Fair price on a celica, need to know Options

[mantis]

hey all,
first post, but i am really into 6g celicas. I want to get one so bad, but it is tough for me to find one that is in good condition and kept well.

anyways, this guy near me is selling his 98 w/ 16k mile on it for $16500. I took a look at kbb, and for everything that it has, book value is $10700. Now i know that this maybe lower than what the car is worth, so i was thinking about offering $12500. Well above blue book value, but also well below his asking price.

Am i just in "sticker shock" over the going price? What should i expect for a nice condition 97-99 with under 30k miles?

thanks!

[coustoe]

someone is selling their 95 gt automatic all leather, fully loaded 98k miles for $6000.
Havent seen a celica with that many miles on it. I personally wouldnt pay that much. The most you should pay is $10,000. Since I assume your going to be doing a lot of work on it. That means eventaully replacing a lot of the suspension, body parts interior and eventually the engine. Why pay extra when your going to be modding and customizing, spend the money instead on the new parts your going to buy.

Also Celicas are very reliable cars even though its nice to get a low miles car, dont be afraid to look at well maintained cars over 100k miles. These will be just as reliable but several thousands cheaper.

Finally I suggest you look on ebay.com at the celica prices being sold there, that is a good indication of what the actually market prices should be, or what people are willing to pay.

Good luck

[runriot95]

QUOTE

anyways, this guy near me is selling his 98 w/ 16k mile on it for $16500. I took a look at kbb, and for everything that it has, book value is $10700.

Wow, both numbers seem out of whack to me. A '98 with only 16k miles on it should be worth a little more than 10700. But 16500 seems too high. I think your number is pretty fair.

Just to give you an idea, I bought my '99 GT 5 months ago with 60k miles, loaded(sunroof, leather,alloy wheels) for just under 14k. The KBB value was 16k.

Try checking the Edmunds book value but let your eyes be a good judge too. Remember, the book can't see what kind of condition the car's in - inside and outside, both good and bad. Also, check all the car sites ( auto trader, cars.com, ebay, etc.) to see what comparable cars are going for. Good luck!

[Sh0gunkid8721]

i think i got ripped off...lol...i bought my 96 celica ST, fully loaded, alloy rims, with 45,000 miles for 14,000...but im not complainin

[ScoobyDooCruiser]

I picked my 94 GT with 70K miles for $9,000 dealer. A private sale should have been about $8,000 or so. I'd pay the guy up to $13 if its in good shape. Although, with a toyota, the miles aren't as important, cause they go forever.

[97GTinKC]

Definitely run a Carfax on it, that is really low miles, and if its a GT 5spd and the color and options you want, probably worth close to what he's asking, a few thousand extra now may be cheaper than modifying one later or settling for less than you want. I gave 13,800 for my 97GT last year with 32,000 miles, but it already had most everything I wanted and looked and drove like a new car. there were some advertised when I was looking for as high as $22k with less than 20k miles on them. most with less than 50k miles were in the $13-17,000 range asking price. this all was just over a year ago, cant imagine they have dropped that much in 1 year, Good luck.