”
While we haven’t really seen the automaker drop the hammer on any of the countless dealers who’ve done exactly that, we have seen evidence that it’s enforcing another stipulation, flipping the Z06. GM said that it might cancel the warranty coverage on cars sold within six months of their original purchase.
More: Why The Stradman’s 2023 Corvette Z06 Sale Is Stirring Up Controversy
Now, Brooks Weisblat from DragTimes is wondering why customers are getting the short end of the stick while dealers are allowed to markup the car unpenalized. He points to a Z06 listed by the dealer on BringATrailer to highlight his point. To sum up his argument he says “Chevy will void your warranty for trying to flip the car to make money but they’re perfectly ok with dealers making an absolute killing.”
His video has over 20,000 views as of this writing and has made enough of a wave that Chevrolet itself responded in the comment section. “We certainly understand how this situation may be frustrating for you… dealers are independently owned… and have the autonomy to set their own prices… we cannot dictate prices to our dealerships,” it said.
That’s about the standard response when someone complains about dealer markups but it doesn’t actually address Weisblat’s concerns. In fact, in a comment to Carscoops, he made his position even clearer. “If they can’t and don’t dictate what the dealers do with the cars, why are they trying to do so with the actual customers who buy them,” he said.
We’ve also reached out to Chevrolet and GM for further information about their policy here and how it affects customers negatively and we’ll update this article if and when the company gets back to us. It’s worth noting that data strongly suggests that markups like the ones dealers are putting on the Corvette negatively impact customer satisfaction and long-term commitment to a brand.