Quote:
Originally Posted by nazrat
I honestly find that the c280 has enough power. While I'd love to have 400hp at this point I'm more than happy having just enough power to do a brake-stand (which the C280 will do). We have enough traffic here that my 300TD can out-run the pace of stop and go.
I'll see what the lady comes back with. She might want $12k for it, or she might want what she would get for a tax write-off.
-Tad
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Not sure why you would want to do burn outs in a luxury car but ok
If they come back with 12K forget about it. You can get a 1997 in reasonable condition for that much.
You want enough "wiggle room" to absorb any hidden issues with the car. A good rule of thumb is to take the fair private party used value (sorry a mechanics shop is not a dealership) and then start deducting the FULL RETAIL value of the repairs on the car. Be as brutal with that calculator as a dealership service department. When you start negotiating base your negotiations from those numbers and demand some wiggle room on top of that for problems with the vehicle. If your lucky and resourceful you will end up with a cheap car. If your highly unlucky and unresourceful you will at least end up with a car you can resell for what you have in it.
If the owner is smart they will liquidate the car for whatever they can get for it or just repair it. But you never know they might still be making payments on the car and owe a lot of money. Something else to keep in mind. If the transmission went out and they could not afford to fix it what else might have stopped working on the car that they did not repair?