moconnor

iTrader: (14)

There seems to be a pervasive myth on this board that somehow the KBB is wildly inaccurate when it comes to FDs. I have never seen any evidence that it is. From my experience buying one and looking for an extra one locally and purchase prices that people post here (e.g.,
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...93+price+miles) it is clear that it is pretty close the actual market value. (The exception being, as I mentioned, very low mileage cars, which it tends to undervalue.) I think people are basing this claim on the wildly inflated Autotrader asking prices for these cars. If you follow the market for more than a few weeks it is clear that these cars sit unsold for months (or sometimes years).

KBB gives a value of $10.5k for this car, which is probably what it will sell for. As mentioned, the owner of this car knows what he paid too, though like many is probably hoping to get some money back for his mods.

rice-rocketeer

My evidence, if you can call it that, is my experience buying the car. I wanted to finance thru Capital One's "Blank Check" program however they wouldn't allow me to finance more than 12K on the car because they're limited to NADA values. And that sum was way above NADA value but still allowed because of my good credit. They originally told me they wouldn't do more than 9 g's! I told them "You go out and find me a running FD for 9k." The person I talked to loved FD's and agreed with me that book value on these cars has nothing to do with market value but that their hands were tied. They want to make sure that if I default, they can get their money back.

The prices being asked for them may be in your opinion wild inflated, but it's exactly like the current oil speculation, if people out there are willing to pay for it, then that makes it market value. I don't know about now with everyone freaking out about the economy but when I was buying mine in the FL market, 12K-15K was normal and they didn't last more than a couple weeks, a month at the MOST. But just because that might not be the case now, now is an exception. When things settle down again they'll go back up.

I might have a skewed perception due to the fact I was only looking at modified FD's, but when I was shopping around I quickly realized that if it wasn't 30K original mint, then looking for a stock one was just asking for a fixer-upper. And modified FD's always went for more than avg condition stock ones'.

Eminent7

I've owned both cars so I know a little bit.

My Z was an 04 Touring 6spd, w/ 21,000mi on it when I purchased it.

The car cost me $24,000 (not including taxes and license) from a private party and I sold it a year later for $21,500.
Keep in mind I only put a little over 3,000mi on the car in that year and the car still depreciated 2 1/2 grand... I lost 4 1/2 grand on the deal, if you include taxes and license, in just 1 year of ownership.

The 350Z's seem to depreciate fast. I believe this is because there is such a large amount of them being sold and they've been selling for so many years, that people just simply have a TON of options to choose from. People can be as picky as they want with those cars.

People think I'm crazy for selling my Z for the FD and I mean everyone. But I don't regret it one single bit; in fact I'm relieved I made that decision.

Although a good car, the Z is just not a true sports car. The Z follows the trend of too many new sports cars coming out these days. I meen Heated Seats?!...WTF?!
Not to mention Z's weigh more then 4 door STi's and Evo's... Also I did not like the feel I got when driving the car; it felt too comfortable and I couldn't "feel" the road as I can while driving the 7.

I still miss the Z at times though, I do admit.

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

You are inadvertently making my point even stronger here.

Few Americans have very good credit so will only be in a position to pay blue book or close to it. When I bought my car my credit union initially did not want to give me a loan because the car was over ten years old. Only the very low mileage on the car and my good credit convinced them. Most prospective FD buyers are young and will not typically have strong credit.

No - selling prices make market value, not asking prices.

My experience in the SF bay area when buying in 2004 and also at the moment is that there is a huge disconnect between asking and selling prices for many FDs, and FDs listed at more than a grand or two above blue book rarely sell. FDs listed from $12-$15k with reasonable miles sell pretty quickly because it represents the blue book range for most cars. However, Autotrader always has a consistent supply of 100-140k+ mile FDs for $18k or more that sit for months or years. I really don't know why owners think their cars are worth this much.

I would love if FDs really did sell for well above blue book consistently, but beyond repeated strong claims here that KBB is inaccurate, I don't see much evidence that they do (except for very low mileage FDs). We are only fooling ourselves and needlessly prolonging the selling process to pretend otherwise.

foaxaca

Final note: Just sold the FD to a fellow Californian for $12,000 cash. Thanks to all who have responded to my posts the past 2-1/2 years. Take care of those FD's. There aren't many left. This is the best car owners' forum out there.