Offensive to sellers but have people gone over the cliff on Car values

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I struggle to determine car values too. But having restored a couple of these expensive mopars from top to bottom doing most of the labor myself it’s easy to spend 25-30k in parts. Having said, that includes outsourcing paint body, engine transmission and rearend rebuild, glass install some interior work like headliner and recovering the seats. I feel that’s common for most of us.
That said, most people aren’t going to let there parts and labor go for a loss.
 
George Jets said:
Like this post, no body really knows the future but we can reflect on the past history of the car market.

See some people yet trying to buy low and turn around and sell high, putting crazy prices on things. Think this has run its course now.

Some are fishing putting a big price on their cars, if they sell fine, if not they still have the car.

I guess I think a little different, like to see when the cars go on to the next generation of good mopar people keeping it alive and cared for. Same with the Parts. Good to get a fair price, but all the buyers like to negotiate things down a bit feeling they got part of the give and take on the deal.

Can feel good that the car got into good hands, and if you are lucky can see it around again.
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Best reply yet. As a kid when my dad sold the 72 duster I longed for it and was a disaster in my life lol.... And the guy who bought it knew how much I wanted that car and he sold it back to me for what he paid for it. Had it not been totaled (not my fault) I would own it today! Yes, if that kid came around and wanted my car it sure would make selling it easier. But everyone is Mr. Hanky now lol so you have to adjust for that accordingly. Sad, ain't it?

JW
 
jonn6464 said:
Man, I hear ya. It's ridiculous what guys are asking for cars now. Even project cars are just priced insanely. $7000 for a rusted roller, needs every panel replaced, needs complete interior, needs complete drive train. The sellers reasoning is that the car will be worth $50Kwhen it's done, but fails to account for the $45K in restoration costs. And most people want to keep the car, not flip it.
Even guys hawking parts have just lost their minds now. $500 for an air cleaner?! What are people smoking??
Guys think they're gonna get rich selling parts. Whats the point of leaving parts sitting on a shelf, just hoping and praying that someone comes along with a blank check and cleans them out. Sell them for a reasonable price and give someone a chance to get the part they need to get their car on the road!
And don't get me started on these resto shows on TV. Yes, they are great to watch and see the cars they produce. But those shows are the very reason this hobby is un-attainable for the average blue collar guy. Now every a$$hole with more money than sense wants a car like the one he saw on TV last week.

Sorry, this post got away from me a little bit
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GYC is doing my mom's GTS, (which was a basket case when I found it 30 years after she sold it) for less than a new pickup truck. every nut and bolt restored to new. i couldnt buy the parts for what they are doing it for,,,and I have no shop to work in, so it was a pretty good option for me. considering the locals wanted 50k deposit to just get started.
 
AVALIANTEFFORT said:
I just bought a car from Gateway, it was already pretty reasonable but the guy I dealt with did negotiate through the owner since it’s a consignment shop and we settled at what I thought was a really fair deal. But I general I agree, people have pipe dreams as to what they think some cars are worth? I follow the auctions to see what real world guys are paying, Mecum and Russo are way more realistic than Barrett
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Interesting. Was the price sky high when you started? I am curious about the negotiating process. I have not known anyone who has dealt with them before. What percent did they come down off the asking price, if you care to share?
 
RustyRatRod said:
Especially now too because the market has somewhat had the bottom fall out. None of the big auctions have garnered really big bucks lately.
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I think the bottom fell out because Wall street is booming and they were buying these cars when stocks were down as a tangible asset now they are trying to dump them
 
yeah, its tough to restore an A when 68 340 logs ask $1000 at a Mopar show...bite me.
 
Mike69cuda said:
Interesting. Was the price sky high when you started? I am curious about the negotiating process. I have not known anyone who has dealt with them before. What percent did they come down off the asking price, if you care to share?
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I shot an offer about 30% off the ask price then we met in the middle. Car was reasonable to start and I worked in some side stuff to help me close the deal, paid some of the cost with my AMEX (now I’ll just throw the cash on it to get some points on the card) and had to go into the AZ showroom to do it but they did work with me! My deal was good for me because car was set up for track more than street which I was the lucky arse for that particular seat lol..! Not a lot of guys want that set up for a street car so they worked with me and had already lowered price on the car 3 times prior to my offer!
 
Lonnie Leach said:
I think the bottom fell out because Wall street is booming and they were buying these cars when stocks were down as a tangible asset now they are trying to dump them
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And... a lot of the younger guys are buying “new muscle” such as chargers, challengers and mustangs instead of classics so not as many buyers means lower costs !! IMO...
 
Reality is if you wanna play you gotta pay. Either you pay interest and depreciation on that new(er ish) Challenger, Charger, Camaro, Mustang, or whatever cranks your tractor, or you pay for what someone else put into their "restored" classic, or put your own blood, sweat, tears, and $$$$ into building something yourself and hope it ends up reliable. My point of view is that if I built it, I know what went into it, and that if I do it as I can afford to then it's less of a financial burden. The older I get, the less interested I am in carrying any needless debt, sure sometimes I think I'd like to have newer, nicer vehicle to drive, but when I did, all I kept thinking was "why do I need this just to drive to work and back?" I enjoy driving my old Bronco, it's paid for, cost me less to buy it than what some people pay yearly on insurance, and I'm looking forward to getting the 75 Dart on the road this year. I plan to drive it as much as I can all year. I saw a nice 69 B5 Road Runner on the road today, second time this winter I've seen it out, that owner gets my respect because he enjoys the car, as it was intended. Granted the roads are clear and dry and the temperature was in the 40's today, much like it was last time I saw that 'Runner out and about.

Sorry for the rant, but the point is nothing is free, and you best enjoy what you have while you can 'cause you can't take it with you.
 
It really is amazing. I think part of the problem is to ,any watch these TV shoes like where "Richard" pays 15 k for something that should be parted out has some thing to do with it. No people think their junker is worth that. here is a first had experience I had.
I had a restaurant and one day a customer brought his car over to use our parking lot to meet a few people. He had his car for sale and was to meet a few possible buyers in the parking lot. The car..1969 Hemi Roadrunner, 4-speed. He said it was all original, 46k miles. He said it was worth $150,000! Wow after all the auctions on TV I thought this thing must really be cherry! In reality it was a H-RR, 4-spd. But far from original. Wrong hose clamps, zipp ties, different ignition system, many missing engine and under hood parts. The body had dents and the paint and vinyl roof were in poor condition, the "original" rims were missing. The interior was well worn. It needed a lot of work. Oh ya, it had rust in it too. $150,000 LOL
 
Coffee&Cars said:
It really is amazing. I think part of the problem is to ,any watch these TV shoes like where "Richard" pays 15 k for something that should be parted out has some thing to do with it. No people think their junker is worth that. here is a first had experience I had.
I had a restaurant and one day a customer brought his car over to use our parking lot to meet a few people. He had his car for sale and was to meet a few possible buyers in the parking lot. The car..1969 Hemi Roadrunner, 4-speed. He said it was all original, 46k miles. He said it was worth $150,000! Wow after all the auctions on TV I thought this thing must really be cherry! In reality it was a H-RR, 4-spd. But far from original. Wrong hose clamps, zipp ties, different ignition system, many missing engine and under hood parts. The body had dents and the paint and vinyl roof were in poor condition, the "original" rims were missing. The interior was well worn. It needed a lot of work. Oh ya, it had rust in it too. $150,000 LOL
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But Richard said it was worth $150k lol!!!! SHM ...
 
jack68gts said:
GYC is doing my mom's GTS, (which was a basket case when I found it 30 years after she sold it) for less than a new pickup truck. every nut and bolt restored to new. i couldnt buy the parts for what they are doing it for,,,and I have no shop to work in, so it was a pretty good option for me. considering the locals wanted 50k deposit to just get started.
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Completely different situation and I can understand you doing this. Comparing it to a new truck is not apples to apples however the emotional connection for you is where the check gets wrote.

Cool story,
JW
 
SLOPAR72 said:
Completely different situation and I can understand you doing this. Comparing it to a new truck is not apples to apples however the emotional connection for you is where the check gets wrote.

Cool story,
JW
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my post was to one of the responses that mentioned the reality car show scene, building stuff that average guys could never afford,,, and that may be true, but it was very reasonable for us,,,
 
Just a thought. Is it really fair to directly compare the price of a new car to an old one when new? Even the hot cars of the 60s must in reality have cost much less to build than, say, a hellcat, or even a challenger r/t. The engineering that goes into a new car is undoubtedly far more involved than our classics. Shouldn’t the price necessarily reflect that?

Moreover, for project cars, aren’t their bloated prices a reflection of the work and parts that go into them? I may think that the $3000 rusty a body is really worth closer to $1000, but if I bought a shell for the (cheap) price of $1000, the parts and labor required to bring that car up to the same level as the $3k one is likely to exceed $2k. 8 3/4 rears alone can’t generally be had for less than $1000. Just 2 cents from a guy who can barely afford his rusty but much loved junker.
 
Two basic truths.

1. Asking prices do not reflect actual value, the selling price does. (to one person, the buyer)

2. Some people ask delusional prices for things, but they are not actually a 'seller' until the item actually sells.

3. The lower the actual sale values go, the more cars we can afford!

(Well, OK, three basic truths then, but it's three free opinions for the price of two day!)
 
For those of you that are old enough to know who W.C. Fields is, he once said, "Never give a sucker an even break"!

Stroked340 nailed it. Your car is worth whatever you can get for it. If you pay too much for it, that's on you. If you get a deal on it, then good for you.

I'm not real privey to car values in the east, but if you're buying a car from the southwest, you're going to pay a premium due to a car needing less attention. That's not to say that the west doesn't have some crappy cars, but the chances are better than something out of the rust belt.

I'm not really sure which drives the prices the most, but I'll pay a little more for a car that requires less work to get it to the finish line knowing what my limited skill set is and what it takes in body work to make the corrections.
 
ScamperTom said:
Just a thought. Is it really fair to directly compare the price of a new car to an old one when new? Even the hot cars of the 60s must in reality have cost much less to build than, say, a hellcat, or even a challenger r/t. The engineering that goes into a new car is undoubtedly far more involved than our classics. Shouldn’t the price necessarily reflect that?

Moreover, for project cars, aren’t their bloated prices a reflection of the work and parts that go into them? I may think that the $3000 rusty a body is really worth closer to $1000, but if I bought a shell for the (cheap) price of $1000, the parts and labor required to bring that car up to the same level as the $3k one is likely to exceed $2k. 8 3/4 rears alone can’t generally be had for less than $1000. Just 2 cents from a guy who can barely afford his rusty but much loved junker.
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True, to some degree, and my earlier post was not meant to justify what many, including me, see as overpriced, incorrect, often poorly done cars that sellers compare to B-J or other auction house sales, in fact I read today that a nicely restored '76 Dart Swinger sold for 4k at B-J. The market is driven by what someone is willing to pay on any given day for something, and yes, I agree that the tv shows are unrealistic in the prices that they claim to have paid for something, and often in what the value is. a good friend of mine is a certified appraiser, and I frequently consult him when I need a value range on something. he feels the same way I do when it comes to sellers asking absurd prices for their junk.
Today's performance cars are far advanced compared to the stuff from the 60s and 70s, and that is reflected in the pricing, as is the gap in average wages from then to today.
 
tinmannz, you are correct on pricing of sw cars. also wash state cars can be in that group. 5 years ago, my neighbor bought a 68 dart from wash state. no rust, just grocery cart dings. 318,904,7 1/4 rear car. no motor,no trans. vinyl top was ripped here and there. had super nice body. paid 4k for it. but he figured he save 3500 in body work. before he could put it together(was getting 340/4spd) a guy can along and offered him stupid money for it. because he saw the same savings on body work. i got 35k in my wagon that would only fetch 20k if 540 was still in it. but it sets waiting for mild 440 that is on eng stand. i will be happy with it until i get a better condition a body than the last on i tried to start with.
 
I'm getting ready to put my truck up for sale and I'm picking out a price for it. I think the price is very reasonable for it's condition, but that's of course my opinion and it's prejudice LOL.. my question here is more so just having a firm price that I feel as reasonable as compared to like someone has already said some stupid price where nobody wants to look at it but then if I price firm that leaves nobody the negotiations that they lot of times are starving for.. as a matter of fact I feel that there are a lot of people out there that are just dreamers and like to see if they can talk you down and you never hear from them again...
 
Always want to leave yourself a little room to negotiate down, then it is painless and you get the final price you want. Be realistic on your price and price it to move if you want it to move quick. Want to hold out for more it will take a little more time to find the buyer that sees the same value in it as you are presenting.

The buyer also wants to feel like he is getting a little break too, after all he is the one handing you the money.

It is all part of the dance of making the deal.

And I can not stress it enough, have killer pictures in your ad, with nice backgrounds and in a nice setting. Morning or evening light brings out the colors well. Mid day bright sunlight days wash out the pictures.

So killer pictures and a well presented add, priced right most people are sold before they even step onto your property. They come out, make the deal and good to go.
 
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