Advice on selling a car on Ebay or Autotrader? (old SR5 Corolla)

Uh-oh...you're in Boston, aren't you...

This isn't good...if it comes between an '89 Mazda and an '89 SR5, can you possibly guess which I'd rather have...

How many miles? This was a Calif car, right?

Give me some details, and perhaps I can meet you halfway somewhere...

Also, post a pic or two if you have them, alt.binaries.images.fun would be a good place...

Hello my friend, I'm in Brookline, 2 miles west of Boston. If I'm ever out in your neck of the woods, I'd be happy to swing by (if for no other reason to show off the car and because you seem like a cool guy). If you are in the Boston area anytime lemme know so that I can take you for a ride and show off the car.

It's a California car. Was made in Japan, then sold at Toyota of Riverside in Riverside, California. Then spent a lot of time at UCLA. The original owner had it shipped to Connecticut in '97, garaged it, barely drove it. I've spent over $5000 (!!!) renting garage space for it since I bought it in 1999, since I did not want to risk any damage from street parking. In the past 2 years it has new: starter, battery, windshield, rear braking system, complete exhaust system, timing belt, water pump, and more. The A/C is also recharged and works great. Yes, I know it sounds obsessive-compulsive putting this much money into an old car...

147k miles. Paint still gleams like new. I avoid driving it if there's snow/salt/sand on the road. Body panels are rust-free. When I take it to the mechanics' I ask them about under the car and they say it looks great and they're shocked by the lack of rust. Runs very strong. Automatic transmission is very tight Runs/sounds/ drives/rides/shifts smoother than my wife's 2000 Honda Civic with 43k miles. Remarkably good acceleration at about 50-75 mph when in 3rd gear. Usually 37 mpg on the highway though I've gotten as high as 44 mpg in the past year. The interior's in excellent shape because 95% of the time it's only carrying a small Asian guy (me), who in turn bought the car from a small Asian guy who was the solo driver.

Right now it's not for sale, but at the latest I will need to sell it by about May 2008. With the combination of its [old] age, [excellent] condition, [extreme] amount of money put into it lately, I don't know what it's worth. Right now there's an '88 SR5 with 280k miles bid up to $1100 (seems high to me) on Ebay.

You can email me at snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com with your email address and I can email you some pics soon. Right now I can't find any pics on my computer but maybe I can take some this weekend. I promise you you will not be disappointed!

Talk to you soon, John

quoted text -

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! He don't know me very well, does he?! But, luckily, I get my parts at a discount, and do as much work as I can myself. I had an '85 Celica GTS that the only things I paid for were a new Rack and Pinion and a '91 engine. Then the thing broke, and I found rusted structural members, so off it went' I had an '83 Tercel wagon I completely did up, new paint, a complete body go-over, etc, but I traded a paint job for a lot of the materials.

Current money pit is an '88 Supra, again, I do as much as I can, but I did spend $300 for a timing belt, new belts, radiator flush and...uh, we did something else at the time...I also have new springs, two new calipers, new rotors, new radio. Needs a tranny; the AT *works* but have to shift it manually. Want to do a 5-speed, but I keep missing deals on them. The sad part is the Celica had the right tranny, but I couldn't find the right bell housing...we also put in a new tank, new tires and some other minor parts.

Obsessive/compulsive? HAHAHAHAHA! I'm the freakin' Poster Child!

Sell if for the maximum $$ you can get. If you're sentimentally attached to it, take a photo for your album.

I don't see a downside to putting a fairly high price on the window and waiting to see who bites. If somebody is willing to pay more than what you think is a reasonable market value for it, then you can rest assured that they're buying it because they like that car, not just because it's cheap wheels. They'll change the oil and take pretty good care of it.

If I found a car like that with a "for sale" sign going for a song, I'd certainly buy it for the cheap wheels. But I'd still take care of it. So would a lot of other people. But you're not placing an elderly relative in a nursing home, you're getting rid of a thing that you don't need.

As for getting your maintenance money back, there was a '91 Honda Accord in the parking lot the other day, for $1200. Slight bubbles of rust at the rear wheel well but otherwise good-looking. 150K miles with a stickshift, which really hurts resale around here. It didn't last a day before somebody bought it, clearly the owner should have been asking more. Go ahead and ask for a lot of money and see what happens. Chances are you'll get some of it back. Your garage fees are history, of course.

"He who can not cast away a possession at need is in fetters" - Aragorn

SHHHHHHH!!!! DAMMIT!!!!!

Oh, I meant, why don't you sell it to Hachi for a song? He'll love it and take care of it like it was his first-born child.

If I lived in the area, I'd probably take a look at something like that. Or, if I liked the pictures, I could pay the asking price if the owner could get it to Minnesota in 32 hours (that's 22 driving and 10 resting). You'll know the owner has confidence in the car if he takes up an offer like that.

I have occasionally looked at eBay but I'm not quite sure I want to buy a car by remote control.

There is a book out there called "EBay for Dummies." It can't be that much if you buy it.

You can go to a Barnes and Noble and browse through it. Or maybe get it at a library.

It is probably worthwhile.

Also, go here:

At the bottom are some links that may be useful to you.

Jeff

LOL! I would! It might even replace the Supra in the heated garage!! Nice car. Not a GTS, but they were cool cars. And with no rust, it would at least be covered most of the time, frequent oil changes, any bumps or groans taken care of and babied to the end of it's days!

I treat most of my cars like children, even the old Grand Voyager I had. I gave it away, but I was considering changing the motor. But it needed a new rack, too, so I gave it to someone with 4 of them...

Getting rid of both the Tercels and especially the Celica GT-S was tough! Cars do have a 'personality', and once you get used to it and settle into it, it can be tough to let go! The Hachiroku has LOADS of personality! Letting go of that is going to be like burying a Dear Old Friend!!!

The Supra can be a bit of a monster at times, but when it's maintained and running well, it's a blast! But it has an edge to it that can sometimes be 'uncomfortable'. The Scion is too new to get a handle on...but it's kind of like a 2-cycle motorcycle. You can putter around town, mild-mannered, but then you can rip it open and FLY!

k00k? hehehe...maybe. I REALLY like cars, and have my favorites, and can get attached to a car with Special Merit!

I used to spend a LOT of time in my cars, so I always had something I could be 'friends' with!

AHA! I guessed correctly!

Yeah, that fits!

Who needs a book? Simple rules:

It costs a fee to sell on E-Bay; this can be a bit for a car. Pick a starting bid under what you would like to see, and list it. For a car, you can set a reserve somewhare near what you would like to get. I've seen Supras with reserves of ~>$6,000 for 86-90. They don't get it. Tops out about $3,500.

Don't go over book value! And, most E-Bay shoppers are looking for bargains, so set the reserve near what you would like, but at a price that could be construed as a 'bargain' to the buyer.

KBB Lists this car from $1100 in Fair condition to $1750 in Exc condition, with Power options, Sunroof, cruise, tilt and air. So, $1100 is a reasonable asking price for this vehicle. Set the reserve at $950, and your opening bid at $500. It will probably be bid up to the $900 easily. And if it isn't, you're out a few bucks listing it.

My bet is John will get the $1100...

Oh, I forgot to mention.

I'm also the type of guy who would buy it, baby it, fix anything wrong with it, and drive it for about 3,000 miles a year, and then if he wanted to buy it back, would sell it back for about what I paid and the price of any parts. So he'd get his car back in mint condition with free labor.

I just like farting around with old cars...

Thanks for the tip.