by Corvette ZR1 buyers will have to wait 12 months before reselling their vehicles or face penalties.
Those who don’t wait will be blacklisted by Chevrolet, and the second buyer will lose the warranty.
The new policy mirrors past Chevrolet rules but doesn’t solve all the issues with the ZR1.
The flagship Corvette ZR1 is almost here, and buyers are ready for it. Of course, resellers would be equally interested—but not for the same reasons. However, Chevrolet seems to have outsmarted their plans with a strategy we’ve heard before. The automaker announced that anyone who sells their ZR1 within a year faces two specific penalties.
First, Chevrolet will blacklist these customers, banning future access to other highly-desired models. Second, they will void the warranty coverage of the respective vehicle. This will surely hurt the second buyer, but without a doubt, Chevrolet hopes this will deter resellers from interfering at all. Trying to sell an almost new car, which starts at $175,000, without any warranty coverage might prove challenging.
A Familiar Plan with Familiar Consequences
This information comes from well-known Corvette dealer and enthusiast Rick Conti. He highlighted a letter from Chevrolet that will be added to every sale of the Corvette ZR1, ZO6, and E-Ray indefinitely. In it, the automaker discloses all the terms of the deal. In general, it’s aimed at punishing resellers and complicating their efforts to quickly make a profit on these highly-sought models.
However, let’s be honest, this plan does little to actually stop resellers in their tracks. What it does is make life miserable for secondary buyers more than anything else. It doesn’t prevent resellers from snatching up the cars in the first place, and it certainly won’t stop dealers from adding those unreasonable markups.
What it will accomplish is sour the ownership experience for some second-hand buyers, however. As Chevrolet emphasizes, it’s the first owner’s responsibility to inform the second owner of this entire scenario.
Inevitably, some resellers will sell the car without disclosing this fact. Then the second owner will lose the warranty coverage even before they register it in their local state.
What Else Could They Do?
Senior Tesla members proposed an interesting idea: maybe Chevy should just offer 12-month, non-negotiable leases on these models. This would force the resellers into a corner, ensuring the vehicles end up with people who actually want to drive them, not just resell them. On the other hand, Chevrolet could go around everyone by selling directly to buyers, eliminating unnecessary markups and tracking the vehicles in real time. It’s a thought, isn’t it?
But until that happens, it seems Chevy’s “plan” is just another way to punish the wrong people while allowing resellers to still do their thing. Paradox.
