Help me put a $$ on this?

[Spektyr]

I've got a fantastic 1982 Honda Accord that some of you might remember. I am increasingly faced with the reality that I don't really need her and the garage space, money and time I spend on her really is just because I stubbornly don't want to admit that I should sell her to someone who'll appreciate her the way I do, and has the garage space, money and time to spare.

You can see some pictures of her here: http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=16178

It's from a few years back, obviously, but she only has 109,677.2 miles on her now and has been garaged except for a short drive about once a month for the last couple years. Physically she's changed very little. The biggest thing is that we had the windows professionally tinted about a year after those pictures were taken. It is a very light tint, I forget what the % is, but it's easy to see in (it's lighter than 35%, which is the limit here). We put it in expressly for the 99% UV protection.

Please note that this is NOT a "for sale" thread. Even though I know I should sell the car I haven't quite reached that point.

I do, however, need some help figuring out what a fair price would be for when I do decide to sell her (and I will re-take the pictures and post them in accordance with the site requirements for selling vehicles at that time).

So please, help me narrow down what kind of price range I should be looking at. I'm not going to shout out "sold!" and try to hold you to it - again, we're not selling it at this time. I know the car is worth more than $1,000 and less than $5,000 but exactly where between those numbers is what I'm hazy on.

Mechanically the car is - to my knowledge - flawless. I don't have the slightest doubt the car would drive from Florida to Alaska without a hiccup. Cosmetically there's a couple little dings, a scratch or two, and a smidge of "Honda rust" around the gas inlet but it's so much less than you'd find on even a nice Honda half its age I consider the car nearly flawless.

The biggest problem the car has is that the rear seat fabric has aged more rapidly than the front seats, and is now easy to tear and damage. (We simply haven't let anyone sit in the back for several years.)

But if you look at the pictures in the thread I linked, the car doesn't look any different now (except for the window tint).

[SatinSilver]

It's a classic. Can't remember the last time I saw one in good condition without rust. I'd post it online for $4999 and see what offers you receive for it. That may make it a little easier to part with. Of course don't blame me if you regret the decision down the road.

Second thought is to post it for $5400 then settle on the $5k for the final price since most buyers want to negotiate.

[Dreamacre]

I think you WILL regret selling it.

Not many people are in your situation.

[Spektyr]

I'm not worried about regretting the decision.

First off, it isn't made yet.
Second, I'm not a person that spends much time at all dwelling on the past.

But mostly I know that if I do decide to sell her I will only sell her to someone that really appreciates what she is. If some guy just wants a commuter car for his son to tear around town in his money won't buy this car at any price.

Part of the decision-making process is figuring out where we will live next. We're looking to buy a house shortly and since I just can't bring myself to park this car outside, the question of how much garage space we'll have there will factor in. Garage space is important, but we can't base our decision on what house to buy on the garage alone.

Ultimately it's more important to us that our Accord is owned by someone who will love her as much or more than we do than it is that we be the ones that own her.


Would I prefer to keep her for many years to come? Absolutely. Does that mean I'll spend whatever I have to and make any sacrifice to ensure that happens? No. If I look at things honestly and come to the conclusion that I'm basically storing a car simply because I don't want to sell it I will put the car up for sale. I'm not a museum and I think that if a car isn't going to be appreciated as a car (being driven around more than simply enough to keep it in working order) it should at least be stored somewhere more people than my wife and I can get to see it.

This car deserves better than to collect dust in a garage and if I'm not going to be able to provide that I'll be happier to see someone else do it.


So that's why I'm trying to figure out the fair value of the car, so that IF the time comes to sell her I have some basis for a number that won't scare off the people that would appreciate her (if I ask too big a number many people wouldn't make an offer simply because they'd think I'm not right in the head) but not so small I'm fighting of morons who want to stick 22's on her or some stupid thing like that.

[RTexasF]

Have you tried to book this car on any of the car pricing sites to find its worth? Opinions here mean little. If I'm looking for a used car the first thing I'm going to do is gather all the information, see/drive the car, then book it to see what the value is. The seller has to do the same in order to establish an asking price. You can't just pull one out of the air.

[Spektyr]

I'm not familiar with the term "to book" but if you mean looking it up on KBB or something like that I don't see it being any help. KBB only goes back to 1992, which is exactly a decade not far enough.

I imagine most "book" values would be what insurance companies base their payouts on, and what dealerships base trade-in values on, which of course would be grossly inaccurate for a vehicle in this condition.

The average value of "some" 1982 Accord isn't important. They don't put numbers in books - at least as far as I'm aware - based on what one of a handful of cars in similar condition would be worth. I'm pretty comfortable saying there are less than 100 '82 Accords in as good or better condition, and the number is probably under 50.

[JPetovello]

This site might be helpful.

http://thisoldhonda.org/

[RTexasF]

Originally Posted by Spektyr

I'm not familiar with the term "to book" but if you mean looking it up on KBB or something like that I don't see it being any help. KBB only goes back to 1992, which is exactly a decade not far enough.

I imagine most "book" values would be what insurance companies base their payouts on, and what dealerships base trade-in values on, which of course would be grossly inaccurate for a vehicle in this condition.

The average value of "some" 1982 Accord isn't important. They don't put numbers in books - at least as far as I'm aware - based on what one of a handful of cars in similar condition would be worth. I'm pretty comfortable saying there are less than 100 '82 Accords in as good or better condition, and the number is probably under 50.

Well that's ignorance on my part. I didn't realize that the various pricing sites didn't go back that far.

[RTexasF]

I found one online from a dealer (Pennsylvania) for $2495 reduced to $1999 with 10,000 less miles on it. The pictures looked very nice.

Reading between the lines indicates to me that you have too much sentimental attachment to the car. That could mean you're not seeing the true condition of it and possibly escalating it's worth in your mind. Personally I think the $5K range is way out of line for a car of that age, just not realistic. Were it mine I would ask in the $2500-$2700 range and see what happens. Frankly I think even that is high but it's a more realistic starting point than $5,000. Just my opinion which I stated already doesn't mean much here. Also it's not a pet that you want to make sure has a good home, why on earth would you care who the hell buys it as long as their money is good? It's excess baggage that needs to go away.

[SatinSilver]

Here's a 93 Accord with 50k miles going for over $5k on ebay with 2 days left:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1993-...item43af2e8388

Rick, do you have the link for the Accord with 10k miles on it?

[Spektyr]

Originally Posted by RTexasF

Reading between the lines indicates to me that you have too much sentimental attachment to the car. That could mean you're not seeing the true condition of it and possibly escalating it's worth in your mind. Personally I think the $5K range is way out of line for a car of that age, just not realistic.

That would be why I said "less than $5,000". I could just as well have said "less than $500,000" but that would have been far too much of an exaggeration.

I very specifically said that I was unsure exactly where between one and five thousand the true value of the car was. That should, I would think, indicate that I'm no more "attached" to the five thousand number than I am to the one thousand number.

Originally Posted by RTexasF

Also it's not a pet that you want to make sure has a good home, why on earth would you care who the hell buys it as long as their money is good? It's excess baggage that needs to go away.

Why the hell would you care whether a pet goes to a good home after you get rid of it?

Oh, because you care about it and would like it to have a good life?

You can't actually believe I'm unusual - particularly on this forum - for thinking a car like this deserves an owner who's going to appreciate it.

[RTexasF]

Why the hell would you care whether a pet goes to a good home after you get rid of it?

Oh, because you care about it and would like it to have a good life?

You can't actually believe I'm unusual - particularly on this forum - for thinking a car like this deserves an owner who's going to appreciate it.
__________________

That is not what I said at all. If you re-read I said it's NOT a pet.

No I don't think it as unusual and I too get attached to my cars. However when it comes time to trade or sell it's just a machine and I couldn't care less about anything but the money.

[RTexasF]

Originally Posted by SatinSilver

Here's a 93 Accord with 50k miles going for over $5k on ebay with 2 days left:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1993-...item43af2e8388

Rick, do you have the link for the Accord with 10k miles on it?

Yeah but his is an '82 not a '93. The '82 I mentioned had 10,000 LESS miles than the OP's, not 10,000 miles total. No link I just googled 1982 Accord for sale and the one in PA came up.

[Spektyr]

Originally Posted by RTexasF

That is not what I said at all. If you re-read I said it's NOT a pet.

No I don't think it as unusual and I too get attached to my cars. However when it comes time to trade or sell it's just a machine and I couldn't care less about anything but the money.

I was responding to exactly what you said. Yes, you said a car is not a pet. Your statement was intended to say that since a car is not a pet I should not have any feelings (or at least not as strong of feelings) regarding what happens to it after it becomes someone else's property.

So my statement was a reversal of that, indicating that for exactly the same reasons that someone would want their pet to go to a good home, someone might want their car to go to a good home.

This isn't some 8th gen Honda you can find one just like if you spend an extra 5 minutes with Google. It's a first-year second gen that there are literally just a few of left in as-good or better condition. For the same reason that I wouldn't willingly allow someone to destroy any other desirable object that's difficult to replace, I would not willingly allow someone to buy this car if I believed their intention was to mistreat it.

There are people out there that like Accords (hard to believe, I know).

There are people out there who very much value the older ones and would hate to see one in this condition ruined, even if they didn't have any intention of buying it themselves. I'm not going to buy an original Van Gogh anytime soon, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't feel a sense of loss if one were destroyed.

I'm not saying the car is a work of art, either. (At least not on par in value with a Van Gogh, obviously.) The point is that regardless of the actual dollar value of the car, which is the only thing I'm actually asking for help determining, I think it would be irresponsible to knowingly allow this car to be devalued. It cannot easily be replaced, not like most other cars which have hundreds or thousands of virtually identical cousins out there.

So what if some guy buys and abuses a recent model Chevy truck? It doesn't really change the odds of someone else who wants one finding one.

But if you want to buy a very nice 2nd gen Honda it doesn't really matter if they're expensive or not, the simple fact is there aren't a lot of them left, and they're not always available to buy.


So the point isn't that one thing is a machine and the other is a pet, or that you personally feel people should prioritize one over the other.

The point is that it's my machine, and I do value it enough that I care about what happens to it after it's no longer mine. If you disagree that's fine but I don't need and didn't ask for your value judgement of my values.


I don't need help with the decision-making process of whether or not to sell the car. I'm an adult and I can do that on my own. I didn't ask for a psychoanalysis of my state of attachment to the car or whether or not I might regret the decision later. These are factors I can quantify and account for entirely on my own with far greater accuracy.

I just asked for some opinions on what other (alleged) Accord enthusiasts would consider a fair price for the car.

[Artema]

Looks like you continue to almost intentionally misinterpret what RTexasF is saying. It doesn't matter if you asked or not, this is a forum, people sometimes talk off topic, shockingly. I think you should put it up for $5k and negotiate, if or when you decide to sell.

Personally I would love to get an old car like that in the future and upgrade the suspension like crazy, maybe even put in a completely different drivetrain and engine. I almost regret getting a car less than 2 years old and doing the same thing. I would have had more options with an old car like yours.