am i asking too much for this

[T2urtle]

i have my dad's 94 camry listed for sale on craigslist in chicago

quick run down

1994 camry XLE 4 banger, loaded w/o leather
interior is really dirty, stains from coffee, he is a smoker and dash has like 10 cracks.
outer door handle of driver front doesn't work and the rear pass window doesn't work.
has a exhaust leak or needs a muffler.
the outside is clean no rust, 1 small dent on pass door
150k miles, tan on tan

a lot of work was done over the past years, timing belt, brakes, tune up and etc. car i would say should be solid for aleast another 50k miles engine wise, body has no rust, just minor imperfections.

I listed the car for $1800 for the first week and then lowered to 1500.. but no bites, i figure this would be the time people start looking for winter beaters, driver ed in school and a whole bunch of other things. you think i'm asking too much?

 

[Bignate603]

Clean it up. Why would you list a car that you haven't cleaned up for the photos? I'd never buy a vehicle where the previous owner didn't at least try to clean it.

 

[T2urtle]

its really so much work... i attempted to clean the stains for 2 hours and... nothing, my father told me the stains where 5-6 year old coffee stains.

the dash is cracked and discolored so i can do much with that. all i can say is the window is freaking clean.

the seats have been soiled with cig smoke and ashes that the tan looks really black. a seat cover would be better.

 

[Dman877]

That's a $500 beater dude.

 

[T2urtle]

Originally posted by: Dman877
That's a $500 beater dude.

i dunno, i had 2 guys who came buy and told me they would of paid $1500 but the smoke smell would of annoyed their daughters.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: T2urtle

Originally posted by: Dman877
That's a $500 beater dude.

i dunno, i had 2 guys who came buy and told me they would of paid $1500 but the smoke smell would of annoyed their daughters.

There is a buyer for anything if the price is right. If you don't want to spend anything to remove the odor or stains in the car then lower the price.

 

[alpineranger]

I personally wouldn't pay more than about 500 for the car as you described. 1800 would be for a car with about that many miles, if it had a interior in decent condition, no offensive smells, working doors, no exhaust problem and documentation of all major maintenance.

 

[SandEagle]

dude, get it detailed in and out. find a ziebart or something similar and pay ~ $99... they'll fix it up real good

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: rrahman1
dude, get it detailed in and out. find a ziebart or something similar and pay ~ $99... they'll fix it up real good

Or at least go rent a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment

 

[SparkyJJO]

The smoke smell, stains, and the dysfunctional door handle on the driver's door are deal killers. How are you supposed to get in the car if the handle is broken?

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
The smoke smell, stains, and the dysfunctional door handle on the driver's door are deal killers. How are you supposed to get in the car if the handle is broken?

I bought a beater from a dealership for $135 ($200 OTD w/ all paperwork) that had an extremely saggy driver's door (would drop about 2" when you opened it) and a broken off handle. I had to climb in thru the passenger side. I did this for over a year before fixing it

And OP, no offense, but that sounds like a nasty, neglected beater. The stale smoke smell and coffee stains would be definite deal breakers. The stains are probably permanent at this point, but at least do something about the smell. And you can probably replace / fix the door handle fairly easily yourself with cheap parts. I think the handle for my car was about $20 and I fixed it myself with basic tools in under 2 hours.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: Dman877
That's a $500 beater dude.

this.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: T2urtle

Originally posted by: Dman877
That's a $500 beater dude.

i dunno, i had 2 guys who came buy and told me they would of paid $1500 but the smoke smell would of annoyed their daughters.

Sounds like a POS, spend a $100 to have it detailed and sell it for $1000.

I like to "make" money when I buy not when I sell, 9 out of 10 times my vehicles are purchased by the 1st person that sees the vehicle, and my vehicles show pride of ownership.

Last vehicle I sold I had for 2 months and I put it on craigslist and an hour later I had a full price offer for a guy 1900(?) miles away, I sold it for 50% more than I purchased it for.

 

[Vette73]

yep get a steam cleaner or at least a good shop vac and spray the seats and carpet down with cleaner and then suck it up witht he shop vac.

And then use Frebreeze or any other type item liek that. Then wipe down the interior with warm water then dry it.

After that lower the price to at least $1600 or less.

 

[ViviTheMage]

If you are willing to knock off 300$ already...at least clean it up, you will get a lot of hits!

GRANTED, I tried selling my 97 grand am in pretty damn good shape, mechanically amazing...no rust, no smoking, no stains, no issues...listed @ 1600, and ended up selling it 2 months later to my girlfriends parents for 900...that is OK, because incase we need it again, I am sure they'd let us borrow it

i think it's a tough market ...

that things a beat 500 or less IMO, in it's current condition.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I've found the state you're in matters a lot. My Grand Prix took a couple months but I got it sold for $2500, and it had a quarter million miles. The beater Volvo I got running again sold for $1500 because a coworker needed a car and I jokingly said "For $1500 it's yours." not expecting anyone to pay $1500. But hey, it was $550 profit after the parts and splitting the profit with the person who gave me the car.

If it smogs, there's no such thing as a $500 car in California

 

[Zenmervolt]

You need to get rid of the smoke smell at the very least. Try renting an ozone machine; they can do an excellent job of removing smoke odor.

ZV

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: T2urtle
its really so much work... i attempted to clean the stains for 2 hours and... nothing, my father told me the stains where 5-6 year old coffee stains.

the dash is cracked and discolored so i can do much with that. all i can say is the window is freaking clean.

the seats have been soiled with cig smoke and ashes that the tan looks really black. a seat cover would be better.

dude just clean the damn thing up. that car goes for $3000+ if its in good condition. hire a damn pro to do it for you.

edit: i guess it would be tough to fix the cracked dash. it's really gonna affect your sale price

 

[thomsbrain]

I know it is tough to sell it for less, because it will probably run another 100K without completely falling apart. However, with exhaust problems, door problems, window problems, a cracked dashboard, stains on the interior, and smelling like smoke (eww!), it's a total beater in its current state. You guys have been reluctant to spend the money to fix all those things because they'd probably cost half the value of the car or more... and potential buyers will see it that way, too. So you may just need to accept that because the car wasn't taken care of and your pops let the mechanical stuff pile up, it's probably a $1000 car at this point.

 

[T2urtle]

he did let things pile up, it was his daily beater. i have a couple of 1000$ offers so i'm going to let them all come over and see the car if they take it great.

other wise i'll get the door handle repaired, since its 12$ for a non painted one on ebay and repair the antenna for another $20. reason why i dont want to fix anything because i wont get any money for this. i did him a favor by giving him my old maxima.

 

[LuckyTaxi]

no way in hell i would buy a car that a smoker was in. it stinks!

 

[996GT2]

We sold a 96 Accord Anniv. Edition (basically the base model with AC), no power windows, no power locks, no CD player, no moonroof...with 196k miles on the clock, it sold for $3500.

Granted, it was in awesome condition and we had all the dealer service records, but this just goes to show that there is a buyer for anything. We had like 10-20 people emailing about the car too right after we posted it on Craigslist...

 

[nakedfrog]

$700-1200, I'd say.

 

[zixxer]

Are you out of your mind? The drivers side outer door doesn't open on top of all that?

$500. Maybe $1000 if you found the right buyer. IME with a car in that condition it really isn't worth the time involved in cleaning it - just sell for $500 and be done.

 

[T2urtle]

i went home today and cleaned up the seat, in the front and wipe down the windows, the stain from coffee is never coming out but everything else was good. i made 1200$ on it =P

guy came in and drove it, liked it, he was a smoker didn't care too much. was a DIY guy and yep... all done now..

thanks for comments guys.