In yet another episode of dealers finding new ways to screw customers, Mac Haik Chevrolet in Houston, TX is our newest contestant. The Texas based Chevrolet dealer went viral earlier for trying to sway a customer into paying over $90,000 over MSRP on the upcoming 2023 Corvette Z06. In this day and age, dealer markups run rampant, with manufacturers themselves saying to knock it off or face allocations being cut. However, to the dismay of most consumers, dealers still insist on making a quick buck by trying up the price of certain vehicles over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
None more than the presumably highly sought after new Z06. The most powerful naturally aspirated V8 to ever graze American streets usually comes with some sort of demand. This dealership tried to cash in. According to Twitter user Zerin Dube, Mac Haik attempted to make a customer sign an agreement which required a deposit of $6,000 and moreover, the car be sold at $90,000 over MSRP… that’s approaching exotic supercar territory. The new Z06 will start at MSRP at $106,395, bringing the price of this car from Mac Haik to just a hair under $200,000 excluding taxes.
That was before the internet stepped in. The picture of this “agreement” went viral and spread throughout car and Corvette groups. It was plastered all over the internet and Mac Haik had to do some shoddy damage control. Turning off comments on their Instagram and social media didn’t work, so they just deleted them all together. Until finally, the devastation got bad enough that the general manager of Mac Haik, Josh Potts announced that the dealership would lose the $90,000 markup and all Z06 orders will be sold at MSRP.
Potts attributed the outrageous balloon in price to car flippers, who had previously sold C8 Corvettes for profit soon after they purchased them when the dealership sold them at MSRP so the dealership decided they would just cut out the middleman and make the profit themselves. Seems legit. In addition, all previous orders that were sold over MSRP for the Z06 will receive a refund for the difference in price. Even if the dealership pulled the trigger the wrong way, we’re glad that at least they ended up doing the right thing and the consumers don’t get run over by these dealer adjustments.
On the “flip” side of things, Chevrolet themselves understands that the Z06 is a vehicle that car flippers are licking their chops at. Chevrolet has offered incentives (or punishments) to people who flip the car or people who decide to keep them. Chevy has offered $5,000 worth of incentives received in the form of My Chevrolet Rewards points (500,000 to be exact) to owners who keep their car for 12 months and has threatened to void warranties on the Z06 if it’s sold within the first year by a private party. On the markup end, Chevrolet sent a forbidding letter to dealerships specifying that markups were not part of the company’s culture and how they operate, but obviously that hasn’t gotten anywhere.
However, as long as the internet keeps doing their thing and us car lovers who have a shred of ethics keep banding together, it seems like that’s the only surefire solution to keeping dealers honest. And who knows, maybe Ford is onto something here by trying to eradicate dealers altogether, wouldn’t that be great?
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