What's a car worth? Options

[Verruckt]

Can you all give me an idea what this car might be worth?

Back when I began my 914 search, I found a decent 75 2.0 at a German repair shop. The owner had basically abandoned the car here, not wanting to pay the bill ($1200). The car is not running still... The shop replaced the starter, alternator, distributor guts, spark wires, and plugs, and battery. The car has VERY low compression in one cylinder. The rear trunk has a broken hinge. Original white paint but faded pretty bad. Hell hole repaired pretty good. Some surface rust on front hood and one fender. Underside is flawless, no rust. Car has mismatching wheels. Interior is not something to brag about, but its all there. Seat rips, carpet f'ed up.

Originally they tried to get a hold of the owner to tell him i was interested in the car (it sat there for 4 months). They put a lien on it, and now they want to sell it. They initially told me $2500. They justified this by saying they had $1400 in storage fees on the car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Well, i held out for a few weeks. They called me back wanting to maybe drop a little bit. I told them it was just too much. A couple of weeks have gone by now and I just got a call this morning, and now they want me to make an offer.

I know its hard from my description, but could anyone give me an idea what it might be worth?

[rhodyguy]

the items replaced/fixed listed don't seem to add up to $1200. i wouldn't even consider absorbing any of the storage fees. weak engine <_<, and it doesn't run at this point . offer them $300 and be prepared to walk away. ask them to pull the rocker covers.

kevin

[ArtechnikA]

The owner had basically abandoned the car here, not wanting to pay the bill ($1200).

The car is not running still... The shop replaced the starter, alternator, distributor guts, spark wires, and plugs, and battery. The car has VERY low compression in one cylinder.

the shop replaced all that stuff knowing it had a dead cylinder ?

this sounds like an issue that might never die, depending on the original work order.

(Scenario One - guy brings car to shop, says "runs bad, fix it." shop runs up the bill because they can, knowing it'll never run right, smelling deep pockets. shop is looking at a lawsuit and cloudy title for the car.

(Scenario Two - guy show up and says : replace my starter, replace my alternator, rebuild my distributor, i know it won't fix the problem but i want this work done anyway.)

their 'storage charges' number is none of your concern. could they store the car for 10 years and then claim it's worth $15,000? not hardly.

they originally thought the car was worth $100 - their $2500 minus the bogus $1400 storage charges minus the $1200 bill. they're probably in the ball park.

you've got a dead-engine roller with an iffy title if you do all the work, you can put in $5000 and have a $5000 car. you can do worse - lots of people spend $10,000 to get a $5000 car. (this presumes your rust estimate is accurate and there are no issues in the longs and suspension console...)

if the brakes and transmission are in decent shape, you can find a donor engine and have a driver while you fix the rest. if it won't pass whatever inspections are required in your part of the world you have a restoration project on your hands, and those are always hard to figure.

$500 and a clean titile i think would be my top offer. they need to cut their losses, and you're their brightest prospect in months ...

[GWN7]

Rich sounds about right ($500 Max.) on the car.

One thing you have to check is the laws on how a garage can assume title to a car that was abandoned before you give them any cash. You wouldn't want to give them any money and then have the P.O. show up and claim the car back. Or worse sink a bunch of cash into it and have that happen.

Here the car owner has to be notified (or attempted to notify -I.E. reg. mail) that the garage will be selling the car at auction to recoupe it's losses. Once the auction takes place the garage can apply for the title of the car and then sell it for what they want.

Make sure they have clear title to the car before you hand over any cash. Ask your bank manager or loans officer about what the garage needs to do to get title. They might know the hoops they need to jump thru to get a clear title.

[Verruckt]

The deal with the title is...

At least in Missouri, if a shop has made reasonable effort to contact the customer and gets no reply and/or no payment for work done on it. After a certain amount of time they can put a mechanics lien on the car. Basically at that point they reposses the car and it becomes theirs. I guess they finally did get a hold of the owner, and he said he would not fight it. I guess he just wanted to walk away from the bill.

The body really is in good shape. And the motor, well im not looking for a driver. My "vision" for what I want to do will call for alot of work anyway. I'm looking more for a project than a driver. Think I'll hold off a few days and give them a call back.

I dont know all of the work they did, those are only the things i can remember.

[SLITS]

$300 would be a deal - $500 would be ok - higher than that qualifies you as "benevolent".

Since they "lien saled" it and now own it, a bill of sale to you is adequate to get a new title (At least that's the way it is in CA).

With a weak cylinder, you would probably be looking at a cyl head job.

If it doesn't run, get a new CHT, which is what they should have started with.

Good luck!