A Georgia man couldn’t believe his luck when he won a C8 Corvette from a scratch-off lottery ticket, but he’s no longer feeling so fortunate after the lottery he purchased the ticket from realized it couldn’t immediately follow through with its end of the deal.
According to Corvette Forum, Dennis Kahler recently purchased a scratch-off lottery ticket because it had one of his favorite cars on it, a C8 Corvette. His card ended up being the grand prize winner, much to his surprise, entitling him to a new C8 Corvette Stingray and a $250,000 cash prize.
The problems started when Kahler reached out to Georgia Lottery to redeem his car and cash. Virtually every new C8 Corvette already has an owner, so it’s been difficult for Kahler to find the vehicle he’s looking for. Furthermore, many dealerships want additional markup for the vehicles that have not been spoken for.
There’s another problem, too. Georgia Lottery assigned the Corvette a value of $107,000, which would allow Kahler to receive some cash on top if his desired specification came in under that amount. He wants a Rapid Blue 2LT trim level model with the Z51 performance package, which rings in at $80,465. The first dealership picked by the lottery affiliation, Five Star Chevrolet, placed a $10,000 markup on the model they had in stock, which Kahler balked at.
“I used to be a general sales manager for a dealership, so I know the way things operate,” he told Corvette Forum “I’m not giving up the money on my purchase by using them.”
The lottery later found other dealerships that were willing to sell the car at Chevrolet’s MSRP, but these stores said they probably wouldn’t be able to get him a car until the third quarter of this year. That’s not very surprising, seeing as the C8 Corvette is in high demand and has faced numerous production setbacks in the past 11 months or so. Despite being a lottery winner, it seems as though Kahler will have to wait until later this year to receive his C8 Corvette, just like many other eager prospective owners that are awaiting their cars.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more mid-engine Corvette news, Corvette C8 news, Corvette news, Chevrolet news, and 24/7 GM news coverage.
Comments
What would GM be like if they put the same effort into there other cars that they put into the Corvette?
Bankrupt. Nobody will pay luxury car prices for a mass-market Chevrolet.
The margins on the Corvette are about 3x higher than industry average, and around 2x higher than luxury brands like BMW. Given the average selling price of a Corvette is around 3x of the rest of the company, selling one Corvette is the same as selling 8-9 cars.
The Corvette buyer is on average 10 years older than other new cars, and has a household income 1.7x of national average.
STOP PROMOTING WHAT YOU CANNOT FOLLOW THROUGH WITH! “IT’S MARKET BLACKMAIL”
Bowling has added a 2nd shift for high demand, something unheard of since starting production of the 1984 Corvette in Bowling Green , KY. COVID has created a lot of problems for manufarurers, suppliers and employee safety are a balancing act! Be realistic, the supply chain is problematic when outside vendors are affected by the same issues on a global basis.
Very true. All businesses and their employees are hurting. Let’s hope everything gets better sooner rather than later.
That sucks. At least he will eventually get his Vette but lotteries should be more on the ball when it comes to issues like this. I just hope the rims don’t destroy themselves before he drives it off the lot. My congratulations to him though.
Just take the cash & wait for the vette, what’s the big deal?
If it was me, I would get the state lottery people to cough up the $107,000.00 plus the $250,000.00 & be HAPPY!
I’d take the cash too. I’ve heard the new C8’s have a few issues with them. The rims falling apart is not optimal. Insurance, no matter where you live is probably sky high for a new Corvette. Yup, I’d take the money and run.
$10,000 mark up wow that’s cheap. My local dealer had one this week in his showroom and had a $15,000 markup. believe it or not that car was gone in 5 days. If you want something bad enough you’ll pay the price to say I have brand new C8 Corvette!
And earn interest on invested cash and hope for a lucky future C8 offer.
I know. With so many people out of work due to COVID it’s surprising to see how these cars are flying off the lot at the prices being asked. And your correct about the markups. Dealerships can pretty much charge what they want for an in demand car. They’ll screw you six ways from Sunday to clean out every last penny in your pockets. But that’s been going on since the invention of the automobile.
Is GM OK with these Markups ? That should be ILLEGAL …
They’re very OK with the markups. It’s money in the dealerships pocket. For example, a new corvette costs the dealership roughly between 70/to 80k depending on the model. They’ll mark it up in this case to 107k when the car sells the dealership pays GM back the price they paid for it then they pocket the difference. On this car they would make about 20 to 30k. And that’s before they smart doing the up selling. Things like extended warranty, car prep, and just about everything else they can think of to get as much cash as possible from the buyer. And it’s all perfectly legal. Always read the fine print on the contract. Don’t sign off until you’ve read everything, even if it takes you hours to read it. Don’t let a salesperson pressure you. Ever.
Supply and demand. Nothing illegal about it. Should it be illegal for dealers to sell under MSRP to move slow selling models?
It’s illegal for GM to set a maximum, or minimum, price. Antitrust law.
msrp= suggested if dealers were allocated and ordered but not pre-sold they can sell it for whatever they want to it is not like anti-scalping laws apply to vehicles it is not plywood and a hurricane is coming.honorable and dealers are not 2 words that come up in the same conversation often.
So how does a car dealership work, sir? LOL! Beware, if they sell too many Corvettes it won’t exclusive anymore and everybody will just laugh when they see one.
How can I get ahold of this guy. I live in florida and know of a chevy dealership local that has multiple C8’s in stock.
My best guess would be to get in touch with the Georgia State Lotto board. Tell them about your idea, then they might pass on your info to the winner and have him contact you. Or they might even ask you the name of the dealership and have a C8 sent to the dealer in Georgia. That’s a really nice offer of you to help out. I wish you all the best.