Has anyone considered adding sale transaction info to the VIN database?

It seems that the value of 914s is going up. That is good for everybody, whether you want to sell your car now or not. Your car will get sold. Eventually. Even if it isnt' sold by you directly. I have looked at many a car that were for sale as the result of a death in the family. Presumably 914world is the largest group of 914 owners online. When owners and appraisers try to determine the value of their car, the best indicator of value is what other cars have recently sold for. If just a fraction of these sale prices were recorded it would provide a documented record of the value trends.

I can think of two possible reasons this may be a bad idea:

1. It would be self-reported. Therefore, people could report a false value. But, I am not sure they have much of an incentive to do that, after they have sold their car. Further, false-reporting would likely be fairly detectable as a whole.

2. Actual sale price is perceived as private information. Someone simply may not want to disclose how much they sold their car for. I understand. I felt the same way, at first blush. But, when I considered it further, I found myself asking - Why does it bother me to tell everyone what I sold my car for? I couldn't come up with a rational reason to hold on to the privacy. Particularly, when it could benefit the group as a whole.

Just a thought. What are your thoughts?

When i add VINs i see on sites like ebay, i usually add the "buy it now" or asking price, if it's available.

Of course, that doesn't mean the car actually sold for that amount of money but it still gives you some idea of where the market is going.

Ok. Cool. Having those does help. On the self-submit form for VINs can we enter purchase price? How would you feel about putting a thing on the back or inside cover of the calendar we are working on requesting that people submit their VINs to the database? Kinda a VIN database push, if you will, by using the calendar to advertise it, along with 914World. Just an idea.

I don't see why not since all of this is voluntary anyways.

I can add a purchase price field to the form.

" Actual sale price is perceived as private information. ... But, when I considered it further, I found myself asking - Why does it bother me to tell everyone what I sold my car for? I couldn't come up with a rational reason to hold on to the privacy."

Many people don't care about telling others what they SOLD the car for, but many people do care about telling people what they BOUGHT the car for. For a variety of reasons. And when you link VIN numbers to it, you can't do both disclose and not disclose that info.

You'd need date of sale/purchase to make the info relevant. Is it that important to know what a car sold for 5 years ago?

Paul

Yeah, such as having some dickwad at a car show ask what you paid and when you answer, he rolls his eyes and walks away. Looking at you, anonymous jerk at every car show I've ever been to.

Tax and divorce attorney searches will find your self proclaimed value