Need help purchasing a feature car
I am in the process of searching for feature edition Mustang. I am looking for a low milage triple white 5 speed near Wisconsin. I am looking at one with 23k miles for $13400. I looked it up on kbb and dont think that it takes into consideration that it is a feature car. So I am hoping that the knowledge of everyone here will be able to help me come up with a fair price. The other thing I am hoping is that maybe someone might know of another car for sale. I really didnt want to spend more than $10000 (wife says). Also is there anything I should know about these cars when purchasing. I appreciate any help that anyone can provide me.
Dan
Dan
Comments
Go back to the home page on this site, go down to "93 Feature Mustang", and click on "Where are they". This should give you a good idea of what some have sold for in the past.
Also check some of the earlier posts in the last month or so, there were a couple people with their cars up for sale. One was in Oklahoma and the other in Texas, I think.
Good Luck, Jerry
I usually tell people to check out autotrader.com They have a good advanced search engine that can narrow by engine, body style, color, etc. that can get you to a manageable list of cars where you can browse for feature cars more easily. That will let you know what is out there and what the asking prices are.
As previously mentioned, the "Where are they?" section on this site is a good resource. The entries highlighted in green were the success sales. Remember with ebay that some sales ultimately fall through and not all sales are what they seem. A perfect example, is when I bought my car. It was listed on ebay by a used car dealer. I made a deal in person and then went into the dealers office and used his computer to "Buy it now" for a higher price than what I actually paid. He wanted me to do this because he wanted the good feedback.
Beyond that when you are looking at a car there are the standard things to look for in addition to the buck tag that indicates "FEATURE". You should find a VIN label on every body panel (fenders, hood, trunk lid, doors, front bumper cover). Any body work would remove or hide the labels so it is a good sign if you see them all.
Do all the feature cars come with front disc and rear drum brakes? Also are they all 4 lug?
As far as the triple white I was looking at, the owner had just sold his 89 GT and thinks he wants to hang on to this one now. I did look at some of the recent postings and do not think they are "the one" for me.
Has anyone purchased a car several states away? Any good advice on how not to get scammed? I did find a company called SGS. They will do a 150 point inspection on a vehicle for $100. The other thought I had was to ask a member near by to look it over and give me their opinion. The only down side would be if they where affiliated with the seller. I assume their opinion would be biased. If these steps went well I would then try to fly in and drive the car home. That way I could visually inspect the car before I hand over the money.
Thanks again for all the help!
I bought mine on ebay, my son found it, I really wasn't looking for one at the time.
I got lucky and mine was only a 3 hour drive away. the seller had a lot of pics and even sent me more of anything I wanted to look at. The seller also had a long list of things that needed attention, most were minor, but I didn't feel they were hiding anything so I felt comfortable bidding on it.
I paid the deposit by PayPal and took my camera along in case it turned out not to be what was advertised so I could prove it and get my deposit back.
Personally I wouldn't pay anyone or company for an inspection unless they were bonded and offered some type of guarantee in writing about what they were certifying. To many scams like that one.
Not much help here, but good luck to you, Jerry
Email me the ones you are interested in (end date and sequence number) and I can tell you the auction ids and seller names.
I can't tell you about buying a car long distance but I did sell one long distance via ebay. I never met the guy who bought it in person but we communicated very frequently and I expected that would happen in order to make the sale successful. To make buyers comfortable, I answered questions quickly and completely. I added tons of details to the listing including some of the 'softer' things like how I came about the car and why I was selling it. I didn't add my phone number to the auction but made it available upon request. I willingly called people who asked to be called.
Look for those qualities in a seller. If someone has something to hide they may be less likely to talk at length with you, put up with your questions, have a story that makes sense, etc. And, like Jerry mentioned, they should be willing to provide more pictures on request.
Speaking of pictures, the brightness of the color white can hide a lot of small defects especially when a flash is used. For instance, my car looks perfect in pictures but up close its defects become apparent. I don't know a way around this; maybe you could ask for some pictures with the flash off.
John: This one is mine:
03/24/2007 $0 $0 yes no 162671 Wht/Wht Manual 57,000 DE
I bought it outside of Ebay. Let me know what info you want and I'll be happy to provide...
Beth
And BTW - if you looked at the pics on Ebay - don't distress - all of the blue junk (tape, pinstripes, etc) is GONE - she's all white again:)
If you could register it, that would be great!
John
Don't give up your search-- in the price range you are looking in you will eventually find a car. The Fox body style cars are also slowly starting to show up at the larger classic car auctions.
In that case check out the Yellow Mustang Registry, I just saw 4 or 5 for sale on there.
http://www.yellowmustangregistry.com/index.html
Good luck, Jerry