88 XJ-40 VDP Value?

Nathan, Now comes the sad part!! A 1988 VDP with 150,000 miles and rust spots is valued by Kelly Blue book at about $1,800 on a private party sale basis. It gets worse when you look at the trade in or wholesale value which is only $800. To rebuild the transmission generally runs in the area of $1500. So if you are going to sell the car with a bad tranny you will be lucky to get $300. If you are looking to get money from the car then your best bet is to get out your wrenches and sell it piece by piece on Ebay. If you think about it, however, if this is a daily driver, it would cost you well over $1500 for a decent daily driver to replace the VDP so if you are looking to keep inexpensive transportation that is a great ride as well -- do the re-build!! The other route is to head to a junk yard and get a transmission out of a wreck for $300 and have a mechanic put it in for another $300.

Cheers Webserve

Amen to that logic!!!

I live in the NW USA and I know of some transmissions laying about.

Blake

Yes, the advice makes sense. Im trying to think ahead about everything else thats going to break on this rig. Looking closer at the records, the car has had a literal fortune spent on it. I think the engine, transmission and wheels are about the only original parts left on it! I do remember someone in here a while back saying Jags are no good and the best fix for a Jag is to buy a BMW. A BMW transmission is whats in this rig, so that blows that theory looks like :o) On the bright side, it does have a brand new gazillion dollar headliner in it, ha! Thanks much for the advice. Regards, Nathan

Nathan, I think the first problem you have is in the cost of the repairs that are being done. I just replaced the headliner on my '88 XJ40 including the sliding sun roof. Total cost was $33 for material and $8 for glue. Total job took me about 6 hours since I didn't know what I was doing on this first go-round. To me, that isn't a large amount of money. I have owned my '88 for 4 years and over 50,000 miles. It now has over 200,000 miles and my total repairs have been around $1500 including tyres. I do my own work, however. Pretty cheap when I think it cost me $700 just for a new oil pump on my Dodge truck because the garage had to lift the engine out.

Cheers Webserve

Yes, the cost, and frequency, of the repairs are a major factor. Being disabled, doing my own work, besides very minor stuff, is not an option. I just mentioned the headliner because the previous owner had it installed last year, at a cost of several hundred dollars. So you did great doing your own, $ wise. Looking at the repair receipts, theres just too many thousand dollar doo-dads to break on this car. I see where the previous owner replaced $500.00 lamp modules, $400.00 AC switch module, and many more similar items. Many repair bills for 2 or 3 thousand dollars at a lick. He had the car 6 years, and roughly counting, he spent about $15 to $20 thousand on repairs. He only gave $10 thousand for the car. I got about

9 months out of it relatively trouble free, and its broke again. So I imagine the bucks gonna stop here. Thanks again, Nathan