What is you car worth?

[Dead91silvia]

Ok, so I have been trying to sell my 2000 Legacy GT wagon and havent had much luck. I got curious and looked up Kelly Blue Book, and was a little surprised that my car is not worth dirt!

My BH wagon, according to blue book is worth $4500, in Very good shape.

My 98 GT BD is worth $4100, in excellent shape.

I dont know about you, but finding any of these cars for this amount would be for a POS that needs a lot of work and also I wouldnt sell my BD for anything less then $7000, even without the motor swap done yet. I have my wagon listed for $6500 and thats about average for what they sell for.

How to figure what they are really worth...
Hit up Craigs List and auto trader. Know that your car is not worth what the dealer will sell them for. After looking up both I find that my car is in the middle in pricing. On Auto Trader I find my car is under-priced.

Here is a perfect sample of how KBB is full of crap.
I said I wanted to buy a 1992 Nissan 240sx 5 speed coupe. I look it u and what they list for value is $1800 in EXCELLENT condition. This is a list of cars that I found where the cars are in Excellent shape, or at least close...
-1992 240sx with an SR swap and front end swap-$6500... Not stock... No joke, only 1992 listed in Seattle.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/2961102184.html

-1993 240sx hit in the front end with Silvia swap-$2800... Not stock, but alsmost at KBB price and beat to crap.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/2966156961.html

-1989 240sx clean! I found one! Amazing! It's a 89, not the 92 I was looking for, has a single cam and miss matched wheels, but it's all stock! But it does have a dented hood, missing the headliner, has dash problems, and the guy doesnt even have the title in hand. This car is $3000...
http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/cto/2977868267.html

My point is, no matter what KBB says, it's all supply and demand. I just looked up Legacy GT's from 97-99 and I found a few under $4000, but they all need work in one form or another or just beat up.

Know what your car is worth. I have a few things left to do to mine before I take mine in for an appraisal, but this is something I'm going to do because I have a feeling that Insurance would not pay the $7000 I feel my BD is worth with all the JDM parts and also the fact that my car is in almost new condition despite the high miles.

I hope this helps some of you in one way or another. I hate to see my friends not get what they should if they are selling their car or if it has been totaled.

[Reason]

It's only worth what people are willing to pay for it. For what my car is listed in KBB is what they think its worth. The value of my car to me is what someone is willing to pay me to get rid of it. Money talks, everything is for sale. If someone really wanted my car they just need to find my sweet spot lol. So feel free to make an offer if any of you are interested :smt006

[GTDrifter]

^^ I'll give you a beer for your car lol

[Dead91silvia]

It's only worth what people are willing to pay for it. :smt006

This right here is the number one rule!

I sold my no options, hub capped 93 240sx for $3400 last year because someone wanted a super clean car to start with. He tried the blue book trick, but he knew that I and he both knew it wouldnt work.

Only reason I posted this is I hate to see people not get what the car is worth. A friend sold a nice little Toyota truck for $1500 because thats what blue book was and the going rate was $5000 at the time.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Robin, if you weren't 2000 miles away, I'd buy your BH. Around here a car that clean with those miles would be worth 6.5 - 8k. It's all about location, and KBB doesn't take that into account well enough, IMO.

A small car dealership (only does used stuff) around here sells a lot of Subarus. They're constantly pricey, but they move their inventor really well. It's just the area - people love Outbacks and Foresters around here.

[Yamazaki]

I hope this helps some of you in one way or another. I hate to see my friends not get what they should if they are selling their car or if it has been totaled.
And you help friends not pay more than they need to when buying a car. I piad $1K less for the Outback with the advice that you gave me.
So even though I've said it before, Thank you!

[Dead91silvia]

Robin, if you weren't 2000 miles away, I'd buy your BH. Around here a car that clean with those miles would be worth 6.5 - 8k. It's all about location, and KBB doesn't take that into account well enough, IMO.

A small car dealership (only does used stuff) around here sells a lot of Subarus. They're constantly pricey, but they move their inventor really well. It's just the area - people love Outbacks and Foresters around here.

Wanna buy it for $6K? :grin:



I hope this helps some of you in one way or another. I hate to see my friends not get what they should if they are selling their car or if it has been totaled.
And you help friends not pay more than they need to when buying a car. I piad $1K less for the Outback with the advice that you gave me.
So even though I've said it before, Thank you!

:smt023 Your welcome!

[kimokalihi]

Most of the time any mods done to the car only kill the value of it, not the other way around unless you can find someone who doesn't want to or doesn't know how to do the work themselves and is willing to pay you more for what you're done to it.

Example, a girl from my work just bought a 2000 cavalier with a supercharger and a bunch of mods done to it to make it a show car for $10K from another coworker. No joke. She came in and told me she bought it and I laughed and said how much and she told me that and my jaw dropped. She also told me she was looking for a subaru but couldn't find one she liked for 10 grand and I was like no effing way. You can get a nice WRX all day long for that much. And later that day I was on NASIOC and saw a nice WRX that I'd love to have for $8,500.

I guess shoot for the female crowd. It's the 2nd girl he's sold that car to. First one brought it back a month later when something broke on it and he bought it back from her for like $4 grand.

[kimokalihi]

Funny thing is I saw her a few days later at work again and she told me how she got beat by a subaru on the freeway and was all upset about it. ha. What blows my mind is how the hell did she get financed for $10K on that car?? She must have saved up or something but that just doesn't seem like something she'd do and I think she has a DUI on her record but I'm not sure if that affects anything.

[Dead91silvia]

Well, that kinda of thing is a little different. Your not getting hard to get OEM JDM parts for a Cavalier... ROFL!!!!

[Huffer]

I cannot FIND a decent BH for under $6k here in NE Ohio...

I found an 05 Outback 3.0R for $8k, with 140k on it... rediculous.

[kimokalihi]

That's what I'm saying though. If you price your car for how much you believe it to be worth with JDM parts and upgrades you narrow your target market way down and if you can find a buyer great but chances are you'll have a hard time finding this niche buyer. Craigslist is a good place to base your pricing on and shoot a bit higher than average but I wouldn't recommend bothering with autotrader anymore. Nobody uses it and their prices are usually ridiculous.

[TGX4776]

Most of the time any mods done to the car only kill the value of it, not the other way around unless you can find someone who doesn't want to or doesn't know how to do the work themselves and is willing to pay you more for what you're done to it.

Example, a girl from my work just bought a 2000 cavalier with a supercharger and a bunch of mods done to it to make it a show car for $10K from another coworker. No joke. She came in and told me she bought it and I laughed and said how much and she told me that and my jaw dropped. She also told me she was looking for a subaru but couldn't find one she liked for 10 grand and I was like no effing way. You can get a nice WRX all day long for that much. And later that day I was on NASIOC and saw a nice WRX that I'd love to have for $8,500.

I guess shoot for the female crowd. It's the 2nd girl he's sold that car to. First one brought it back a month later when something broke on it and he bought it back from her for like $4 grand.


pics?

[kimokalihi]

Found some on facebook.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/338110_347738485251781_100000468971851_1300154_1193709311_o.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248824_228838863808411_100000468971851_879424_6914616_n.jpg

[kimokalihi]

He told me that engine holds the record for the highest HP 4 cylinder ever built. Not stock obviously but he said they hold the record for building one.

[TGX4776]

lol. how many horses does it have?

[Huffer]

He told me that engine holds the record for the highest HP 4 cylinder ever built. Not stock obviously but he said they hold the record for building one.

In a Cavalier or in a 4 cylinder in general?

[TGX4776]

lol thats what i was wondering. I know of some pretty powerful subarus (75k HP+)

[Dead91silvia]

He told me that engine holds the record for the highest HP 4 cylinder ever built. Not stock obviously but he said they hold the record for building one.

I highly doubt that... Knowing that I have a friend with a 800+ WHP Integra, I find that really doubtful... I would like to see the dyno sheet.
I'm sure it could take down that pro-street Cavalier they had a few years back :smt005

And to me, that is not even close to a $10K car, but it all comes down to what it's worth to someone else. You can get much better for
10K around here...

[Dead91silvia]

http://www.dragracingonline.com/features/ecotech_1.html

[kimokalihi]

That might be the one he was talking about. Is that the same engine? I meant that engine from that model was supposedly holding the record for highest hp 4 cylinder, not this actual car. I think he said it was pushing like 240 to the wheels or something. Running 12 lbs of boost I think.

[kimokalihi]

lol thats what i was wondering. I know of some pretty powerful subarus (75k HP+)

75,000??

[Wiscon_Mark]

I think he meant 750.

But seriously. Saying he has "the most powerful 4 cylinder ever built" because it shares the engine design is like someone with a Mustang II saying he owns one of the fastest Muscle cars ever built.

[TGX4776]

lol yeh i corrected it with a post but i didnt post...

[peter]

It really does depend on where your at and what other cars are selling for on craigslist and such. I just did a KBB on my 98 BD and was slightly surprised that it was almost 5k in excellent condition. Not saying mine is excellent, but Ive seen beat up ones with 200k+ miles going for $3-4k. For the most part mine is pretty clean, has a good amount of recent maintenance and new parts, oh and only a little over 87,000 miles on the bulletproof 2.2 :grin:
I wonder what I could get for it.. that is if I ever wanted to sell it

[98outbackpdx]

if my 98 Outback got totaled i would probably get about what i paid for it almost 3 years ago and with 70k miles less. i paid $4,500 and the car had 182k miles.

[csweston]

Blue book on my wagon is almost $5,000 in very good condition. I could likely get about $5,500 just based on what others are going for around here and my low mileage. So not far off from blue book. The hippies go crazy about their subarus here.

This may actually happen soon....

[Yamazaki]

KBB doesn't have an entry for the S401 and it's not like I can compare it to others in the area. I wonder what people would think it was worth if it went up in Ebay Motors or Craigslist...

[Dead91silvia]

KBB doesn't have an entry for the S401 and it's not like I can compare it to others in the area. I wonder what people would think it was worth if it went up in Ebay Motors or Craigslist...

I would almost pay to see that listing! :smt005

If I do KBB with my BD with low miles (98K, not the 240K it has), I get a rating for $6000. Funny thing is, my car is in such good shape
everyone thinks it has less then a 100K on it. Yamazaki has seen it if you dont believe me.
Well, other then the hood that has bug guard rub marks and will be painted soon.

[csweston]

^ thats about the mileage that Mine has.

[Thomistopheles]

KBB puts mine at $3500...$2500 more than I paid for it. Rare for wisconsin since subarus sell fast and sell high.

[Wiscon_Mark]

At the current mileage (223k) with all of the body rust, about 1900 private sale, or 900 trade in. Ugh.

[TGX4776]

my car is worth $10,500 and i paid $7,500.

[Yamazaki]

I consider all my cars priceless....:smile:
Having said that, I sold the GT-B for $3800 and the Cappuccino for $4000.

[Dead91silvia]

Some guy asked me how much for my 98 BD today, I said he could have it for $8000.... He thought that was high, and then I said "I dont feel like selling it, but if you gave me that much, its yours! haha

[SilentRacer]

As mentioned before location is everything. Around here the general rule is a car as a private sale is worth its KBB trade in value. Also, nadaguides.com is a much more realistic
price guide for used cars that I've seen the local suby dealer use. For new cars, truecar.com is a great resource to find out what you should pay in your area.