Man I just checked Edmund's pricing appraisal for FD's and it is just ridiculous. My perfect condition 63k mile 93 touring is worth $5k selling privately. I wonder if anyone has written an email complaining to them saying they can't find any "Outstanding condition" FD's for five grand .

 

That's rediculous. My 93 with 29k miles was priced privately at Edmunds's for $7,238. Kelly Blue Book seem to think it's worth $17,750, which is more realistic. You can barely find a stipped roller for $5K.....

 

Edmunds is a joke and always has been for used prices in general (not just FDs). If could find an FD with 20k miles for $7k or so I would have three of them.

Use NADA or KBB.

 

That's good to know, if you're buying. Just bring a copy of that along

Dave

 

thats bizarre. their price is virtually identical to KBBs for a 97 galant. for all 3 PP, trade, retail.

 

edmunds suck big time, i paid 10k for my recently acquired FD and even in the condition that it is in, kelly says its worth 13.5k, so i did good.

 

Everytime I see a post regarding the KBB/NADA value the poster thinks he's a retailer selling an excellent condition car. This inflates the value by 4k or so lol.

If you're going to quote KBB on your private party good (at best) condition FD then keep it real for goodness sake. When you're selling anything if you spill a bunch of BS your credibilty is in the toilet from that point on.

What really gets my goat is the person selling an FD with 75k miles on it with the original engine and turbos, AC that needs recharging, broken window switch, always garaged (mirrors, seats and every piece of plastic on the car faded) few nicks and dings, needs tires and the ingition key needs to be turned a few times (it's been like this for years and will always start ****) and the price is 17k firm. Get a frikken clue. This sort of FD is worth 12k on a good day...........

 

Living in VA must be a different standard for these cars. If you find a "DECENT" condition Rx7 for under 17 it most likely is ready for a rebuild and guess what the tab is on you!

 

This is also part of the problem as to why the starry-eyed noobs can't understand why they can't go get a 100% loan for $20K on a '94 FD.....lol!

I'm sorry, but it really all comes down to fair market value, simply....what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller.

For example, I looked at a fully restored, perfect condition '70 Chevelle SS a few years ago, the guy wanted $14,000 for it. Now, that car SOLD for about $3K in 1970 but...okay, it is a collectible and all that, yada yada yada.
Now that SAME car you can't touch for $50K! Has NOTHING to do with 'blue book', has everything to do with fair-market value.

 

when i was talking to my bank about the loan for my FD they said mine was worth over $10k, but i was buying it for $7k so they were more than happy to give me the 7g's. they went by KBB.

edit: the "fair market price" can change a lot for certain cars. let's say an FD's KBB is $12k but the buyer and seller agree on $20k. that's common for an FD. the reason? it's a car people WANT. nobody WANTS a Stratus or a Civic and will pay $8k over the KBB for it. so for Bajaman's post, this is the definite case for certain cars. just thought i'd add that in

 

There's the asking price and then there's the actual sale price. Two different worlds.

 

When I talked to the bank about my loan they explained that with collectable cars like this banks are sometimes willing to loan MORE money than BB value, but you must provide pictures and information.

edmunds is a joke, they just use a formula for depreciation for value, not actual market value. NADA guides is what stealerships use to price out used cars (hence why it is usually more expensive, that price represents a really nice car sitting on a dealer lot), KBB is more accurate pricing for the private party used car sales world. There are defnitly tricks to buying/selling cars, and each of these sites can be used to your advantage if your smart about it.

 

How in the world did you get a loan for an FD? My bank won't do loans for any cars older than about 7 years old. Unless you do a personal loan, which is 14% interest. And you would have to have damn good credit for a $10k personal loan.

 

you could just go to a credit union like i did. 3.74% with automatic payment.

 

I am with one. Navy Federal Credit Union. It's a bank for military members only. They have pretty good rates on most stuff. I honestly didn't believe that anybody gave loans on cars more than 5-7 years old.

 

And those worlds are very far apart in the FD universe. I've never really understood why.

When I bought a minty R1 with 44k miles for ~$16k a few years ago there were about a dozen others on the local Autotrader with double the miles, many in really crappy condition, all for considerably higher asking prices. Tired 100k+ mile cars with $18k asking prices were (and still are) pretty common.

Most FDs sell for around $12k. For $17k I'd expect a KBB excellent car (and far fewer than 5% of FDs I would fall into this category) with 30k miles or so.

 

Talking bank loans...in 2000 i bought a 94 with just 25K on it. They would only loan me $10k for it. Then when it got totalled the insurance company valued it at $17k. everyone should use the same book!

 

i got my loan through usaa (for military folk as well) 93 touring with 126k miles on the clock. gave me a full 12k loan for 60 months at 6.xx%

 

There are several possible reasons that go into the mix. One is that the seller's tend to have a certain "vanity" about their cars, if I can phrase it that way, and they have an unrealistically high estimate of their value.

On the other side of the equation, look at the buyers, many of whom post on this forum when they're looking for a car. Some are still in high school. The rest appear to be in their early 20's. These are people who are often chronically short of cash and who have dreams much bigger than their wallets.

You go to sell an FD and what do you get? A lot of tire kickers and looky-loos, but when it comes time to make a deal what you get is mostly a long story:

"A friend of my uncle's second cousin is loaning me half the money, and the other half is coming in on Tuesday when I get my tax refund.....or my ship comes in.....or blah, blah, blah. But I really like the car, Dude, and this is gonna be my car."

I've bought and sold numerous cars. Here's the best strategy for buying used. Find a car that's been for sale at least a week or two. Give the seller time to experience some money-short looky-loos. Then go see the car with cash in hand that equals the amount you're willing to pay. (Pick a relative bargain price.) Then wave the ca$h under the seller's nose. If he says no, leave your name and number. Don't be surprised if he calls you back.

 

Just remeber to check you insurance and get an agreed upon value. If some bozo hits your car you may be fighting a long time as they will total it at the 5k mark in repairs which is not all that much on an fd that has been struck. If you need to take a loan out on an FD you are perhaps not within the range of reality of what it takes to own and operate the car - and that is before you decide to drop in your $00k mods.

 

i used kelly blue book and it says my 93 with 78k miles is worth about 14700 to 15

 

????

"agreed upon value"? From an INSURANCE company?
Normally speaking, unless you have SPECIFICALLY PAID to have increased coverage, and that usually only covers detailed aftermarket items (wheels, stereos, etc.) you are NEVER going to get anything more than a depreciated blue-book value in the event of a total loss.
This is why most people will go with Hagerty when needing to insure a collectible car/show car etc. You tell them you want to insure your car for $XXXXXX and they come and appraise it, plain and simple. IF you say "$25,000" and they say, "Uh....this is just a plain-Jane, run-of-the-mill coupe....." you are NOT going to get the added insurance. Essentially it would be fraud.

 

Got my loan through Tower Federal, NFCU wanted to put me on an adjustable rate car loan. I think i'm paying 5.25%

 

+1!