Hebbis

I'm looking into buying a 2001 black on black Trans Am, non WS6 from somebody that I work with. I'm trying to find out whether the price is good or not. The car appears to be pretty clean. T-tops don't seem to leak (I saw the inside the day after it snowed and there was no water on the inside). Headlight motors both work, passenger side was just replaced. CarFax is clean and he's the second owner. Lightly modded (just exhaust as far as I know). He's dyno'd it at 323 HP and ran a 13.3 second 1/4 mile. Also, the door panels have cracks in them from the window motors, but that doesn't really bother me.

He was asking $10500 but said was willing to go to $10000. Haven't really talked about price yet. I've been looking for a WS6 for a while, but it doesn't need to be a WS6. Any ideas on price? I've got the VIN and RPO codes as well if they're useful for pricing.

OSU Football Fan

iTrader: (23)

If the carfax is clean it sounds like a good price to me. It's getting harder and harder to find clean cars like this with low miles for a decent price.

NC01TA

A lot of 'ifs' and questions but $10,000 is certainly a fair price generally speaking. I worry about someone admitting to taking their car to the strip. Just how many times has this car run the 1/4 mile?? Those 61,000 miles are very reasonable but not if run 1/4 mile at a time. Make sure nothing is 'broken'. Why is the owner selling? The door panel cracks are typical but does the car need anything? Tires? Brakes? Paint OK? Everything affects price and negotiations. As I said, $10,000 is fair generally speaking, but not if the car was abused or needs all kinds of things.

Hebbis

He claims that he's selling because his wife is having another baby (there was a carseat in the back when I saw it, so I can believe the claim). It was his daily driver for the past year and he put 15k miles on it since then. He's owned it since 2008. The only concern that I have is if he drove the car hard. The paint has light scratches that you can see at the right angle, but nothing that isn't normal. The car seems like it was maintained pretty well on the interior too. Any major issues that can happen based on the information that I have?

NC01TA

Anything can happen as far as repairs and needs, so that is why your questions must be quite detailed. There should be no major issues on a 61k miles car unless it was abused. A good honest seller will answer every single question. I do, and I expect it in return. From when he bought the tires to when he changed every fluid, right down to how much life is left on the battery. Since you have observed a car seat, I would even inspect the rear seats and rear carpet real well for baby vomit. I'm serious. If the car is being shown with the windows open you may not smell anything. A worse case scenario would be having the carpets, etc.. professionally cleaned. I try to think of every angle that could cost me $$$ after purchase. That needs to be in the negotiations in advance. If the seller doesn't budge enough on price, then move on. There will be others.

Hebbis

Update to this car:

He's still selling the car, but now it has 62k miles on it and he wants $8000 for it. I'm probably going for a test drive in a couple of days. My dad is a mechanic so I'll probably have him with me to test drive it because he'll probably notice issues more than I will. Anything specific to look out for? He said the tires are pretty much new and from what I remember everything seemed good on the interior. From what I've seen so far, $8000 looks like a really good deal.

NC01TA

Man! He hasn't sold the car in 5 months??? Definitely bring your Dad. No doubt about it. Just re-read all the things we previously discussed. No need to repeat. Everything still applies especially since the seller is so vague in his description. What the hell does his tire description of "pretty much new" mean? 1 year old Goodyears with most of the tread left or 5 year old 15,000 miles mongrel brand?? That certainly affects price if you have to immediately lay out an instant $600+ for decent tires. $8,000 sure is a much better price than before. Even if you lay out $2,000 in 'needs' or repairs the first year, you certainly will still be OK.
Have your Dad listen to the rear end for noises. Your Dad will know what to look for. Just make sure everything works, from the headlights to the window motors. A/C can be very expensive too. It should blow cold. No BS about it needing 're-charging' if it doesn't. Good luck!!

Hebbis

I just checked out the car with my dad. Everything seems to be good. Paint is really clean with only a small number of minor scratches. We settled on $7300. The only thing that seemed a bit off was the rear was making noise. My dad didn't think it sounded like it was a bad noise. The owner said that once he put his exhaust on it made that since the pipes were too big and hit something. Seemed alright though. I think I got a good deal though. I'm only the third owner too.

Thanks to everyone who helped with questions.

NC01TA

A very fair price! You did fine. You have lots of room for any repairs or needs too. I think it is really cool that you persisted on this car for such a long time. It worked out. Congratulations and enjoy it!