Selling 190e 2.3-16, Am I Asking Too Much?

[MattMoore]

Hi all,
I've been advertising my 2.3-16 for a while now, and placed it on eBay last week, with the auction ending last night.
The auction only went to £1507, but I'm looking for something around £2750.
I've advertised it here too, but with very little response.
The link is here for it
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/327833.htm
I am not starting this topic as another form of advertising, but so that I can ask the knowledgeable if I am asking too much for it?

Thanks

Matt

[phumy]

A car is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it, not necessarily what you are asking for it.

[rubystone]

Am I being stupid - is it lhd?

It's also not clear to me just what the mileage was when the engine was rebuilt and what work was done to it when it was rebuilt...eg valves and so on (I'm assuming a timing chain snap will have meant it did have valve damage).

Personally, I don't like the black wheels or grille. When I went looking for my car I wanted an absolutely original car (and I found one). I guess that most buyers of these want the same and only a minority want one that looks a bit "bling" (with all due respect).

I think that it is indeed worth about £1500 at most, assuming it is RHD and not lhd but maybe I am wide of the mark?

I'd also add that tons of cars on PH are ridiculously optimistically priced and a lot just don't shift - that's a general point and you only have to check out the C36s and C43s for sale on here and look at the number of days they've been on the classifieds to see what I mean.

[Simz]

I thought i'd say that i liked it, it's not to (bling) at all nice and subtle thats what i like,! i did look at buying it but found mine that ticked every box!

[MattMoore]

Thanks for the replies, I'm currently re-writing the advert as it doesnt contain all of the details I should have added earlier. Especially with the engine work that was carried out. I realise that this kind of car is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, but I dont think that £2750 is way over the odds?

[rubystone]

MattMoore said:

Thanks for the replies, I'm currently re-writing the advert as it doesnt contain all of the details I should have added earlier. Especially with the engine work that was carried out. I realise that this kind of car is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, but I dont think that £2750 is way over the odds?

Maybe I was just lucky then - I bought a 1 previous owner 98,000 mile 2.3-16 bog standard, some paintwork imperfections but basically an honest car with full leather, lot of history all the MOTs...from ebay for £1500 2 years go. Up until a stupid driving instructor drove into it last week (and has probably written it off as a result ) it didn't let me down once and cost me less than £500 a year to run, including servicing and a propshaft that the ebay vendor paid 50% of the cost for.

I looked at quite a few cars...2.3s and 2.5s at around the £3k mark and all were imperfect in some way, but none had covered anything like the miles yours has.

IIRC one stuck on PH for some time at the £2k mark with similar miles to yours. It had been well looked after and had Evo 1 wheels plus a couple of new front wings. I was tempted to look at that car but it hadn't had an engine rebuild.

I think that a good Cossie is worth paying good money for, but a lot are slightly doggy round the edges or have been lowered and otherwise "blinged" up....To put them right could easily make the original purchase price seem expensive. Will on here seems to have bought a nice car and it's examples like that which will attract the bigger money. After all, someone looking for one of these cars does have a reasonable choice and with the best will in the world, I doubt a 100k mile car in clean condition will be worth more than the £4k that my car was valued at for an agreed value policy.

[phumy]

MattMoore said:

Thanks for the replies, I'm currently re-writing the advert as it doesnt contain all of the details I should have added earlier. Especially with the engine work that was carried out. I realise that this kind of car is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, but I dont think that £2750 is way over the odds?

If you dont think that 2750 pounds is over the odds, then you must wait for the right person to come along who thinks the same as you. How long you wait is then down to finding that person, its alomst like asking "how long is a piece of string"

Many people who want to change cars, have to sometimes just bite the bullet and let it go, what is your loss is someone elses gain, its all swings and roundabouts.

Good luck

[stuttgartmetal]

rubystone said:

I think that it is indeed worth about £1500 at most,

I agree
I'd stick it up for £1750 and take offers.
Shorten the ad, and field questions.

[Parrot of Doom]

Drop the price, or fix the niggles. If they're only small problems, do them yourself- otherwise buyers will think that they're actually big problems.

[Tino]

Perhaps get some engine and interior shots in.

[phumy]

Tino said:

Perhaps get some engine and interior shots in.

Its amazing how many sellers quote their car as being "immaculate" or "mint" but dont show any shots of engine bay. If ever i go to look at a car you can really tell how well that car has ever been looked after by seeing the state of the engine bay.

The engine and its home is also part of the car and needs looking after as much as the shiny bit on the outside and the 4 black round things at each corner.

[Pentoman]

I think £2750 might be the top end of the price bracket for that mileage and age with full history. The age/mileage is a put-off unfortunately. Ideally if you can show that it's above average condition with some nice interior/engine pics then that will ease the age/mileage worries, however the average in my experience for an '86 16v with this mileage is something that is worse for wear and showing it. If that's not the case you need to show it or the will assume that!

Then there is the modifications which probably don't help that assumption. You could sort that with used/salvage parts if you wanted though, or maybe at least offer to?

There are lots of owners talking up big prices of these cars ("someone stopped me in the street and offered me £7k and I refused" etc) but in my opinion that's nonsense and I've never seen evidence of cars selling for the strong values asked/suggested in the last couple of years. I wish it were true though!

I'm sure this will be an unhelpful suggestion but if you're confident it's a nice car you might be better off keeping it and track daying it if that's your bag - reliable, quick, good handling, safe and well engineered, rwd, LSD, and ultimately not very valuable if you crash it. Also classic insurance on it is very cheap. Or could try advertising in track cars section?

[MattMoore]

Thanks for all the replies, I've lowered the asking price to £2250, and am planning to sort out a couple of the niggles if it doesnt sell on eBay this time.
These being, the door cards, fitting the standard grill back on, and the wheels.
The wheels that came with the car weren't original, but 5 spoke Penta's.
The tyres are shot though, so im not too sure which to use.

[Pentoman]

weueheheueheueergh I can't stand Pentas but some like them so....
Worth mentioning in the advert perhaps?
Good luck with it

[Cappadocie]

An engine bay a bit like this one?