s/h pricing - Dogs or dreamers

I guess you've all been in the same spot as me - looking around as you

do, taking in all you can, but one thing I jsut cant get my head around

is the huge variations in pricing.

For instance, a browse on autotrader...

The base line for anything seems to be £3k, which i guess is getting you

a right early example of a car with high mileage, little service history and

has been hammered on a regular basis. Rule of thumb for cars from my

past history is that unless youre keen to spend more money, is to keep

away from the base of the market.

The midrange of the market (defined by volume) would appear to be in

the £4k to £6k bracked, with most things appearing here being some

well looked after early years examples. Going up from £6k to £10k are

some great spec, neatly modded cars, and plus £10k is the real exotica.

Then I look in the For Sale section here.....and I see some incredible

pricing for much the same thing. Almost double than is seein in A.T. in

some cases??? With such massive difference in values, what defines the

selling price?? What is the benchmark??

you get what u pay for man, beware of cheap supras! i mean obviously sometimes they are bargains to be had with quick sale, but most cheapies have issues

I think a lot of it comes down to what the car is worth to you as an owner. How quickly someone needs to sell. If someone really knows their car is worth a certain value to them and are not in a rush to sell, they will eventually find the right person who's willing to pay the price for their car

People will advertise for a higher price on owners clubs because buyers can be almost certain that it's well looked after - trader and eBay etc are dodgy for car sales (unless you get lots of HPI and AA checks done I suppose).

Also people on here start the pricing higher (like me ) because they can let the other knowledgables bring the price down to what it should be rather than starting too low!!

We've all, me included, got an inflated idea of the value of our own cars. TBH the true value of any car is what someone is willing to give you for it.

Buying a car from a well respected member of an owners club, gives the added piece of mind that the car has been in the hands of someone who is more likely, but by no means guaranteed to, looked after the car and kept it in good condition throughout their period of ownership.

I know when I come to sell my car, if there is anything wrong with it I'll either get it fixed or declare it to members on here. If the buyer comes from the Autotrader, then its up to them to assess the car and buy, or not buy, accordingly.

Not saying I'd deliberately hide major faults, just not be so forthcoming to a random member of the public than a friend from the owners club

The problem with Supras is that they can be picked up for what seems a bargain price, until you start to calculate the cost of putting it back to good condition. You could then find that in the long run it'll cost you far more in cash and heartache, than it would have dne if you'd have spent a bit more on a better car to begin with.

Of course, saying all that, there ARE bargains out there to be had, its as always, just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

Good luck with your search

Historically owners clubs have always been the worst place to look for bargains in advertised cars, the club people invariably have an overestimated value on their cars, and advertising is often free, which encourages recklessly optimistic asking prices with the support of their fellows who bask in the reflected warmth of these sky high price stickers. As a buyer one has to wait until reality dawns on them, or look to buy elsewhere, in the trade or at auction. Some of the really cheap AutoTrader ads hide very repectable cars.

I paid £2500 a few years ago, when prices for a 93 car were far higher than today, for a very very tidy Mazda RX-7 FD at auction that was MOT'd and on the button, and that did thousanads of miles, many on track, with no trouble or expense. Look at any owners site (the Nissan Skyline forums are a typical example), utterly crazy prices asked, the cars littering the for sale section like rusting hulks for months until they are sold at a fraction of the asking price and the shame faced vendor disappears into the night, tail between legs, without a passing comment to the rank and file as to what it REALLY sold for, but with a valuable lesson in the fickleness of the car sales market learnt.

You must be willing to travel far and wide, look in unlikely place, be thick skinned enough to offer someone 4k for a car advertised at 6k, and have cash in hand. I used to get private people asking to be told of a cheap car, I would ring them, say there is one in Inverness, the potential buyer being 200 miles away, and they laugh at the distance, the fact they need to shift their *rse NOW, with the money ready in cash. A trader would be on the train, or in the car, cash in hand and have the deal done before the "potential buyer" is out of his pit, or has even found Inverness on his SatNav or Google. That's why I ONLY ever buy and sell cars in the trade now

I've bought ALL of my Supes over 100 miles away. I've always gone straight there with cash in hand if I was even slightly interested. It's the only way. If you can, get the seller to assure you he'll give you first refusal to allow you a few hours to get there.

My current TT aerotop was on the Autotrader website for less than an hour when I spotted it at about 8pm on a Friday evening. I called the bloke straight away and had bought it by lunchtime Saturday. Then I had to drive 150 miles home, pick up Angie when she had finished work and go straight back to pick it up!

Not that it wasn't worth it!

...That's why I ONLY ever buy and sell cars in the trade now

Ahh, but you're IN the trade. Most of us don't know where or how to tap into that part of the market.

Maybe, someone, maybe who has either (a) trade experience, or (b) Realistic ownership/purchase expereince, should do a guide to pricing in a spreadsheet, sort of like parkers guide.

I guess once you've added mods on, its hard to guess from there, but as standard cars, cant imaging it'd be too hard with say, four categories ranging from dog-poor, fair, good and excellent condition....

A little work in MS Excel for someone keen??

Whenever I suggest what a car is worth on here I check under my own, for fire bombs... I am too feint hearted to do a price guide...

...the club people invariably have an overestimated value on their cars, and advertising is often free, which encourages recklessly optimistic asking prices with the support of their fellows who bask in the reflected warmth of these sky high price stickers....

How very true...