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Used C4 Market (Beware, im venting inside)

tntcorvette

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
Messages
604
Location
Chicago, Il
Long story short, I have a busted 700R4 and put my heavily modified C4 up for sale on ebay twice with bidding starting at $4999.99 and got no bids. Ended up wasting about $95.00 on f'n ebay.

Worst part is I got about dozen emails from people offering me totally rediculous prices for my car. Anywhere from $1500 to $3K.

Guess people try to offer you b/s for your car with a busted trans, or the C4 market is just weak.

Anyway, back to work. Have a good weekend all!
 
What is the "411" on what you are trying to sell?
Mileage? Condition? etc etc etc...
Give up the details and pics and people here can give you a good estimate of it's value...
 
Why bad mouth EBAY? They offered you a marketing tool for your product for a price, which you took advantage of. The fact that no one wanted your product was not EBAY’s fault. Andre has the right idea. Put the info online on the many Corvette forums, you might find a more appreciative market. There does seem to be a glut of Vettes on the market right now, we also have had one for sale for about 2 months with no bites. Good luck,:beer
 
had a ''sideline'' used car lot, still have buds who do that for a living...everyone will tell tell you the same thing (if you get ''in'') -- a used car with ONE flat TIRE will only bring 1/2 price, two flats and you can't give it away...a busted trans is like all four tires are flat.
 
Why bad mouth EBAY? They offered you a marketing tool for your product for a price, which you took advantage of. The fact that no one wanted your product was not EBAY’s fault. Andre has the right idea. Put the info online on the many Corvette forums, you might find a more appreciative market. There does seem to be a glut of Vettes on the market right now, we also have had one for sale for about 2 months with no bites. Good luck,:beer

I am not bad mouthing ebay. Too many tire kickers on there for me. I never said it was ebays fault. I just do not like wasting money.

My car has been on a few corvette forum boards for sale for some time, including here on the CAC:

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com...oduct=219&cat=10&limit=recent&date=1167216535

Yeah, it needs a new trans....the one im going to order is $1500 and can handle 800 hp(or so performa built says) and I will put the car up for sale with a new transmission.
 
had a ''sideline'' used car lot, still have buds who do that for a living...everyone will tell tell you the same thing (if you get ''in'') -- a used car with ONE flat TIRE will only bring 1/2 price, two flats and you can't give it away...a busted trans is like all four tires are flat.


I agree 100% but for the offers I was getting was insulting. My car has over $10K in upgrades and no way in hell im going to sell it to some low baller for $2K.

A new trans is going in, going to put it on the dyno, run it in the 1/4 mile and I am sure it will sell.
 
Selling a modified car is difficult. Why? Because unless the mods are easily removeable, you have to find that specific buyer who also wants those mods.

But overall, the C4 market is very weak.
 
Edmond is very correct....at least the end of the C4 market is weak if not dead. I listed my 96 in Auto Trader 3 months ago at $16,995. I got 1 call, and the same guy has called 3x offering $12k. I have it listed today at $15,250 - not a call in the last 3 weeks. A dealer has offered $12k on a trade for a Miata Mazdaspeed. Another dealer has offered (sight unseen) $15k, but I suspect that is a come on to sell another Miata.

I would have never imagined that I would have a problem selling a Corvette, but the facts are the facts...C4's are in the toilet !!! here is a link to mine:

www.krempacorvette.com
I'll be waiting by the phone !!!
 
Yep, it'll be in the toilet for a while. I think they're bottoming out right now. It'll go back up a little bit and probably steady out until more of them meet a permanent residence at a scrap yard or something like that.

The C4 is one helluva Corvette. But for young guys who just want to go fast, the C4 might not make sense to them. Not when LS1 F-bodies and the GTO's have depreciated so quick. And not when the Mustang is selling so well.

We're purists, we care about the history and the Corvette name. Some people don't. There's nothing wrong with it.

Have you thought about parting your car out? It'll be a longer process but at least you won't get ripped that bad (I think).
 
I cant blame you for hating Ebay, i think its a ripoff and not the best place to sell a car, youre much better off going around enthusiast sites like this one.

Id like a pre-analog dash C4 myself, but i really dont have the money to insure or even park something like that. It would make a great DD because my current DD has already become the family car ever since we got rid of our Echo!! :ugh
 
Edmond is very correct....at least the end of the C4 market is weak if not dead. I listed my 96 in Auto Trader 3 months ago at $16,995. I got 1 call, and the same guy has called 3x offering $12k. I have it listed today at $15,250 - not a call in the last 3 weeks. A dealer has offered $12k on a trade for a Miata Mazdaspeed. Another dealer has offered (sight unseen) $15k, but I suspect that is a come on to sell another Miata.

I would have never imagined that I would have a problem selling a Corvette, but the facts are the facts...C4's are in the toilet !!! here is a link to mine:

www.krempacorvette.com
I'll be waiting by the phone !!!


Does your C4 have the LT4 motor?

Only C4's I see holding some kind of decent value are the Callaway's, Grand Sport, LT4 C/E, and the ZR1's from '90 to '95.
 
Yep, it'll be in the toilet for a while. I think they're bottoming out right now. It'll go back up a little bit and probably steady out until more of them meet a permanent residence at a scrap yard or something like that.

The C4 is one helluva Corvette. But for young guys who just want to go fast, the C4 might not make sense to them. Not when LS1 F-bodies and the GTO's have depreciated so quick. And not when the Mustang is selling so well.

We're purists, we care about the history and the Corvette name. Some people don't. There's nothing wrong with it.

Have you thought about parting your car out? It'll be a longer process but at least you won't get ripped that bad (I think).


I agree 100%

Well said.
 
Oh and no I do not want to part the car out. I do not have that kind of time on my hand to do it.
 
Just wait, in 5 more years, they will be having this same discussion in the C5 forums. The whole corvette market is starting to bottom out. I picked up my 69 in March. It needs work, but I paid the price because the early C3 market was going through the roof. Last Barrett-Jackson, C3 BB's were going well below what was put in them. I should have waited. The muscle car market is taking a killing as well. All the clones out there have destroyed the value. Great thing about Vettes, hard to clone. The C4 market will jump up in a few years, because people like us love the ahead of its time C4. Plus for the base models (non CE/ZR-1,GS) the modifed one will be worth more then stock because were know the value. Lastly, we always overvalue our cars. I bought my 85 for 10K 8 years ago, stuck about 7K into it. But even with my low miles (63K) I know it only worth 6-8K on the market, but it is pricless to me.
 
Unfortunately – 2 things I think most of us have learned.

  • Corvettes are not investments. (With very rare exceptions)
  • Corvettes are not like homes. You can put thousands of dollars into your car and make many improvements, but in the end when and if you want to sell it – its just worth its mileage and model year – or less if your mods scare off buyers.
 
Used C-4

I bought my first Corvette last April 2006. It was in rough condition. What could I expect for 5600.00. I figured since the body was in good condition. A little work for the mechanical side I would be on the road. 1800.00 in parts repair and I am not close. Lesson learned over many years of driving. Get the vette into a safe drivable condition and enjoy. Even at 50 years old I would like my first vette to be better. Be patient and the right person will come along.;help;shrug:D
 
For those of us that have spent a fortune on maintaining our cars we will not get our money back.
In time I think like all previous vettes the C-4 will appreciate in value but before it does a lot of them will need to go to the scrap yard.

Their are far too many that are available now and some are really cheap.

Since they are now selling so cheap you now have a different class of people buying them and they will use them as daily drivers and run the mileage high and since they don't appreciate the Corvette heritage and can not afford to properly maintain them they will wind up being worth nothing and go to the scrap yard.

I hate to see it happen but it is inevitable every generation has went through this but for those of us who are spending way more than you could justify on and old car you will see the value climb
.
As to the value of a modified car it depends on two things the quality of the modifications and finding a buyer that wants one instead of what everyone else is driving.

Recently at a car show I turned down and offer of 60K for my 89
That is probably where two fools met and parted but I have way more than that invested in it and besides I don't want to sell it.
 
WOW I was thinking of selling mine but I guess I'll hold on to it a little longer, I'm in no rush just have to many toys. It's kind of a weekend ride anyway, it only has 35K.
I would love to use it as a daily ride but I have a company vehicle.
tom
 
I hope that the above poster is kidding. Running the mileage up as a DD doesnt necessarily mean they dont appreciate the corvettes heritage. I just love driving my C4, I've put 13k mi. on it since purchasing it 18 mo ago. I've also put $3k or so into making it perform better, handle better and look better than when I purchased it. The guy I bought it from had it for about 9 yrs and only logged 20k miles. It was a garage queen. My corvette isnt. Im totally anal about keeping it clean, outside, inside, under the hood and underneath. If it threatens rain, ( In AZ its not very often) I keep it in the garage. I agree that the C4 prices are rock bottom, but that is precisely why I bought mine. It was cheaper than many honda accords or VW jettas. Now, Im certainly not trying to compare a corvette to EITHER of those but only making a point as to why the C4 is such a great bargain for first time vette owners or those looking for affordable fun. I didnt pay a ton of money for mine, Im tastefully upgrading it (IMO) and I certainly appreciate the true collector corvettes. Which I cannot afford anyway. A basic LT1 6 spd coupe with virtually no options isnt one of them.

I apologize if I got off track and hi jacked your thread, just venting a little I guess. And by the way, If I were to buy a car with a questionable tranny, I too would be very cautious about how much I pay, and unfortuneately, sometimes performance upgrades means the car was run hard and put away wet. Combine the two together and Im afraid you have low retail or scare many folks away.
 
NO I was not kidding and the Corvette heritage has little to do with the value.
You will drive that car until the mileage is high and when it starts costing you a fortune for repairs you will get rid of it.
Corvettes are like any other car they will show that high mileage and if you think that a Corvette with 200,000 miles on it will bring as much as one with say less than 20K you not being realistic.
Drive your daily driver and enjoy it but don't think that after you have worn it out that it will bring Barrett-Jackson prices unless you do like some who bring them in for sale. They spend from $100,000 to 200,000 restoring them and I seriously doubt that you intend on doing that.
 

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