Help me make an offer

[palerider]

Hey everyone. Need some advice.

Theres a woman here, who used to work for me, whose considering selling her Miata.. Im interested and another Ms3 owner locally might be as well. I need to know how much to offer and
a. get a good deal
b. not screw her over

The car is a '97 black on black, 58k miles, very good condition. Driven by a 50something single divorcee who I can garantee..babied this thing. She has no clue what its worth but she needs the money.

KBB listed it between 5100-5600.... the dilemma is that when I went on Cars.com, the prices were WAY more than this for comparable cars, and even lesser cars.

Whats going on here? What should I offer? Offering KBB price for excellent, private party seems like a ripoff for her. And the car is not excellent... Id say very good. It looks like it has been kept outside... but the engine I know will have been babied.

Thanks guys. Help me buy a Miata in good conscience here.

 

[nate0123]

Just because Cars.com has higher listing prices doesn't mean they'll get that much for the cars. Many are probably dealers also, who have to get every penny they can out of the cars to cover the overhead of operating a dealership.

I do understand that first gen Miatas generally do fetch more than KBB value, but I'd offer her $5000 and see what she says. She may have a figure in her head, but isn't saying anything. If she takes it, great. You got a good deal. And you did her a service as well. You provided her with cash and an easy transaction (you saved her the hassle of a bunch of people coming to her house, test driving the car, asking a million questions.) And $5000 is more than she would have gotten trading in at a dealership.

Also, just because someone is not an aggressive driver does not mean that they "babied" the engine. Did she keep up with oil changes and other maintenance? The car is going on 11 years old. Although it has relatively low miles for the year, some maintenance items come due just based on the age of the parts.

 

[z00mer]

Just because Cars.com has higher listing prices doesn't mean they'll get that much for the cars. Many are probably dealers also, who have to get every penny they can out of the cars to cover the overhead of operating a dealership.

I do understand that first gen Miatas generally do fetch more than KBB value, but I'd offer her $5000 and see what she says. She may have a figure in her head, but isn't saying anything. If she takes it, great. You got a good deal. And you did her a service as well. You provided her with cash and an easy transaction (you saved her the hassle of a bunch of people coming to her house, test driving the car, asking a million questions.) And $5000 is more than she would have gotten trading in at a dealership.

Also, just because someone is not an aggressive driver does not mean that they "babied" the engine. Did she keep up with oil changes and other maintenance? The car is going on 11 years old. Although it has relatively low miles for the year, some maintenance items come due just based on the age of the parts.

Well... he virtually stated all that I wanted to say.(shrug)
Just give it a shot, and see what happens.