Has the GN value REALLY gone up this much?

[VadersV6]

I ran my car through the kelly blue book site. It asks alot of questions and gets pretty detailed. Theres alot of specific info on there related to GN's. I posted the small mechanical problems, the worn brakes and tires, and 140,000 on the clock, and I was shocked to see this:

Excellent
$20,930
"Excellent" condition means that the vehicle looks new, is in excellent mechanical condition and needs no reconditioning. This vehicle has never had any paint or body work and is free of rust. The vehicle has a clean title history and will pass a smog and safety inspection. The engine compartment is clean, with no fluid leaks and is free of any wear or visible defects. The vehicle also has complete and verifiable service records. Less than 5% of all used vehicles fall into this category.
Good
$19,570
"Good" condition means that the vehicle is free of any major defects. This vehicle has a clean title history, the paint, body and interior have only minor (if any) blemishes, and there are no major mechanical problems. There should be little or no rust on this vehicle. The tires match and have substantial tread wear left. A "good" vehicle will need some reconditioning to be sold at retail. Most consumer owned vehicles fall into this category.
Fair
$17,570
"Fair" condition means that the vehicle has some mechanical or cosmetic defects and needs servicing but is still in reasonable running condition. This vehicle has a clean title history, the paint, body and/or interior need work performed by a professional. The tires may need to be replaced. There may be some repairable rust damage.
Poor
N/A
"Poor" condition means that the vehicle has severe mechanical and/or cosmetic defects and is in poor running condition. The vehicle may have problems that cannot be readily fixed such as a damaged frame or a rusted-through body. A vehicle with a branded title (salvage, flood, etc.) or unsubstantiated mileage is considered "poor." A vehicle in poor condition may require an independent appraisal to determine its value. Kelley Blue Book does not attempt to report a value on a "poor" vehicle because the value of cars in this category varies greatly.
* California 2/13/2007

Mine falls into the good category, if I can just clean up some small things. I know the actual market values are lower, but the sooner TR owners start selling these cars at the blue book values, the better off we'll all be when its time to sell, if ever. The car turned classic this year I guess...I always thought it was 25 years, not 20...so the prices jumped WAY up. Now hopefully I can keep from crashing the car, and hopefully I can pass smog, despite the recent destruction of my turbos bearings. I always thought blue book was lower than private party...or maybe itll just take some time for the private market to actually start falling in line with this.

 

[QUIP'6']

yes thanks to the barret jackson auction

 

[QWKRTNU]

I heard or read somewhere that someone was finally getting them the true info. About the cars info and price and stuff. Not sure if this is true but I saw it somewhere.

 

[FastRegalWE2]

I KBB'ed mine beofre I bought it 3 yrs ago, it showed $8500 with 77K
I ran it again a month ago with 87K on it and it said $20+K not even in excellent condition, that was in fair

 

[Gary Wells]

Not to be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable here, but would you guys pay those prices for your cars if you were in the market for a GN? I'm sorry, but those values are not real world values obtainable in real world conditions. More than likely, KBB got tired of people trashing their very low estimated values on turbo buick cars, and over compensated. Your car is worth what you can get for it. Period. That is the real world value of your car to real world buyers. Our cars, and maybe car collecting & selling in general is doing now what baseball card collecting & selling did in the mid to late '80's. What's your baseball card collection worth now. It looks like KBB has assumed estimation of values of our cars based solely upon what Barrett-Jackson # 1 collector cars are doing. Subtract an estimated value of the buyer-seller fees, and our cars still won't bring those prices. # 1 cars are generally light years ahead in cash value of anything else, such as # 2,3, & 4 cars. Just my $.02 worth here, before taxes, too. No flaming intended.

 

[corymc]

Not to be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable here, but would you guys pay those prices for your cars if you were in the market for a GN? I'm sorry, but those values are not real world prices. More than likely, KBB got tired of people trashing their estimated values on turbo buick cars, and over compensated. Your car is worth what you can get for it. Period. That is the real world value of your car to real world buyers. Our cars, and maybe car collecting & selling is doing now what baseball card collecting & selling did in the mid to late '80's. What's your baseball card collection worth now. It looks like KBB has assumed evaluation of values of our cars based solely upon what Barrett-Jackson # 1 collector cars are doing. Subtract an estimated value of the buyer-seller fees, and our cars still won't bring those prices. Just my $.02 worth here, before taxes, too. No flaming intended.

True no way is a gn worth over 20k with over 100k. But i havent tried it for TR yet but they were still like 3-4k

 

[GNeric]

When I got my 87, I check with KBB through one bank and they said it was work $4695. This car looks and rides like brand new and one other bank here in town said that they would lend me $5,000 to get it. I called my insurance (USAA) and they said they could "only" lend me $14,200 for it after seeing pics. I came up with the other $800 and the car was mine.

 

[turbofrank]

What Wells said!

 

[Renthorin]

Vader - what if you run the same query and tell it you have 35k miles on your car. Does the value change much?

I have found that the mileage on a car doesn't seem to be taken into consideration very well on kbb and other sites.

Are the cars worth this much? To me...yes. To other people...depends on if they will pay that much for them.

Someone paid 44k for that one at BJ so it seems they might be worth that much.

If you take the stance (and I hate it) that "your car is worth what you can get for it" then I will give you 500 bucks and we have a deal.

No you say? Why not? Because you appraise it for more than that. So you see...it is not what you can get for it but what you want for it that determines value.

Will our cars ever be worth 25k like KBB says they are? I think so. You might say "not now" but that implies they eventually will be. When does eventuality become reality? We might be in that time right now :smile:

 

[my1stgn]

Well the value of the car is really what somone is willing to pay for it and also what someone is willing to sell it for. KBB gives you a base to what the cars worth. Ive seen plenty of cars go over bluebook value and some sell below....... but all in all to me it doesnt matter. Why? Becuase 1.) Im not selling the car and 2.) if my car get stolen/totalled my insurance will give me whatever KBB value is at the time of the accident. So YES KBB is worth somthing and seeing as I only paid $7K for my GN, I wont be loosing anything if something happens to it!:biggrin: :biggrin:

 

[SS/GNX]

No, sorry.

I can answer this one. And NO, its has not gone up this much.

I was in the market for a GN not even 1 month ago before I decided to do my project instead.

I had an agreement with a guy for an all original GN with 65K miles on it in really really great condition for $13K. I didnt end up doing it because it didnt make sense after seeing I could just do the swap in the monty. (dont have to pay for the car, its there already)

Plus the guy wanted $K more at the last minute which kinda pissed me off. (even though it was worth, its the pricipal)

But I looked at many many others.

They are worth between 8-16K depending on condition. Wide spread, but high miles, never been rebuilt, with an ugly body... $8K..

Perfect... $16K.

Barrett Jackson is for people with more money than they know what to do with and hate to break it to people, but your car has the be PERFECT almost to get into that auction.

Like said before, im not trying to rain on anybody parade, these cars are fantastic and they will continue to appreciate in value as time goes on. Its a great investment and you should all be proud you have one! :biggrin:

 

[cruzn57]

another site to copmpare prices...

is NADA,
national auto dealer assn.
click on classic cars, then passenger cars,
they do not use mileage, but list high, avg, low.
again, just a guide, not a rule by which you must recieve.

I feel its worth what ever you can get for it.

 

[r_beaudette]

I just ran my '87 GN in KBB and (with 41k miles) came back at $32,000 in excellent condition! This was for the retail value option.

Bank of America uses NADA though. They went by the low value when I inquired about a loan and for NADA that was $7900.00. Average was $13,000 and high value was $23,000. This was in 2005.

I just checked NADA again and the low value has gone up to $8825.00 and high value to $25,000.

 

[Grumpy]

Well the value of the car is really what somone is willing to pay for it and also what someone is willing to sell it for. :biggrin:

thats it in a nutshell

 

[KEVINS]

First, I agree that it's worth what you can get for it whether it's $100 or $30,000.
Second, it's about time they are worth something!
People that butcher these cars up will only make the originals worth more and I say keep butchering them up, I have all my original parts and it better be worth something in 30 years. Most people forget the history of these cars and what they meant to the performance industry so make no mistake these ARE collector cars..
ALL GN owners should want higher prices on the value of these cars otherwise these are just another computer controlled car.

KS

 

[BRAD_PADGETT]

Believe it. My 85 appraised well above 15K by a professional appraiser. My 2 cents. Brad

 

[Getsidewayz04]

r beudette, no offense but theres no way they said $32,000. I just ran my car through KBB and with 30k it said $24,000 for excellent, and $22,000 for good. I think it really matters on the car. A low mileage GN with say 20 or 30K on the clock with original paint and in excellent condition could definately go for what KBB is quoting IMHO, maybe more.

 

[Welby]

I suppose I should be happy about this, as it will ensure that I don't lose money if I ever choose to sell it, but in reality, it annoys me because all it will do is drive the cost of parts through the roof as well. Eventually I won't be able to afford to keep it up due to high parts costs, and I'll be forced to sell it, which goes completely against my intentions of keeping and enjoying the car for a long time to come.

 

[87we410877]

I think i need to get mine appraised. Last time i checked KBB for my WE4 with 86k miles it was not even 4 grand. I paid 11 for the car and have almost twice that into it by now. WE4's are way under quoted on that site.

 

[KEVINS]

Last night I printed the KBB value sheet off and put in in my GN file. Next year that info may not be on there any more (the 86's are not now) so I want a printed document for my files.
I suggest that for anyone that cares about the value of their cars to make a print of the document. It can't hurt to have it in case you need proof of the cars "value".

ks