1949gmc

iTrader: (5)

Looked at an '87 Buick Turbo T today, all in all a decent car, no real rot anywhere... bottoms of doors and trunk lid lip rusty... not visible from the outside. Needs interior and electrical attention, but runs and drives and stops good. Dealer asking $8k. Big thing that I found, tho, when I ran carfax it came up as Branded Title: Not Actual Mileage.... No other issues besides that. BUT, how much of an issue is that? It seems that the NAM was issued in the middle of a long term ownership.

What do you think? For the right price, would you buy it?

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

How many miles are on it? If I recall the odometer only reads up to 99,999 miles so once it turns over 100k and someone rights the displayed mileage it wouldnt match up with the carfax hence the discrepancy.

1949gmc

iTrader: (5)

Interesting. The odometer says 77,760. The last reading on carfax said 73,790 in 1994, then new ownership in 2002, then the NAM in 2005.

NC01TA

1949gmc, you've hit my soft stop with G-bodies. They are wonderful cars IMO but $8,000 is much too high for what you describe. That title 'flaw' stays with the vehicle forever. It will always be a negative, especially at selling time. You can do much better unless you can steal it from the dealer for $5,000 or so. then you can just have fun with it.
A friend in my car club sold his 54,000 miles Grand National for $12,000 last year. I helped him sell it on Autotrader. It was a #3 car with clean title and ready to drive with no serious issues. It looked really nice but had some smaller issues that any 25 year old car would have, like the fuel gauge not working. Look what these asking prices are for some apparently decent low mileage rides with apparently clean titles. You see how high that $8,000 'bad title' car appears now in comparison?? I also included a completed ebay listing just for grins, and again for comparison sake. It supposedly sold for $8,800 (you never know with ebay). That one seems about right.
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...53262316&Log=0
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...71391411&Log=0
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buick-Regal-Grand-National-Coupe-2-Door-1987-buick-t-type-turbo-regal-factory-stock-survivor-grand-/171376049395?forcerrptr=true&hash=item27e6cefcf3&item=171376049395&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

1949gmc

iTrader: (5)

Oh, I have always loved these cars, too. Bought my first GN in 1991 when I was 18... It had 57k miles and I got it for $8500. Unfortunately for me, that's what I've always judged all other GN's by. I've also owned an 8,000 mile car that I bought in 1999 for $13k. The cars I see today for lower to mid 20's, I just shake my head. I can't see how they could possibly get the asking price on some of these. Now I know that my 57,000 mile car would never be $8500 today, and thank goodness for that... Proves that the demand for them is still high.

Now this branded car, I would never pay asking price for it. I too thought that a $4000-$5000 price would be more in line. The guy at the dealer told me that they had gotten it at the Rockford auto auction and that they were the only bidder. That being said, I'm curious as to what they had to give for it... $3k? $4k? If you search the completed eBay listings, you'll find this car there a few times. One time it sold, the other times it did not make reserve. I wonder how much longer they will sit on it before they decide to cut their losses and let it go. They mention in the eBay listings that it has a recent motor, but they fail to mention that it is a jasper engine. That doesn't mean anything to me, but a lot of people don't trust jasper and I think that and the title have teamed up to kill a few sales. May also be why they were the only ones to bid on it at the auction.

NC01TA

I'm glad you have the research and history about it. I agree with what you want to pay for it but I think you are being too generous in what they paid for the car at auction. They are probably looking for quadruple profit. I hope a newbie doesn't come along and pay that price.

1949gmc

iTrader: (5)

Oh man, do you think that they actually paid that little at auction for it? I wish there was a way to find out.

NC01TA

Yes I do. It's amazing the low prices these 'bad title' cars can bring at dealer only auctions. I'm not heavily into those type business only transactions but I did learn of many unreal prices from 'connections' back in the 90's when my work overlapped with these practices. With you learning that they had the only bid for this car, trust me, it was low. Your $3k guess may be closest to reality. These prices are not available to the general public in most instances.
You probably know this already but for those reading this and not knowing, unscrupulous dealers sometimes create false invoices of what they paid for cars. If they show you what they paid, take it with a grain of salt. It may be accurate, but it may not be as well. It is so easy to create letterheads and plug in whatever info you like.