Thread: Putting a value of your car

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some peoples trash,is other people's treasures!
for a start i agree with mopar34, get you're little gem apprised by a third
party!depending on what it is you could be supprised! good or bad the couple hundred bucks it costs it will at least tell you where you stand!
even if you're toy is only 80% finished ,if its rare or unusual enough,maybe you'll want to carry storage insurance,just in case..

You've got the basics down Andy, now it's just a matter of a dispassionate assessment of features/condition, how much marketing you want to do, and how badly does the car have to be sold. I'm less enthusiastic about the appraiser approach as many of them are in the business of doing reports that could be subtitled, "what number do you want to hear?". If you got a good one who has a lot of experience, is honest, and will listen to you about your motivations they could be useful in pointing out both strong and weak points.

Books have (or should have) been written to cover all the bases, but a lot of it comes down to general condition, and style. As an example, if you were trying to sell a car today with an '80's pastel paint color with swoopy graphics on the side vs one that's painted something like a straight black, red, or some other popular color, the "simple" paint scheme will get a better price for the car (assuming equal build qualities, and ignoring the "one in a million" person who's only going to be in love with the dated paint scheme). Likewise interiors. A car with 5 or 6 interior colors and textures of fabric, bunches of "stuff" (console on the front floor, in the headliner, in the back, through the trunk and on into a matching trailer), high back buckets with a traditional exterior, and so on, is going to be a lot tougher to move than a car with something historic looking , or in tune with the overall theme (unless it's a fad deal)and only one or two colors.

I'm sure others will pipe in with other examples, but this is where the rubber meets the road on that oft repeated phrase "Build it to suit yourself/your tastes". Well, if you've got poor or weird tastes it'll cost ya at sellin' time. Certain themes are repeated over and again because a lot of people like them. The longer the line of people who are interested in what you have, the higher the price. If your car would only appeal to you and Liberace..................well...........he's dead and not the buyer. And that's why it's tough to really pin down anything more than generalities.

As for marketing, it gets back to that line thing. The more people who see the car, especially in person, the better the odds of your getting a good price. Just as an example. There's a red '41 Chev two door sedan in my gallery. I took it to Pleasanton (one of the biggest shows in the West) in '89. I hadn't planned to sell it so didn't have the title with me. A buddy I caravaned with talked me into putting it up for sale by telling me to ask "too much" and see what happens. I had repainted it so it looked fresh, and had redone the upholstery because it was 5 different shades when I got the car. It looked good, even though it's not one of the more popular models. On the second day two couples kept coming around to look at it. Next thing I know I'm having to figure out which one was first to say they wanted it, and because they were aware of each other's interest there was no haggling on the price! One of the few cars I actually made money on (not factoring in anything for my worthless labor ). One of my favorite parts of this story is a well known rod writer, Pat Ganahl, had stopped by and basically told me I was crazy asking as much as I was. So much for "expert" opinion.

Find the best marketplace (getting tougher now as the season winds down, earlier is better), ask as much as you can, and see what happens. You'll get plenty of feedback from the folks that matter most............the one's with $ in their pocket and an interest in buying "something". Everything else, this missive included, is just "interesting" talk.