I should have traded the old Volvo in.

[Pablo]

Been trying to sell the old 85 Volvo 245 turbo for a couple weeks. Plenty of calls and emails but not one person has even looked at it.

Bad season to sell a car.....mostly when they hear the mileage (almost 260,000) they just freak. Some calls are funny. One idiot wanted to trade his SAAB to me, if I gave him cash for his SAAB (you figure it out)

Lastly - I get at least one scam email a day...you know....send the mail to them, etc....


I'm selling it as a beater and people expect the world for $2500. The car can go to 400,000+ miles EASY....oh well thanks for letting me vent.

I should have at least found out what the Honda dealer would have given me for it. I just figured I could have gotten a bit more from some Volvo nut. What do you guess the dealer would have given me?

 

[JHZR2]

Ebay???

 

[Pablo]

Fee!

 

[Razl]

Craig List

Used dealers around my way are very good at pricing cars. They don't even need to refer to a current NADA.

"That right there, $500. That's the best I can do."

 

[JHZR2]

sometimes you just have to suck it up...

why not just keep it as a beater? surely your insurance isnt as $$$ as here in NJ. Maintenance if all is well now should be cheap. It might make the numbers on valuation of your new van better over the next number of years because of less use of the van in situations where you're not extracting anywhere near a reasonable fraction of the total utility offered from the van.

Have you worked all the numbers out for your current efforts vs getting it sold on ebay?

If you use a paypal debit card, youll get the ebay fees, and paypal fees, but then the money is yours, youll earn 4.3% interest on it, and using the debit will get you 1.5% back on all purchases. It might make up somewhat, and then you have $$$ right away.

Have you tried a volvo message board? SOmetimes you can unload good cars on those pretty quick, and then youre dealing with people who know what theyre doing.

What about craigslist? Donation for tax deduction?

JMH

 

[JHZR2]

FWIW, a friend just recently bought a 91 240 wagon, in good condition, with 109k miles for less than your asking price from a used car lot.

It has no rust, runs great (though recently needed a MAF), and only has a small scratch/shallow dent in the RR door.

Of course geography, etc is significantly different.

JMH

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Museum?

 

[Pablo]

It's on Craig's list.

Insurance is the same as my 96 Volvo so that's what we use for second car, etc.

Yeah my price is a bit high. Turbo makes it worth about $1000 more, at least. Any car in this range has fairly worn suspension. Mine is all new with top of the line modifications. I guess the average moe doesn't care, though.

I'll just stay patient. It's not like I haven't got my money's worth out of old faithful.

 

[Win]

"I'm selling it as a beater and people expect the world for $2500. The car can go to 400,000+ miles EASY....oh well thanks for letting me vent."

You have my sympathy.

Now is actually the best time to sell a used car because it is tax "refund" time - but you are competing with every other used car seller in the country.

I haven't traded in a car in fifteen years, I just give them to someone else in the family. It's a lot simpler. Old cars are worth zip as a trade - it's not even worth bothering with.

I just sold our old 1990 Jaguar Xj6 (replaced it with a new Xj8 and ran out of people to give an old car to), and it was such a PITA
dealing with used car buyers that I seriously considered donating it to charity.

You'd think people that want a new car would just go buy one ....

 

[Pablo]

Donation is an option.

 

[TC8]

Pablo, to be honest, if so many people think it's overpriced and no one other than you thinks it's worth the money, maybe it is overpriced?

 

[MarkC]

It's your density...I mean destiny, to keep the car!

 

[Shannow]

I found the same thing with my 4Runner.

At the time I started selling it, people would stop me and tell me that it was $1,000 less than they paid for 100,000 more km.

Then petrol hit $1.00 plus, and the price that they were clearing for on ebay dropped $4,000 in a few weeks.

If I find an ideal replacement, I'll let the 4Runner go really cheap...otherwise $4,000 buys a lot of 30c/litre (marginal cost) fuel.

 

[TurboLuver]

Pablo, OT...just wondering, is it still on the orignal turbo? I had trouble with nearly every turbo on every 80's model car I had. Not sure if I blame the oil of the day or the turbo design or what?

 

[michaelc80]

A couple of weeks is pretty quick to throw in the towel. It's just after the holidays and everyone has received the holiday bills.

If after a month or 6 weeks it hasn't moved then consider lowering your price, or holding it until spring.

If it was closer to Iowa I would seriously consider it!

 

[Pablo]

No, actually third turbo. Previous owner ran Castrol 20W-50. Coked bad. New turbo is great, though.

Patient is the key. Thanks michealc80

I guess my point wasn't to establish a price...and yeah it might be very slightly overpriced ($2000 would be a STEAL). My point is that not one person has actually looked at the car.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

When will one of your daughters be driving?

 

[MarkC]

When she pries the keys from his cold, dead hands....
He needs a little time to make sure his blood pressure is stable!

 

[wander2039]

If you have a building with room prep it and store it. You never know what it's going to be worth in the future. Since i'm planning on keepin most my car's past 300k+ whenever I get done with them they'll go down to my parents farm and covered with a tarp. I may make the kids drive them one day, so actually i'll be saving money that way. They won't like it but they can always walk.

 

[Korean_redneck]

My dad posted advertisment for a 1994 Mazda 323 on 7 different Newspapers. we got 8 calls everyday for 2 weeks straight. Very very mad .. only a handfull showed up and finally a family bought it.

The dude who bought it was tapping on the Valve cover.. Dont' know why. He wass kickin' the tires. and and he stoped and started it about 4 times..honked the horn 5 times. Knocked on the dashboard. and he bought it..