Everybody hoping to make some quick bucks from some of the hottest cars released last year seems to be facing the bitter reality that the market may be cooling off. Cars that used to be able to be sold for a substantial profit don’t sell at all, because the sellers with extremely high reserves are asking, which simply never gets met. The most recent buy and flip happened with two C8 Corvette Z06s sold on two different auction sites. Of course, neither of them meet their starting prices.
In case you lost it:
First discovered by CorvettebloggerThe first Z06 listed on Bring an introa website that has exploded during the pandemic and offers the car world good things And bad mirror about how wild the market is. A 70th anniversary C8 Z06 Convertible is listed, perhaps the more luxurious of the two, listed by Loehmann Blasius Chevrolet, a dealer in Waterbury, CT. That information was confirmed in the auction comments before the auction ended.
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A photo of the window sticker was included with photos of the car and shows that this Z06 had an MSRP of $146,340. But the auction ended on 3/2 with a final high bid of $222,000. Still, at that price, the reserve wasn’t met. I reached out to Bring a Trailer to find out what that reserve was, but they responded with, “we are unable to divulge reserves as public information.” Wanting more, I reached out to the dealer to see if I could get the price that they would actually sell it for on the lot. Instead, they sent over information for other Z06 the car was actually for sale on their lot (it wasn’t the same car as the one for sale on BaT – the VIN was different.However, the 2LZ that wasn’t auctioned was listed for the price. MSRP is $249,990.)
The fact that a dealer has this for sale and it has never been sold says a lot. “This vehicle has no title as it has never been sold to a private party owner. It is being offered together with the Certificate of Origin from the manufacturer and the sales agent will assist the buyer with the registration and certification.” description says. The more likely story is that this dealer received the Z06 allotment, ticked it and not at all, possibly because of that tick. Still wanting to get something out of it, the dealer thought they should try bidding… and failed.
The second C8 Z06 has been listed on Cars & Bidand again, like the Bring the Trailer auction, didn’t meet the reserve when the auction ended on 2nd March. Black 2023 Z06 with red interior with MSRP window stickers was originally $131,255 and received only 11 bids and the final high bid $178,569. I also reached out to Cars & Bids to see if anyone could tell me a starting price, but they didn’t share that information. They sent me a link to another link Auction C8 Z06 ended on Valentine’s Day. Owned by YouTuber TheStradman, his C8 Z06 actually sold for $218,200.
Both of these auctions show that the prevailing sentiment of buying and selling cars, especially at the end of the year, doesn’t automatically lead to a good payday. Both sellers could make a good profit from these cars, but wanted more than the cars were worth. Their loss, I guess.
It also shows that treating mass-produced versions of things as an investment to make money is a foolish move, and this is made clear by the Corvette and Another recent example auction for a profit. So if you, or anyone else you know, is thinking of selling or auctioning a sports car or hot hatch, sell at your own risk. It will ultimately be entertaining for the rest of us.
