Like many people, I would love to own one of these babies, and intend to at some point in the future.

However, looking on this site, in the members Cars For Sale section, I have noticed approximately 300+ ads for cars for sale, all different years and equipment, with varying mileage, and many of them are simply NOT selling. Simply put, some of these sellers are not realistic! My quess is that the sellers are so emotionally attached to their cars that they are not realistic about the selling price. It may be my opinion, but an 8 year old car, one that they made thousands of, is generally not worth more than 50% of its original price. The best buys are probably the cars that are one year old that are almost 10K less than their purchase price, that is if you can afford to part with 24-25K for a small convertible. Many of the cars listed for sale are 2000-2002 (older models) that sellers are looking for $15-18K. It IS spring, but these cars are not going to sell. Of course, there are other economic factors playing into the equation.

A closer issue is 'selling price' versus 'asking price'. I think buyers, and sellers as well, would benefit from seeing what cars are actually selling for, by year, mileage and equipment, of course. Perhaps this could be a post script after the sale, and might help members of this site in locating and purchasing these cars.

Is there any moderator that has the skill to do this?

I think it would benefit the market. My Humble Opinion.



Edited for a derogatory word - mod

 

On pricing - there are already a ton of services to help you. That's what NADA, KBB and the Black Book are for.

I feel the other way. As the mod of Cars for Sale, I think too many people on this board simply give their cars away. As to the ones that are asking $22K for a stock 02, they simply won't sell. There is going to be no way to do a "selling" versus "asking" price analysis. Quite frankly it's none of your business.

 

gee, that's a pleasant response
really makes me want to write more often

 

If it's none of his business, then why does NADA, KBB and BB issue their books?

It would be an interesting concept, but there are so many factors to consider......

How does the saying go? "one man's junk is another man's gold" They may feel as though they are selling gold, when you feel you're looking at junk.........

 

Generally cars depreciate 14-18% in its first year and 6-8% after. So...

00 - 01 should sell for 35% of the cars original value, adjusted +/- $0.15 for every mile less/over than annual average (10,000 for "sports" cars)

02 - 03 should sell for 45% " "

04 - 05 should sell for 55% " "

06 - 07 - this one really depends...

08 - this one depends as well.

Then you have to factor its condition, history, maintenance records, etc.

 

You also have to realize that the market is slightly different depending on where the car is located. 15-18k for an 00-02 is completely reasonable. Many of these cars have extremely low mileage. The cars that you are seeing for 10k under MSRP a year later is because nobody is paying over 30k for a new one. In reality, these are selling for around 5k under what the person paid, which sounds about right since the cars are now used and usually have between 5-10k miles on them.

 

I'm not following you. Regionalized selling prices on wholesale and retail levels are just a guide to what the cars are bringing in the marketplace (NADA, KBB, etc.). He wants an asking and sold price report like they do in real estate where that information is made public. A report like this for S2000s would require co-operation on the part of the buyer and seller. If I list my 02 for $22k and sell it for $10k, it's really no one's business but mine and the buyer. I wouldn't participate and I'm sure a lot of others wouldn't either.

 

Sorry, I misunderstood than what he was requesting. I thought that he was looking for something on a more smaller scale.

 

Many sellers, private and dealers, will list full retail price, or even higher as the high bench mark for negotiation. You vcan go through the work of negotiating, and pay far less then the price it's selling for. The demand is low, and the supply is high for the S2K, hence the bad depreciation on newer models.

It can be smart to do this from their point of view, because there are people out there who possibly will just see the price and pay it. I know several people myself that will just look at the car, and if they like it, they just pay the price, and have no knowledge. We get good deals on new cars because there are people out there that get ripped off, and will pay sticker price, or full retail used. If every single car buyer haggled for the best price, we wouldn't find those great deals. Just my .02

 

he's requesting a sticky on what to look for, what an s2k is worth, etc. that's a reasonable request. asking for transaction details will probably never happen. but asking for a "WHAT TO PAY" sticky isn't unreasonable, it's just up to the moderators.