Hey Oppo, mind NPoCP-ing my NC?

"t0ast" (t0ast217) 10/29/2018 at 14:03 • Filed to: None

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With the autocross season finally wrapped up this weekend, I’m going to be listing my NC Miata for sale within the next few days. I’m in the process of cleaning it up and taking pictures still (EDIT: updated), so for now I’m trying to feel out what a reasonable price would be. Or, you know, one of you could just make me a decent offer and save me the trouble of wading through the cesspool of CL *nudge nudge*.

Looking within a 500 mile radius, I see most pre-facelift NCs (‘06 to ‘08) listed in the 6k to 12k range with miles in the neighborhood of 120k to 40k respectively. I think I should be able to reasonably ask somewhere in the middle of that, say $9500 with some room to negotiate given that it’s still in good condition overall, has the PRHT, and is ready to go for daily driving or being decently competitive at local-level autocross (2nd in class, top 10 overall in the KC region for two years in a row). Then again, I’ve owned the car for 10 years now and that built-up emotional stake in it makes me biased, so here’s where you come in: Nice Price or Crack Pipe?

Here are the pertinents:

‘07 Mazda MX-5 Miata

5 speed manual

Power Retractable Hard Top

Sport trim (2nd up of 4 trims) w/ Convenience Package (cruise, fog lights, auto-down windows, steering wheel audio controls)

105k miles

I’m the 2nd owner as of 2008 / 18k miles

Clean title, no liens, no accidents.

All mechanical bits are in good working order. The interior is in good shape. The top works flawlessly and doesn’t leak. The A/C still blows cold. It runs great and doesn’t have any driveability issues. I have full maintenance records as well.

The biggest faults I can come up with are a non-functional CD player (radio works fine otherwise) and the exterior is about a 7 out of 10. It was kept clean and garaged throughout its life, but never really fussed over. There are some rock chips and a small door ding or two, but no damage, rust, etc.

The tires have about 8000 miles and 10 autocross events on them, so they’re pretty well-used, but still have some life left in them. I don’t know if the future buyer will want to autocross or not, so I figured I’d just leave it alone and let them sort it out as they see fit. The OEM wheels will also be included to help offset this potential cost/inconvenience.

Modified for STR autocross and driven in approximately 38 events total. If you aren’t familiar with STR, that means full exhaust, intake, tune, coilovers, sway bars, LSD, and wider wheels+tires. Nearly every OEM part replaced by these modifications will be included in the sale if the buyer wants.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > t0ast 10/29/2018 at 14:13

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I love it

Nibby > t0ast 10/29/2018 at 14:14

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rillweid - Now with more TRD and less TDI > t0ast 10/29/2018 at 14:15

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Seems like a fair shake to me with all the mods. Might want to update with how many miles on car now. 

t0ast > rillweid - Now with more TRD and less TDI 10/29/2018 at 14:23

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Thanks, g ot it listed (105k currently).

WRXforScience > t0ast 10/29/2018 at 14:40

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The problem you have is that the PRHT is too heavy for serious autox and the used market for NC’s is a buyer’s market. You’d probably make the most by selling the STR parts separately and putting the car back to stock. Modifications lower resale, they don’t add to it (unless you sell specifically to a racer).

You have a ~$6k car and about $2.5 k in parts (at least down by me in Texas, but generally convertibles, especially rwd ones are harder to sell in the winter). Local event results only matter to locals.

If you start at over 9000!!!! You are going to have the car up for sale for a long time and will have to lower the price a couple of times before it sells. If you don’t need to sell it quickly, you could end up making more by starting high but you might just be throwing away the listing/ad fees. List price and sale price are different and if you are looking at dealer prices they are going to add in about $1k over a private sale.

I think the only way you’d get over $8k is if you sell the parts separately.

t0ast > WRXforScience 10/29/2018 at 16:27

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Fair points, and I appreciate the candor. It’s true I probably am being a little optimistic given the modifications and time of year, but my selling timeline is very relaxed and I would be willing to negotiate or gradually step the price down over time as needed. I think the market up here might be a little more receptive since it has fewer NCs for sale (and even fewer with the PRHT) though. $6k private party in my area will only get you an NC1 with 30k+ more miles, a soft top, and/or more substantial problems.

It’s true the car is one big compromise when autocross is taken into account (more thanks to the ND than the PRHT), so I’m hoping mostly that it’ll scratch someone’s itch for a sub $10k car they can confidently daily and autocross or just have some fun with in general.

As for the idea of selling off the modifications, I’m a little hesitant to do so, even if it means getting less out of it all in total. I’ve already gotten my money’s worth out of what I put into it in terms of usage and enjoyment, and removing/selling all of them is a little more of a hassle than I want to deal with (especially the upgraded LSD). My thought is that a buyer might see some value in having the OEM parts provided with the car so they can make the decision and remove/sell things if they want, though this very well could be wishful thinking as this is my first venture into selling a modified car.

WRXforScience > t0ast 10/29/2018 at 17:05

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I’m rooting for you. Hopefully, you sell it quickly and for your asking price. The problem with these types of cars is that they are worth more to us than the market value (being an enthusiast can be a burden).

U nless you have an autocrosser or racer lined up for the sale, you’re probably going to end up selling it to a “normie”. To the average person, the modifications you made to the car add zero value to the car, and in most cases they detract from the value. You’ve got over 100k miles, so this is a “high mileage” car (by normie standards), it’s not a club spec or a special edition (which doesn’t add much anyway) but it is a PRHT.

The most I’ve seen an NC sell for in the last 2 years was about $12k (listed for $13.5k and it was a club spec with under 50k miles and in 10/10 condition). I’ve got a buddy who has a weird NC fetish and he has bought 3 of the things and currently owns 2 (one for autox/track and a second for daily driving that was “too nice” to track), so I’ve had to listen to hours of NC shopping information .

One of the guys I instruct with at the track is selling his NC with 118k a Tomei LSD (not installed), a full containment seat, and SCCA/NASA approved roll cage for $7k with parts or $5700 without the parts (the roll cage is a bolt-in and sells for nearly $2k). Now, this is soft-top so it’s not a direct apples to apples comparison but this car has been for sale at this price for nearly 2 months and has yet to sell (I’m not sure how hard he’s trying).

You could go to Carmax and get a quote, that’d help you set a floor price. You can list it for ~20% higher than their buyout price and have a good chance of selling it.

I knew a guy in Oklahoma who would buy a Miata in late fall/winter, fix it up and flip it in the spring/summer. He did this in the early 2000's and made enough profit to afford a brand new NC from the dealer after 4-6 winters (he usually kept his stable to under 3 at a time and would take either NA or NB’s as long as he found a good deal on a car that he could easily refresh and flip). He told me that there was a $1k-$2k difference from winter to spring prices and that alone made up the bulk of his profit (he’d do minor maintenance like belts, fluids, etc. and would often sell off hardtops separately to maximize profit).

Let us know how it goes; hopefully, it isn’t a long string of low ballers and tire kickers.

t0ast > WRXforScience 10/29/2018 at 19:38

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Thanks, those are definitely some helpful data points. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how “normies” approach it. If nothing else, I’ll get an interesting story or two out of it (though hopefully not *too* interesting) before all is said and done. Or worst case scenario I just sit on it until spring since I don’t have any plans/needs for whatever money it garners, not to mention that whole seasonal price swing thing.

t0ast > WRXforScience 10/29/2018 at 19:38

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Thanks, those are definitely some helpful data points. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how “normies” approach it. If nothing else, I’ll get an interesting story or two out of it (though hopefully not *too* interesting) before all is said and done. Or worst case scenario I just sit on it until spring since I too heard that the seasonal price swing is very real.

CaptDale - is secretly British > t0ast 10/30/2018 at 19:12

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They made a folding hardtop NC?

t0ast > CaptDale - is secretly British 10/30/2018 at 20:23

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That they did, from ‘07 onward. The weight penalty is ~ 80 lbs, it does its business in 12 seconds, and they somehow aren’t any less reliable than the rest of the car by most accounts.

CaptDale - is secretly British > t0ast 10/31/2018 at 12:05

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I have never seen one. That is crazy