pfarq

Ok guys, my search has just begun, and I have come across a clean 94 with 30,000 miles. 100% stock. Montego Blue w/ Tan leather. Gorgeous. I will most likely check it out this weekend. From lurking around this site and reading the SCC articles 100 times, I think I know what to look for; I am looking forward to checking one out up close in the flesh. He's asking 24K. Bit high? I greatly appreciate some input.
Regards,
Paul

ejmack1

Blue light special on isle 5, FD's buy one get one free???

alwan16

a bit high...look for somewhere around 18-21 depending on where you live. check kbb.com.

KZ1

forget the KBB and others, just see what they are going for. I know in Atlanta, OI have seen asking prices of 24k on prestine examples possibly like the one you are talking about. I wouldn;t pay anythign close to that without a boost test, and historical maintenance records. I agree with the previous poster, 20 -22k is about right for nice exmaple of 1994. 18k woudl be a great price, for 18k expect one with maybe 50k miles, in great shape.

an extra few thousand on these cars up front for one in perfect shape is well owrth it, as a bad one can smack you with 5-7k repairs in 1st year.

Good luck hunting.

pfarq

really appreciate the help (and the blue light special humor). Even though this will be my first one to look at, it's going to be hard to turn it away. A good report on the carfax/boost test/compression check will only make it harder to keep looking.
P

Jimmynile

Yesterday me and RXplicit headed down to one of our local dealerships to look at a Black 93 R1, well they sold it last week. It had an original 20,000 miles on it. The bastards sold it for a whole $6,000. I was quite pissed, oh well, my search continues for an FD.

Dr Wankel

You can find some deals out there if you look. I got my FD 93 with 39K and a Power FC/Commander for $17,000.

JConn2299

Remember, there's a whole world of difference between an advertised asking price and what the car actually trades for.

Someone's actually got to show up with cash in hand for the car to sell. In my experience, it has always been much easier to buy a car than to sell it. From what I've seen of FD transactions, the buyer has the advantage.

Another factor to consider: a lot of banks won't make loans on used cars which are more than 5 years old. That cuts down on the pool of available cash for people to go out and buy 7 year old RX-7's.

You can usually tell if a guy's had serious offers. If the car has been for sale for several weeks and you tell the guy, "Hey, I'll show up here tomorrow with a cashier's check for $22,000" I bet he'll sell it to you. (Actually, I agree with the others. I'd shoot for
a price in the 18 to 21 range.)

JConn2299

The Kelley Blue Book shows the price for a 94 Touring with 30k miles on it, in excellent condition, in my zip code in the northeast
selling for $17, 590. That's the private party price, not used car dealer retail, or trade in value.

Go to www.kbb.com for the price in your area.

Print out the report, show it to the guy, and work your deal.

Good luck.

7-sins

I think thats a little high... most Montego Blues go for cheaper from what I have noticed. I got my car for 16,500, White 94 Touring, Original owner, garaged kept + covered, 3 year warranty, 60,000 miles, brand new rebuilt engine, perfect paint, no dings, ect. It surprised me with some problems but I am dealing with them.... just to give you and idea on price.

KZ1

hate to break it to all you guys, but big differnce in price between a 1994 and 1993. not becasue one is worth more inherently, but becasue teh '94 are in much bvetter shape generally becasue of all the assembly changes.

annarborman76

KBB is only good for finding typical prices for typical cars. It doesn't take in to account if a car is exceptional in some way. For instance it won't tell you how much a yellow R1 is worth. It also won't tell you how much this car is worth.

For example, use kbb.com to find the value of a 94 RX-7 with 60,000 miles on it. For me it comes up as $16,315. Now if you plug in the same car with 80,000 miles on it, $15,040 is the result.
Sounds like an appropriate difference. Then use it to give you the value of the same car with 10,000 miles on it. That comes up as $16,940. Clearly an RX-7 with 10,000 miles on it should be worth a lot more than that compared to the other two. This is because the KBB equations that they use to calculate value only work within the normal miliage range for that year.

My point is that the car you are looking at is worth a lot more than what the Kelley Blue Book says because of it's unusually low miles. It's much better just to decide how much that car is worth to you compared to other cars that are for sale. You can easily make up the difference on repair bills on a higher miliage car.

JConn2299

He's talking about a car with 30,000 miles on it.
30,000 miles isn't 10,000 miles. 30,000 is an appreciable number of miles. Given that others had mentioned prices in the 18 - 21 range, the kbb price of 17.5 seems pretty much on the mark.

The Kelley Blue Book price, because it is pretty much the standard
(certainly all dealers rely on it) becomes something of a self fufilling prophecy. If people are told that's the average or median price for the car they are seeking to buy, then to pay significantly
over that amount leaves them with the feeling that maybe they've been ripped off. Not to mention that banks finance vehicles based on book value.
The kbb price also works to the buyer's advantage if a seller is trying to sell the car for significantly above the kbb value. How does the seller justify asking for the higher amount when the buyer can point to the book and say, "look, here's documented evidence of what cars in this condition and with this mileage are selling for"?

Age is also a factor. A 7 year old car with 10,000 miles on it is still a seven year old car. Aging inevitably takes place even if the car just sits there. Not to mention that there are technological, performance, and styling advances which date a car.

Samdog

I paid 19,000 for a 94 Montego Blue with 41,000 miles. It was in excellent condition inside and out with one small ding.
It also had the following mod's;

M2 stage 2
J&S knock sensor
PFS boost gauge
turbo timer
aluminum separator tank
complete silicone hose set

Goodluck

annarborman76

I was just pointing out that you can't go entirely by the calculated blue book value. On a 94 with 30,000 miles on it I get $16,940. I actually get $16,940 as long as I plug in anything under 45,000 miles on it. In reality, all other things being equal, a car with fewer than 45,000 miles on it will be worth more.

True, insurance companies use it too so if you total your car, you're only going to get the blue book value even if you payed more. Although dealers do use it, they are quite willing to charge way over blue book value on rare cars such as the FD. I think dealerships in general tend to rip people but that's just my opinion.

Yes, I agree. I always look at the blue book value before buying and if it's going to help, use it while negotiating a price. You never want to go into a negotiation without knowing if the car is a good deal beforehand.

This is true but in the case of the RX-7, the fact that they are all old sort of helps. I've heard that due to the shrinking number of available 3rd gen RX-7's, the average blue book value of the RX-7 went up $1000 in the last year. When a car that is going up in value is in unusually good condition, it will go up even more than the others.

I don't think we actually disagree here. I always use the blue book when buying a car and I've bought many. I just wanted to point out to him that the blue book uses and overly simple equation so even if he ends up paying more than blue book, say 18 to 21 thousand, it doesn't necesarrily mean he got ripped off.

Iam2Fast

pfarq!
I sent U a PM.