1st Post. Looking to Enter the Viper World. Have some important questions!!!

[artman]

Hi there. I live in Charlotte and have visited that dealer in Cary. I had blank check in hand, but I was not impressed by their attitude (my salesperson) and lack of professionalism although they do have many vipers in stock (but not the one I wanted). A Honda dealer 15 min south of me has a yellow '01 for $65,000. Else, my advice would be to look out of state. Email me if you would like to discuss further.

ARTHUR. . .

[ElDiablo Viper]

You can get 02 GTS for dealer cost + $500 which should be about 71K. I sold my 01 Corvette coupe for 37K however I had 13K MOD's. Try to sell it yourself andy ou can get about 38K if you want to sell quick.

[Ron Hickey]

$71K for a 2002 GTS without stripes (stripes are a $3000 option) is a decent sale price. But a 2001 should go for $4-5K less. It doesn't sound like your dealer wants your business; take it elsewhere. As far as the trade-in on your Z06, if GM is still offering 0 percent financing on new Corvettes, that can't help the resale value on your 01. And you always take a major hit in depreciation on a one year old car.

Traditionally, the Viper has enjoyed a pretty decent resale value. I would speculate that 3 years from now, the GTS will retain a high resale value. This is based on the fact that GTS production ends this summer, and, at this time, DC claims they have no intentions of building a Gen III coupe. Even if they change their mind, the earliest model year we'll probably see one is 2006. So in 2005, the coupes will have been out of production for several years (the Gen III Viper is a convertible), and there will have been less than 10,000 of them built 1996-2002. I also believe that many potential buyers will be more attracted to the muscular lines of the Gen II coupes and the classic RT/10 than the styling of the Gen III SRT/10. So that should help keep the resale value up.

There may be a short dip in resale value this fall and winter as buyers of the 2003 SRT/10 dump their current Vipers and the preowned Viper market gets flooded. But after a year, things should level off and the resale value should creep back up.

There are, of course, other scenarios in the next few years that could affect resale: (1) the economy fails to recover and tanks again, (2) gas prices skyrocket and it becomes socially unacceptable to own a high-horsepower gas-guzzler, and (3) DC's German management decides that the Viper is not profitable enough and/or represents a threat to their Mercedes sports car market, so they decide to stop Viper production. Whether any of these will occur is yet another topic for speculation which I won't address.

[King GTS]

That deal SUCKS!

I bought a 97 GTS from Hendrick Dodge a few years ago. Flew over there for the day & the guys were pretty cool. The GTS is going for @ $67K - $68K now though. Especially since you're talkin @ gettin an 01! I think that was their starting point - work em down.

[Mike Brunton]

$68k for an '02 GTS is a fair deal, but an '01 should be a lot less.

Also, regarding the Z06 price - you can get brand new '02s for 44k I believe, but if you sold privately, you could probably get closer to the $40k range, especially if you are in an area where they are not discounting new '02s yet. It depends on what you want to deal with. Try advertising your Z on the CorvetteForum and see if you get any takers at $40k, and then call Bill Pemberton at Woodhouse Dodge and get the '01 for a very fair price. I bet you'll save >$5k over the deal you're being offered now.

[99 R/T 10]

EBAY! Seriously, check all sources like autotrader.com, cars.com MSN.com. Do your homework.

Mike

[rgifford]

Check Email.

[Hisser]

By now you should be familiar with the Viper dealers on this board and know who you should go talk to...

[jimandela]

WOODHOUSE!

[PaulB]

$35,000 - $38,000 is about all you can expect for trade-in on the '01 Z06. Like someone said, 16,500 is fairly high mileage for an '01 car. The oil consumption problem and the '02 405 HP are black eyes for the '01 ZO6's. It's not right, but that's the way it goes.

Price-wise, you would definitely be better off selling to an individual.

One other thing to consider is the amount of tax you will be paying on a car with no trade in. That is, when you trade, the taxable amount is the difference between trade-in and purchase price of the new purchase. When you buy without a trade-in, the entire amount of the new car purchase is taxable.

Hope that helps some.

[SSpeed Racer]

No better person the Bill Pemberton!!!! I know everyone talks about him... and I personally would not purchase another vehicle with out talking to him first!! I bought mine Dec 31st and Bill has stood behind my purchase since day one. If I ever had a question Bill was right there on the phone with me giving me the advise I needed. You wont go wrong. Just call him and see what you think!!!

1-800-889-1893

[Janni]

E-MAIL me - I can help. Your experience at the "local" dealer was typical, I am afraid...

We have several GOOD NC dealers who will treat you right and help you with your trade. As usual, the best deal would be for you to sell your car on your own and buy the Viper without a trade.

We can also help with out of state dealers who have larger inventories...

Or call - 919.782.3495....

[Dan Woods]

Call John Gastman at Roanoke Dodge in Illinois (800-541-6858). He had a 2001 GTS and an RT10 in Yellow the last time I talked to him. You can't go wrong here based on my experience.

I have a MY Z06 and a '96 GTS coupe and the GTS is more HP but less comfort. They're both great cars, but you'll get a lot more attention in a Viper.

Good luck with your tough decision.

[SoCal Craig]

I think you can get a better deal. I bought mine from Mr. Bill and was very satisfied with the entire transaction.

[slaughterj]

Hey, were you the guy who was at the stang dyno day at true blue last Fall? If so, then we met, drop me an email (I was the one with the silver viper).