I Really Don't Understand...

"AdverseMartyr" (ewilliamson)
07/30/2015 at 22:37 • Filed to: None

So my normal CL browsing for fun now always includes looking up R107s, and every one I ever find is selling for less than $6000 regardless of condition. The average for one in decent condition where the owner says it is a good daily driver is $4-5K.

What’s odd is that Hagerty says a daily driver is worth $7-8K. (Which makes sense to me, but I’m guessing a lot of people in Hawaii just don’t know what they are worth. Which makes me want to buy them and ship them to the mainland to sell. Unless, I am totally wrong on these cars.)

Here are recent examples:

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Ok, a couple people seem to be more in line:

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or at the top of the game:

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DISCUSSION (2)

JGrabowMSt > AdverseMartyr
07/30/2015 at 23:37

Hagerty is only so good. They’re more of a “Average Market Value” than an “actual value” kind of estimator. My SL600 was valued by Hagerty as exactly what I paid (literally exactly), but I see some people try to get significantly more for lower models because they have some strange thought that the cars are worth more. They’re just not.

Example, last summer I was at a car show with my SL. I talk to a guy who starts telling me about his early 90’s (like a 94 or so) 320SL. Straight 6, great looking car, always serviced by someone else, optioned out for that year, the works. Then he shows me the craigslist ad (he didn’t bring the car, just told me about it) and yeah, the pictures were pretty good, it was not a bad looking car. Then I scrolled down to the price. DEAR LORD HE WAS ABSOLUTELY OFF HIS ROCKER.

He was trying to get a full $6000 more than what I paid for my SL600. Excuse me? Just shy of $20k for a car maybe worth $7000 on a good day. But hey, that’s just the kind of person he was. I’m glad I didn’t tell him what I paid for my car, because it would have just reinforced why he’s having such a hard time selling his. I’ve seen really good SL600s go for about $15k, and that’s about as high as they’re worth right now. Sure, the depreciation burns considering the cars were $137k when new (nearly $200k in today’s money), but hey, it’s a Mercedes SL class, they didn’t exactly hold their value really well. Even the new ones don’t, if I’m being honest. After a year, they take a significant hit. Start getting mileage? Don’t even try. Sure there are exceptions, but these cars are only just starting to make a comeback, it’s not something that’s going to fetch big money yet. Especially the automatic 320SL/SL320s. A manual car would certainly fetch something, but you’re not going to get a return on the car if you bought one thinking it will be a gold mine. Certainly a little, but these aren’t Gullwings or Hammers.

The other problem you unfortunately suffer is being in a pretty limited market. It’s not like you pick a car up from a state over and do a little elbow grease rubbing and make a quick $1000 or so. If you got an out of state buyer willing to pony up, then yeah, you could have something going for you, but the costs would be really high, and probably tip the scales into unfavorable territory, possibly for both of you.

AdverseMartyr > JGrabowMSt
07/31/2015 at 01:17

Right, I understand it being an average market value, but setting cars that probably fit higher than that low average market value for half of that average value seems like it would be undercutting the market. I mean that $7000-$8000 average is one that you would be willing to drive daily and doesn’t even have matching tires. The guy selling his 380SL for $4k is saying it is better than average.

My thought is that these are not such common cars, and the price he puts on the car is pretty much telling people in Oahu what the price should be on the car, and if he put Hagerty in his ad then he would be showing the market that he is being reasonable.

And there are close to a million people on this island so the market shouldn’t be that limited, especially when a large portion of people are driving Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, etc.

(I mean if that car is worth more than a daily driver and it’s average value should be around $10k then I should buy it and spend $1100 to ship it to the mainland and sell it. )

I guess what I am saying is (from what I understand) an early 80s SL that you can have and daily drive should average around $8000 which to my mind would mean that the bottom end on one would be around $6000. Otherwise you have people getting $12,000+ for a daily driver.

Right now I have spent around $6000 on the 1980 450SL that I have. Though that does include a parts car and $300 to get them both towed across the island. I’m just trying to figure out if I am already in the hole or if I still have some room to make the car better without getting in trouble from my wife.