lukesev00

So I've been wanting to get an LSx car for awhile now. I've been working overseas for the last few years saving money, I just got back and have a decent chunk of change in the bank. I found a BEAUTIFUL 02 SS, 6 Spd, Bone stock with only 15k miles on it for $14k. I swooped it up real quick. It doesn't have a clean title, reading the cars history it hit a road sign and buster the radiator. I had a mechanic look over the car (I don't live in the state the car was in) and he couldnt even tell there was any accident history he said its cherry and a good purchase. So I got a pretty good deal.

Now I found this other car, its an 02 Z28 with 80k miles going for just under $10k. Not as clean, but still pretty nice. I still have the money saved up to buy that car out right. So I'm having this crazy thought of purchasing the 80k Z28, having that be my DD for the next couple of years and just storing the cherry SS with 15k miles in a garage untouched for a couple years, and possibly selling it later for a profit.

Now that these cars are getting a little harder to find, and this one is in immaculate condition, do you guys think the value would increase enough over the next few years to make a worthwhile profit off this? If I'm selling a pristine Black SS with 15k miles in 2021 or 2022, what do you guys think i could make off of it?

Firebrian

The odds are quite high you will lose money on your 15K SS even if it sits for the next 5 years and doesn't have any more miles or wear or tear put on it. Then consider that you still have to carry insurance on it. The only way you'd have a fighting chance to not lose more than $500-$1,000 in that time is to use collector's insurance which might only run about $150/yr. The car will probably need some maintenance or fluid changes so figure $500 for that. If the tires are original, then that's another $600 to deal with. And the fact that the title shows an accident which no doubt messed up the nose to get to the radiator, could turn away many potential buyers that would otherwise be interested in a "no-accident" car.

My advice is to drive the car as you originally intended.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Some great advice here.

If you had bought that '02 SS for, say, $10k in it's current condition and mileage, then I would say that it would almost certainly have profit potential in the next 2-5 years if it were untouched. However, at $14k to start, and then all the costs mentioned by Firebrian above (including any maintenance catch-up that it currently needs), I think you'd see a better return on that $14k if it was invested elsewhere. The insurance cost alone will be high over those years, even with agreed value collector-type policies since you'd have to insure it for the profit that you plan to make. For example, I have such coverage on my '98 through Grundy (they are cheaper than Hagerty, and those are the two biggest names in this business), and the rates to insure cars less than 25 years old are actually higher than for antiques. It would cost you about $300-350 per year (or more) to cover that car for ~$20k via Grundy. If you cover it for any less, you'd be risking the loss of any potential profit if that's the purpose of the car. So figure $1500-1800 for 5 years of insurance alone.

As a recent example, there was a beautiful NBM '02 SS M6 car with extensive SLP content and under 5k miles that sat for quite a while at a dealer, listed on Cars.com and other sources for $18.5k at the lowest before presumably being sold. It was among the nicest examples I've seen for sale since these cars were new on dealer lots, and the Carfax was totally clean. With its clean title and lower miles than yours (and you didn't mention anything about additional SLP content for yours), you can figure that it was more valuable - but still it had trouble selling above $18k. So, if you relisted your SS today, you might be able to make a small profit of ~$2k, +/-$1k depending on your region and the details of the car (such as SLP options), assuming you don't put another dollar into the car. But over the next few years, it's likely that the value won't grow much faster than the cost of responsible ownership.

I would caution against ever keeping a car (especially one from this era) for a bank account/growth investment type purpose. If you want to store it/use it sparingly for your own pleasure as a show/special occasion vehicle, then more power to you. That's exactly how I use my 17k mile '98. But I have no illusions about its future value, I'm well aware that it's not going to be a retirement fund nor even a source of modest profit should I ever sell it. I've already spent more on ownership costs over the last 13 years than any gains in its value over that time. The scale will never tip in the other direction in my case, and that's fine because that was never my intent in the first place. Yours certainly has more collector potential, being an SS and an '02, but you would've had to buy at a much lower price point and/or store the car for decades while somehow keeping storage/maintenance/insurance costs down to a trickle to have any hope of significant profits beyond the luck you might have with a quick flip in the near term. And even if you wait those decades, any future profits are still a big dual gamble based on trends and the economy.

If it were me, I would only keep (or have bought in the first place) your 15k mile SS as a weekend toy to enjoy for many years of careful driving on perfect days; it never would have been on my radar as an investment nor a year-round daily driver (there are better/more cost-effective options for both.) If it ends up being worth a ton some day, great, but if not then at least you weren't counting on it.

NC01TA

A car with a non-clear title is NOT something to put away. That's the car to enjoy the heck out of and drive daily. With those wonderful low miles it can be a car to enjoy for many, many years. Good luck with it!

Firebrian

Thanks for that insurance info RPM WS6 on classics and <25 yr old performers. I had just assumed they were priced similarly. For years I got used to paying $100-$150/yr on my Mopar muscle cars while driving them to shows nearly every weekend. Best of both worlds. And during that time they only went up in value. $350/yr is not much different than I currently pay on my regular auto policy ($400-$450) to ensure my 1999 SS.

There are collector cars which can be very profitable during specific market up-trending periods. 1996-2007 was just such a period for 1960's and early 1970's muscle cars. It was not unusual to see your 1970 Challenger R/T double to quintuple in price during that run. And you didn't have to do anything to it except drive it a dozen times per year and perform minimal maintenance and cleaning. A number of desirable '68-'71 Mopars I considered buying in 1995-1996 went from $20K to $50K/90K during that run. You just had to pick solid #2/#3 cars (nice originals, older restorations, or fresh restos), with nice options, and preferably with their original drive trains + documentation. There were lots to choose from. Can't say when the next such period will occur, if ever again.

There was literally no downside in the early 1990's because the old war horses from the 1960's and 1970's had the same hp or more than what was coming out of Detroit in 1992-2000. Not the case any more though with a few exceptions. I'm looking out for that next "run" but don't see where it might come from.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

My '71 is covered for about $12k more than my '98, but represents only about 35-40% of my annual Grundy premium (about $620/year for both cars, but their coverage limits are much higher than their actual value due to the "inflation guard" increases which have been bumping their coverage by about 2-4% annually for the last decade.) The antiques are definitely cheaper in this regard...but the '98 is only 6 years away from that same status (hard to believe the LS1 cars are that old now, I remember buying them new on dealer lots.)

You have some very good rates on standard insurance. When I still had my daily driver '02 Z28 (as recent as 2014), I was paying about $650/year for full coverage through State Farm...with multi-line, multi-car, and accident-free discounts. That was about as cheap as anyone I've known in this region. Perhaps Chicago rates are just higher? However, these regular auto policies don't have the advantage of agreed value; I can only imagine how little they would have paid for my '02 if something had actually happened.

30thanniv

iTrader: (2)

JC.
14k invested at a modest 3-4 percent return over 5 years or a depreciating asset with associated liabilities . Hmmm yeah.

No wonder people are broke. I'll stop before this devolves into politics.

Suzy Ormond says: save your money and enjoy the car if you must.

Cahill93Z28

No, do not put the car away as an investment, just drive it.