sebastian0

I had the fortune to look at a beautiful 1992 SC400 yesterday. 41,000 original miles, stock everything, not a single dirty crease in the leather or a single door ding in the paint. Looks like a brand new car. It's not really for sale; I came across it as the result of a complete coincidence, really. I was on vacation with the wife and we were eating at a brewery when I got to talking to the bartender. He told me he was a collector of cars and could find anything that was hard to get. Since I've been looking for an SC400, I asked him if he could find me one. He told me he had one. It's not really for sale, but he invited me look at it and told me he'd sell it to me if I wanted it. He also told me it had a salvage title due to a rear-end accident that ruined the bumper, rear quarter panel, and muffler/exhaust some years back.

He took me to his underground garage where he has about a dozen cars (of which the SC400 was the newest and least valuable--pretty cool trip) and showed it to me. There was no sign that it had been in an accident. This may be the cleanest SC that I've ever seen, of any year.

So now I'm fighting with the decision of if I should buy it or not. I'm not sure what all the salvage title will affect and how much of a headache it could be. Also, I'm not sure how much I should deduct from what I'm willing to pay because of it.

I'll be looking to keep the car for 10+ years, so I'm only somewhat worried about resale value.

Any advice?

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

All that matters is how much you get in it for, versus how much you can get out from under it for. Nothing else is relevant. If you plan on keeping the car for a decade, there is no such thing as resale value. Cars are not investments, especially in the $<10K range. You aren't buying into an F-car here. Spend what you're willing to lose..... on ANY Sc out there after a decade of ownership.

Lex-Fiend

+1^ I think you should buy cars because you like them, and not worry about re-sale value.

Brendon

iTrader: (1)

Honestly anyone shopping for a 16 year old car that they're planning to keep for at least a decade shouldn't even be thinking about resale value. Really, who's going to buy a 26+ year old Lexus? Now of course, these cars could eventually become classics and will grow in value like the old muscle cars or something like a Jag E-type, but that's many decades down the road when these cars become much rarer. In the meantime, the SCs will continue to depreciate. Like OLT said, cars are not investments.

Personally, if you're really in love with this car, buy it and keep it. Who knows, it may really grow on you like my SC has and you'll never want to get rid of it.

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

The day a 26 year old Japanese luxury car goes behind a 56 chevy through Barrett-Jackson I'll set my car on fire and put it on youtube.

kyoso23

Let me get this straight, he is "collecting" a salvaged title SC? Or he just owns it?

trbo1stgen

id say if its really in the immaculate condition you say its in. Then go for it, I mean like others have stated, if you plan on keeping the car for that amount of time, its because you have some sort of love for the car. And if the price is good id say go for it, enjoy the car, and dont worry about the resale value.

sebastian0

Is there really a difference?

felixsc300

iTrader: (5)

If he really is the kind of car fanatic as you described him to be, I'm pretty sure the damage from the rear end was fixed to like-new condition to meet his high expectation. In my opinion, the salvage title probably should not cause too much of a headache.

As for the resale value concern, I concur with all of the posts prior to mine. Good luck!

Peter_95

iTrader: (2)

have you asked him how much he is willing to sell it to you for?

sebastian0

We didn't really talk price. It was all pretty non-committal since I thought I'd want a 98-00 model, but now I'm really considering just scooping this up and putting an M90 on it, which I figure will be a reliable and more powerful setup anyway. The first night we chatted, he mentioned something along the lines that he didn't know how much it was worth, but that it would be under $10k.

It has a set of perfect aftermarket wheels and some Pirellis with pretty much 100% tread life on them, so that adds to the value. I think it's probably worth $8k or so, depending on how much of a premium there is on it because of its mint condition. Seriously, this thing looks like it rolled off the line yesterday. I doubt he's interested in haggling price a lot, so we could probably settle on something reasonable. If any of you have input on what would be a fair price, please let me know.

IonFeright

iTrader: (-1)

That title is a bit of an oxymoron... =P

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

No............ you cannot get 8k out of a salvaged 16 year old japanese luxo. The only way you can get 8k in one is if it has $4,000 cash in a briefcase in the trunk.

sebastian0

What do you think it's worth?

kyoso23

Collectors don't mess with salvage titled cars, as they will always be worthless. The only way I'd consider a salvage title vehicle is if the price is definitely right, in this case under $5k assuming the repair was done very well. And then it would be to build something that would likely ruin the value of a nonsalvaged vehicle anyway.