grwoolf

I looked at a very nice Arena Red C2S tonight, 25k miles, very well maintained and looks great in and out. I saw one very, very little "reverse" ding in the hood that I think can be removed with paintless dent repair and the owner said he would resolve it pre-purchase and make sure I am happy with it. There is a little nick in the rear bumper above the license plate, a little scrape under the chin, and just a few small rock dings on the front bumper, but very strong paint overall. However, the car had some damage to the front fender and bumper repaired in the past. I saw pictures of the damage prior to repair and it wasn't too bad (mostly cosmetic), but still required repair and new paint. How much should this affect the resale value of a low mile car like this? The seller is shooting for mid $50's (he started at $60k), but I am thinking it's probably a high $40's car considering the prior damage. Any thoughts on what this car is worth in today's market? It is not heavily optioned, just upgraded stereo, motorsound, solid turbo wheels, (no sport seats, no lintronic). Is Arena Red a color people want? I was suprised how much I liked the color when I saw the car in person.

logan2z

Hey Grant, just for a point of comparison, I've been looking at similarly-optioned '97 C2S with about 36K miles that is also in superb condition inside and out, with no prior damage, and has an asking price of 50K. So I would say that mid 50K for the Arena Red car is too high. I think you're right, mid to high $40K would probably be more like it from my perspective.

DC from Cape Cod

There is no way that minor cosmetic repair (assuming stock body panels kept) is going to hurt value by that much ($10K) on a car with 20K+ miles. On a car with 4K miles, possibly...but a 1998 C2S with 25K and some MINOR cosmetic repairs/paint is still well over $50K.

If it was in an accident, that is something different. If it had a scrape/dent that was like a door ding but needed paint to make perfect that is something else.

I call $50K - $53K on a 1998 and $5k less on a 1997 assuming no accident (and door ding type scrape/dent repair).

Bull

If the fender and bumper cover needed repair, that sounds like more than a "door ding". I think you are on the right track at mid to high $40k range today.

95FL993CAB

If the car will be a garage queen then it is a big hit. If you are going to drive it and it does not show on Carfax and the work was done right then the discount is minor. High 40's to 50K?

vee12

+1....shouldn't change the value much if damage was light and it's repaired properly. A clean "S" 25K mile car should easily bring $47-$50K.

DC from Cape Cod

Remember, there is a measurable difference in price between 1997 and 1998...and the OP didn't say what year this car is.

matt777

IMHO the low mileage premium is a tough one if it has had body damage. You have to price it less than other low mileage cars with no damage.

Marv

Somewhere 10% comes to mind for a car that has been repaired from an accident. That assumes that the repair is of good quality.

As for the price for that car if it was accident free, I don't know. I think there is some volatility in market prices due primarily to current economic conditions, number of cars on the market, and the low US Dollar value compared to the Euro.

In the end the price for a car is whatever people want to pay for it.

grwoolf

The car is a 97. Also, I was able to talk with the prior owner who had the repairs done. He had a lot of good things to say about the car and really took care of it. It sounds like the repairs were done right. They replaced and re-painted the left fender and front bumper. They also resprayed/blended into the hood. The owner had taken the opportunity to clean up a few rock dings on the hood. The shop was Deshlers in Orange, CA, which seems to have very good reviews. I'm thinking the repaint should drop the value of the car vs. a non-repaired one by about $3-4k based on everyone's feedback. My thoughs are that a non-repaired car might bring $52k, with this one at $48-$49k. The car is not absolutely perfect, but it definetely quailifies as a garage queen in and out.

rome

Certainly true for a collector car with under 10K miles, but much less so IMO for a mid-mileage car that's going to get driven.

rome

The type of cosmetic work the OP describes will have less and less bearing on its market value as the years wind forward.

If you read the 911 board, Panorama (or the 356 board for that matter), as time goes by the percentage of cars which have repainting done increases dramatically. And, even the cars which have been touched in this way still fetch very good, and often premium prices, if they have otherwise been well cared for, look really good and drive well. So, I think that whatever impact the cosmetic work has had on today's market value for this car, it will be dimished over time.

Of course, there is a market segment which is untouchable for most of us mere mortals where super premiums are paid for totally untouched (and undriven) examples, but that is another story and not the kind of car the OP is looking at.

rome

No 12 year old car will be. Check out this thread on "what needs to be changed after 10 years. https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ferrerid=34752

My car had 29,XXX miles when I bought it, but there were lots of little (and some not so little) things I've done to put it back to showroom condition.

This makes for a good little hobby.

I think repairing the bolsters is a good start to achieve that "like new" condition. See here: https://rennlist.com/forums/showpost...9&postcount=67

Beyond that, I've worked through a laundry list of other stuff ranging from a "top end" to replacing the plastic door jam inserts and other interior plastic pieces which seem prone to develop fissures in our 993's.

See here for a list of what I've done: https://rennlist.com/forums/showpost...3&postcount=71

In addition to this list I also replaced the driver's side (stero) speaker cover and the driver's side door check strap (which is common).

993Maineiac

The S cars are at a premium these days so the high 40s sound spot on to me. There are some very knowledgible listers in Austin and San Antonio so if you need assistance I'm sure it is just a post away.

Al

grwoolf

Seller won't budge from the mid 50's, so I guess I just need to be patient and keep looking. The seller is a local collector/dealer and he doesn't seem too eager to let it go. I think he has a little too much $ in the car based on my conversation with him and the prior owner. At the end of the day, the amount he has in the car is not really relevent to the market value, but I understand him not wanting to sell a car at break even or loss.