blandis

Jim/Chris
Appreciate your input. Just trying to give Ather an idea of what you can buy a pretty well sorted s4 for. I think once you hit the 10K and up mark you should expect it to be pretty well sorted with no major issues.

Jadz928

I don't agree. 10K will just get you started.

inactiveuser1

Looked up the 1st year for an S4,most private owner cars with alot of miles are asking around $10k and for a better car with lower miles $15k to 20k
16 cars for sale and maybe 3 under 75k miles for the 1st year,not alot to choose from with lower miles.
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1303061092534

1987-1991 theres 19 cars out there on Autotrader under 75k miles
Take a look at the prices on the cleaner cars and they are 15k to 25k
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1303062047656

yardpro

i ended up buying blitz's car....
it was he was getting frustrated trying to sell it. I could not pay what it was worth, but he was willing to sell it for what i could pay...I go what i think is a great deal...

i would say to make sure you go into the car knowing that you will have to do quite a bit if stuff to it...EVEN if you get a good deal, and the previous owner "thinks" everything is OK..

What i have seen is that all the little things get forgottena bout once you drive the car for a while, so when an owner telly you that "everything" works.. take it with a grain of salt... he is not lying, he just has forgotten some of the little stuff..

EspritS4s

Those Autotrader asking prices have very little to do with reality. For a better picture of what these cars are actually selling for, take a look at completed 928 auctions on Ebay.

James Bailey

Keep in mind that autotrader prices are ASKING prices same with Craigslist. I often buy cars for 75% -80 % of what people would LIKE to get. When you put a sales price on a car it is just someones guess what it might be worth and when offered a quick cash sale they often will negotiate. The $900 Porsche 924 I just bought was listed at $1,200. The $16,000 1957 chevy became $12,000. And yes there are some people who post a price and steadfastly hold that price....they may never sell the car but they do not take less than what they think it is worth.

Jadz928

And you did get a good deal! You bought the car on the way up, not on the way down... referring to the maintenance scale.

Blitz made no bones about it.... he knew he did the car well, but it was far from all the way there.
I believe the two of you had aligned expectations, which works well.
I really love your car, and also when it was Blitz's. You know, and I know from reading, it's going to take a bit of work/$ to get it to that next level ($15K+)
Is that fair?

That is why I keep a running list - so I can't forget. It works.

Windshield washers don't work. Do I care, No. But I aware of it.

Landseer

The $1900 85 platinum 32V car was listed for $3700 or $3900 on Craigslist.

Stan Shaw bought it presumeably at less than $1900, then resold it to me directly off his trailer.

It will never be a $12K car, though, without another $8K of inputs beyond the $3500 parts I've already applied. (Edit --- Then I'll think its worth 12, but it'll be marketable at 6 to 7)

On the other hand, its a daily driver for my oldest son. He loves it.


Jim, I can fix those washers.

Jadz928

Really? I thought that was flea-market pricing. Of wait, that's Craiglist.
Well, I guess it's the best "real world" sales gage we have...

EspritS4s

I agree, the 928s sold on Ebay generally have more motivated sellers; however, there have been a few nice examples that have sold for respectable $$$s over the past few months.

Jadz928

Yep. Or reserve auction "feeler" sellers...

James Bailey

For a while I could get the Manheim wholesale auction prior sales information and trust me none of you want to know the prices for most 928s at WHOLESALE.......

EspritS4s

Yeah, we'd all like to pay wholesale prices. My brother is a store manager with Carmax, and he loves to call me up with what they just paid for various exotics and other high line vehicles. They will buy anything, and it's amazing sometimes the cars that people will trade in and for how much. People use Carmax almost as a pawn shop when they are desperate to sell a car.

He's allowed to purhcase a few of these cars at cost per year. That's how I ended up with my '87 with 78K miles for $5K three years ago. The PO's wife made him sell it to Carmax to get rid of it. According to my brother, the guy was quite upset about it.

inactiveuser1

The same for the 928 cars on Ebay that are asking high buy it now prices at 60k to 70k for a GTS thats ASKING prices sitting there for the last few months or more waiting for the right buyer the same as Autotrader.Most of those are higher prices people are willing to part with their cars because they aren't in desperate need to sell.

inactiveuser1

16,500 for a clean low mileage car and 6900 for a car that had higher miles and what they claim paint as a 7 1/2 with 7 owners.
You get what you pay for and that is only sometimes.
In the last week on S4's and newer the rest of the auctions ended with 2 buyers and the rest dreaming of a better price that didn't happen.