someone made me an offer of $30k for my car saturday. well...long story, but MTV sort of made me the offer. i'll be picking up an E55 this year anyways for close to that price.

OP, your car is rare. there should be no reason why you should keep on lowering the price, especially in the condition your car is in. list it on craigslist or the other sites you were talking about for that $17,000 price and see what you get. i'm all for cars being sold for people getting the right amount of money for the right kind of cars. i'm tired of seeing people selling there cars on her efor dirt cheap because people say they're worthless. make the sale correctly, you have positive things on your side that scarcely ever show up on the market.

 

 

If a car depreciates to only be worth ~20% of it's original sticker within the first 10 years, I'd consider that not holding its value well. Admittedly, such conclusions are inherently subjective.

You're welcome - after all, this isn't the classifieds section... this is the general C32, C55 AMG subforum. Anywho, you started this thread seeking $17.3k, right? When posters like jturkel expressed you had "no shot" of getting that (which was the post I replied to, because I was agreeing with his post), you dropped your asking price by over a thousand dollars, within the first day or two.

In the end, only you can decide what your floor is, only you know how desperate you are to sell, etc. Those are big factors in determining how quickly your car moves, and at what price. Performance-oriented, high hp/tq RWD sports cars and sports sedans see demand fall in the fall/winter, and then bump up in the spring/summer... the values fluctuate accordingly. Assuming no significant changes to the listing, you'd probably fetch more money for your car in April/May, than Oct/Nov... just the way it is (in areas with 4 seasons, anyway, IMHO).

Have you called any dealerships, maybe Euromotors in Bethesda, to see what they'd offer you for the car? If nothing else, it might be a useful data point for you to consider. While a bone-stock C32 might sell faster than a modified one (debateable), in either case you probably need a cash buyer, because the vast majority of financial institutions won't finance a car older than about 7-8 years. They also won't finance for over 100% of what their used-guide value claims the value to be, regardless of whatever individuals (buyers or sellers) might think.

In the end, other than simple curiosity, I really don't care about how much you can sell your car for, or how quickly it occurs. I did (repeatedly) say it should be at the top-end for '02 C32s, I hope you can get top-dollar for it and would love to be wrong with my earlier assumption. And who knows, maybe I was wrong/too-low, and you wind up getting something like $14.5k for it. Or, maybe someone wants it so bad, they call you up right now and offer your full (new) asking price of $16.1k. If the timing's just right, and that one buyer is out there willing... that's all that matters.

Again, GLWS. You'll be happy to know, this is my last post in this thread... you may gladly have the last word.

 

I think we should start a dealership by you selling me your car for 10k. Be advised once I purchase your car 10K, I will close the dealership down.

 

IN light of this debate, whats an 04 with ONLY 39 K miles (modded) worth?? I KNOW I have the good radiator (does he ^^^??? ) , my seat heaters all work (do his??? ^^) and its been dealer maintained. I don't have Comand, BUT do have the Bi-Xs which are worth a lot more than any Navi!!

My Philly brother is absolutely correct in that your 02 COULD fetch what you ask. Possible YES, Probable NO!!! My car, which is also an 04 (2 MY years newer than the 02) would probably fetch no more than $12-$15 K max and its got 11 K less miles than yours. Now that we're all dreaming, lets just ask what we THINK our cars are worth, forget the market place!!!

 

I will gladly give you 12k for your car.

 

Thanks, BUT not selling. However, would I take $12 for an 04 with 39 K miles? Prolly NOT, BUT I guess I could ask $40K

 

12k is all you are going to get.


I would take the deal.

 

I think there are a few ways to look at this. On one hand, it is a 10 year old, 2 generation ago vehicle that has some reliability issues. No lie there. But on the other hand, where are you going to find a car that offers this level of performance, even in a new C-Class or 3 Series BMW? At least in terms of raw numbers, these cars have held up pretty well.

Also, people are willing to pay a small fortune for primitive muscle cars with far inferior acceleration, much less handling and braking. So values of older cars can based on more than the age of the technology.

But that doesn't really apply to the C32 at this point. Because there's no nostolgia for these cars yet, you're left with used car market realities. At 12k, you're starting to get into the "why bother?" range. I guess it depends on how bad you want to sell it. Unless you're dead broke and need the cash, it might make sense to hold onto it for awhile, especially with 49k miles on it. Give this 5-6 years and there might be a different reality, especially with the low production of the C32.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself

 

well there is a difference between a private seller price and a dealer price to really know how much your car is worth take it to a dealership ask them how much they will give you for it then add 2k for anything over 10k and 1k for anything over 6k and 500 for anything below that............... you guys can keep dreaming on the fact is that c32s are worth as much as somebody is willing to pay for it as for me i know i wont get anything over 10k for mine so im just going to drive it till the wheels fall off, after that i will take the motor out and make fun dune buggy lol