The Official "What's this DSM worth?" Thread

[Talonracn50]

you dont want a loan on one of these, then you wont have MOD money!

 

[BK17Soccer]

Look up again, re-read, re-post. I never said i didnt want loan money, i said i cant because im not 18 or i would.

 

[architechnik]

$8k seems a bit much, but I haven't ever paid more than $2,200 for a car.

Justifying the price really depends on the condition, year of the vehicle, and where you are - the going price.

You would have to just about take the thing apart to really find the problem areas - previous unreported accidents that are masked, unusual engine wear, incorrect mileage?

EDIT: Oh, and beware of fathers trying to sell their kids' cars. It usually means they paid WAY too much for it and are trying to get that much if not more. If you can't read the kids face when you ask how they took care of it, they might not have taken the best of care.

 

[Talonracn50]

Easy there buddy,

I was saying that you really dont want a loan on one of these cars. The reason is that you will want to spend your money modifying it, and not paying a monthly payment. On top of that you will have all of the maintenance expense right when you buy it. Timing belt, water pump, fluids, etc, unless the previous owner can show a receipt for the work.

 

[turbogentwo]

yeah I would save some money and pay it cash before you invest in something like that; 8000 even if you had a loan would end up too expensive even for a nice DSM

 

[hsk8te2006]

If the car is nearly stock, you may find it extremely useful to look at the kelley blue book value at www.kbb.com. I used it to talk my car's seller down from $8,500, to $6,500.

Go under used car values, and PRIVATE PARTY VALUE, and enter as much information as you know for the car. It's best to look at and test drive the car first and take scrupulous notes on it's condition (make a note of anything less than near perfect condition) so you can choose it's correct condition rating on the website. If you can't, then I would at least get a list of it's factory options to plug into the website, and then print out it's value for each of excellent, good, and fair conditions. You can then take those printouts of it's official value to the seller to talk him down to at least it's official value.

You can also get quotes from local shops on how much it would cost to fix any problems you find, and then take that amount off the appropriate value when figuring out how much you can offer the seller.

Hope this helps!
-Jonathan

 

[Provenuts]

If the car is nearly stock, you may find it extremely useful to look at the kelley blue book value at www.kbb.com. I used it to talk my car's seller down from $8,500, to $6,500.


I would pay 8 grand only if it is ding-free and in near-perfect condition (original paint and vin stickers on all the panels where aplicable, all the quarter panel bolts are untouched).

Most cars retail at the so-called kbb wholesale price with the exception of a few. Examples would be a clean mr2-turbos or 3rd gen rx7s.

I paid 27K my 07 STI (3600miles) which booked for $30K at kbb wholesale.

I discovered this site today after buying a 90 TSi AWD Talon with 132K miles for $1500. The car is unbelievable, only 3 tiny dings, no curb rash on any wheel and all (original paint and vin stickers on all the panels where aplicable, all the quarter panel bolts are untouched).

She runs great and straight. AC and cruise works too Will need TB replacement along with all the other parts associated with that job since I'll be in there anyways. Look into the balancer eliminate kit but found out the job is way too trouble and the vibration is undesireable. Good luck.

 

[D_Roc1320]

ok I got something new for everyone. I have a 98 Eclipse GS-T with 28,499 orginial miles and 2k on a completely built engine and a bunch of other expensive go fast goodies. Waited 9 months to get the car and had it for a month and it catches on fire. Now other than my extremely bad luck what is one to do. I calculated up everything that I think would need to be fixed... and it came out to 5500.00 for everything. Ya know given that the actual engine is ok and not damaged which I dont think it is. The list of things that were damaged were the hood, valve cover, injectors, injector harness, driver side headlight, headlight harness, AEM UEGO Wideband, Alternator, Power Steering is completely gone, fuel rail, all the reservoirs for the fluids, the plug wires & ###### the plugs to, all the belts (timing & all serpentine belts), and the oil catch can. I know what a lot of people are gonna say, turn it into the insurance people. Ive let them know about it and have had 2 estimators come out and look at it. Ive gotten the vibe and one of the dudes even told me that it was ###### gonna be totalled out. I dont wanna see this car get totalled cause of all the money thats been thrown into it. And for the fact that in the month I did have it... it was a ####ing blast. Am I over looking the obvious because I love the car or do I have a legitiment rebuild here? What would some of you guys do if you were in the same situation? Let me know... thanks in advance.

 

[motox-010]

Well my friend traded in his TSi AWD on a caddy (dumb move) and after he told me I went over to the dealership and asked them about it. They said make an offer. I am thinkin $2200. The PO hardly ever got on it, and the owner before him was a grad from UTI. So I think it is in pretty good shape. Is $2200 a good deal on a TSI AWD? When they get it up on the internet I will post the link.

 

[absolute_DSM]

Year? Pics? Mods?

 

[motox-010]

1990, no mods that I know of. I will get pics tomorrow.

 

[RipperXX]

if the body is in good shape and the paint isn't pealing it's not a BAD deal, not what I would call a great one either. I might pay that if it had 70k miles or something on it like mine did


I would grab 2k in cash and make an offer of 1800 cash on the spot and go from there. Just dont be to eager they see that and they know you really want it and wont drop the price down. Remember they dont get $ unless they sale a car. They work on comission so they want to sell it to ya too.

 

[93_tsi_fwd]

90 tsi awd 5 speed all stock sounds reasonable. i sold my 90 tsi awd for $2300 all stock except a 2g valve cover ebay manual boost controller and 3g maf-s but not installed.

 

[motox-010]

Well they bought it for 2150, and when I talked to them on the phone they said 3900 after they went through the car, which i figure is bull shit because it isnt even 3500 on NADA for perfect condition. And its not in perfect condition. The gauage pod needs to be fixed, cause the clips broke or somethin.

 

[Mikael SS]

they gave him 2150 on paper, they are not that much out of pocket.

 

[motox-010]

So you think I should offer $2100?

 

[93_tsi_fwd]

$2100 is a good price for all stock. Go for it.

 

[91talon27]

If they said they have 2100 in it they do on paper but, they actually have maybe a 1000 in it max. I say go for it too all they can do is turn the offer down.

 

[motox-010]

Well the kid said that they gave him 2150 for it. So thats why I was thinking 2200. But I think I am gonna start at 2000 and go from there. They dont know anything about the car. Yet... I hope I can make an offer before they go over it.

 

[motox-010]

http://www.getauto.com/autolinks_cardetail.html/adid-10683628/e_dealer_id-/inventory-/x_dealer_id-#1
There is the link
My friend just told me that it has a 40k mile turbo on it
The brakes where replaced when the PO owned it.
And it looks like the tires are pretty new also.

 

[VETTE_50_TH]

car looks very clean. What were the total miles on the car though. 40k on a turbo is nice, but how much does the car have. Does it look like it has a lot of rust or does it have anything out of the ordinary making noises, if so, where are they coming from, does the turbo spool and gain boost? Anything else they said that we should know? But just by looking at it. Looks pretty good.

 

[motox-010]

I havent had a chance to drive it yet, but there is almost NO rust. At least none on the body. In the listing it says 153,XXX miles on the car itself. I dont know how good or bad that is. My mom's 98 Ford Explorer has almost 200k on it though!! It is running good. Hopefully I can have the same luck with this Talon. I am going to go to the dealership on my lunch break and talk to them about possibly a straight up trade for my Jeep, because they have NO 4-wheel drive SUVs at the lot. On NADA, they list perfect at 2900. And they claim perfect is low miles and what not.

 

[motox-010]

Alright, I am getting a list together of stuff that needs replacing and fixing, if I point that out to the salesman, would that get him to agree with my price more?

 

[ClevelandDSM]

I work as a car wholesaler. To be honest with you, i would not consider that car for 2100 let alone mayby 1300. With 150k miles on it, the dealer that took it in on trade most likely put around 800-1300 in it with the miles and condition. Like someone said before, what they put on paper meens nothing, they could have made the deal in the slow season ( aug-oct ) by putting two grand in it, but i doubt it. The nada black book for wholesale value and trade in on a 1992 talon tsi awd ( the black book only goes back to 1992 ) with 150k miles is roughly 750 dollars. If you want to bring that up to the sales person, who will know exactly what you are talking about when you mention the black book listing. If you were to have two grand in your pocket, you can find a lower mile example of a dsm on autotrader or your local paper.

 

[SOADweskey]

I think $2200 is a bit much for the mileage. You should start you offer low but not offensively low, maybe about $1500 cash.

Also as a side note you should be aware of all the little quirks and diferences on a '90. I don't know what they all are but I know that their transmission internals are different and there are various electrical and ecu differences between them and other 1st gens. You should talk to a 90 owner about these things and what they could mean to your plans for the car.