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Absolute STEALS!

38 messages,  Last post on Mar 06, 2008 at 9:56 AM

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What is this discussion about? Classic Cars, Coupe, Convertible, Truck, Sedan, Wagon

Messages Page 5 of 5

#34 of 38 Re: a couple from the 90s [kyfdx] by bumpy

Mar 05, 2008 (8:41 pm)

Replying to: kyfdx (Mar 05, 2008 7:24 pm)
All five of them. There are probably more auto-manual-converted SC300s than built-as.

#35 of 38 Re: a couple from the 90s [lemmer] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Mar 05, 2008 (11:11 pm)

Replying to: lemmer (Mar 05, 2008 3:31 pm)
You mean "was" a lot of car for the money 205,000 miles?---the car is done for. It could implode in the next 15 minutes and no one would call that unexpected. More like $1,000 and a big roll of the dice is the right money IMHO. It's a "steal" but maybe not in the right direction.
 
In human terms that car is 95 years old. Not sure about dog years.
 

#36 of 38 Re: a couple from the 90s [Mr_Shiftright] by lemmer

Mar 06, 2008 (7:16 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Mar 05, 2008 11:11 pm)
You are completely right, of course.
 
After looking a little more, it seems that similar cars with half that mileage is only another $2-3K. That seems like a steal to me.
 
Where is the point of demarcation for a car like this? On a '95 Lexus, was interest wavers heavily at around 135K miles. On a '95 BMW, more like 90K.

#37 of 38 Mileage Related Depreciation by hpmctorque

Mar 06, 2008 (8:09 am)

"Where is the point of demarcation..."
 
I think it's a steepening downward depreciation curve, that starts flattening out at some point after 200,000, rather than a point, since many of the same people who would consider a car with 205,000 would also consider one with 245,000. The big round numbers are the inflection points (100,000, 150,000, 200,000, etc.), where there are spikes in the number of people who say, "the mileage is too high; I'll pass."

#38 of 38 Re: a couple from the 90s [lemmer] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Mar 06, 2008 (9:56 am)

Replying to: lemmer (Mar 06, 2008 7:16 am)
excellent question and excellent answer.
 
My two cents is that on the automobile actuarial tables, the planned life of a car, be it due to mechanical failure, collision, what have you, generally cannot exceed (for a gasoline car) about 175K-225K miles. Now of course some cars will fail to reach that, and some will exceed. But as a rule, this is what to expect of any car. After 225K, you should plan on major expense of one sort or another and catastrophic failure.
 
So when I look at a car with 205K, what's going on in my mind is "I have one good year if I'm lucky", then the waste product hits the spinning variable temperature device.
 
Then the question becomes---what am I willing to pay for that one good year? $6,000? No way. I'd rather pay $9,000 for 3 or 4 good years.
 
This is the way I think anyway.

Messages Page 5 of 5

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