The first one is in Iowa. It's a 1992 model with 100,000 miles. Unfortunately, it comes with no maintenance and repair records. The dealer can't even tell me if/when the timing belt was changed. There seems to be some out-of-state interest, but I don't think it's going anywhere. It's in a region that has very few foreign cars and even less cars with manual transmissions.
The second one is in Philadelphia. It's a 1997 with 142k miles. The first auction ended at $5,600. It did not sell because it did not meet the reserve. The second auction ended last night at $4,850. I think people who might have been interested in this car are losing interest. At some point, hopefully, the reserve will be removed and the dealer will just want to get rid of the thing. Here's to wishful thinking!
They're both cold weather state cars. I'd ask to see photos of the inside wheel-wells and underbody of the cars to see about rust. Not sure if there are rust issues with these cars but salt will kill anything.
ReplyDeleteIf carfax/autocheck indicates the mileage being true on the Iowa car I wouldn't be too worried about the maintenance record. I would try to haggle it to a price that reflects the assumption that the service needs to be done.
Of course nothing beats actually kicking the tires so if you have someone trustworthy who can go look at it it's all the better.