Depressingly cheap?

[edo]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290801772309?ssPageName=...

Wrong time of year?

[V8 GRF]

Bloody Hell, if that did genuinely sell and it's as good as it sounds someone got a bargain there I'd say.

[GPS 10]

A bargain - particularly as the seller was originally trying to sell it at £12,990 (item number 290793948845).......

[julian64]

I saw a 6K Cerbera bought a few months ago. I'd have to stay it was a clean and tidy 99 car, and there wasn't much in the way of restoration to do on it. It wasn't cat damaged and looked like a goodun. I couldn't fault it.

I have no idea why Saggys go for 50K and this cerb went for 6K. There just isn't much reason to it in niche cars.

[Goaty Bill]

As the topic; Depressignly.

Now, I really hate to do this, because I really hate to see it being done usually, but;
In most respects, it looks model/year identical to mine (excluding body and trim colour, and wheels) but;
Mine is registered as a '97, delivered early '98, yet I have the later tail lights (round).
As it's R it could be either, but I would have thought it should have the later lights also to be an honest '98?

Open to correction/explanation of course.

Agreed though, looks a bargain for a 5L to me, all things being equal.

[Julesprivate]

I was watching that too and did think I might have a punt when it was around £7500.. but I suspect having 3 TVRs might be pushing my luck.

That's a good price (for the buyer) - definitely the wrong time of year to be selling a convertible, and completely the wrong time of year to sell a 500 what with all the "internet" horror stories of them being too brutal to drive in the wet/cold

Hope it went to a good home, maybe they'll show up heer sometime.

[chris1972]

Hello

I'm a newbie here (before somebody point it out), but have been reading the forum picking up tips for quite some time now.

I've been on the lookout for a Chim for about 9 months and have viewed quite a few. I think this decline in price will be here for a couple of years, what with the recession and winter setting in (we're not really out of recession!). In fact, the prices seem to have dropped steadily throughout the year. Part of the problem is that most TVR owners love their cars and of course find it hard to conceive the current decline in resale values, which is why a lot of them have had cars advertised for months without a sale. The old saying, it is only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay for it. Looking at Ebay, I also saw the 500 Chim go for just over £8k and was pre-outbid by on Hammersnipe. I think he had it up for £11500 before hand.

There was also this too:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110968395647?ssPageName=...

This went for £6500 and was sold to a dealer from what I understand:

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

I'm on the other side of the fence to most of you here. I'm looking to buy a Chim, but like anybody, I will only pay according to the current market value. There's no sense in paying £2 - £3k over the odds if you're never going to get it back at the other end. I'm still on the lookout for the right car for the right price. I've travelled all over, only to receive a creeping declaration of problems when I arrive. I went to view a gorgeous purple Chim near Chelmsford last week, headlight conversion, immaculate body work and was assured that the chassis was good. Sadly outriggers had had it, so they offered a couple of hundred reduction in price! I think its a case of market forces verses owners love for their cars!

I've looked at all angles, even a project, but the cost of restoring is likely to be more expensive than purchasing a decent example in the first place.

Don't flame me please!!! Just my 2 cents!

Cheers
Chris

[swanny71]

Goaty Bill said:

Mine is registered as a '97, delivered early '98, yet I have the later tail lights (round).
As it's R it could be either, but I would have thought it should have the later lights also to be an honest '98?

Open to correction/explanation of course.

Mine was registered April '98 on an R but has the early tail lights (which I prefer). Just the usual random TVR spec I think.

[Goaty Bill]

swanny71 said:

Goaty Bill said:

Mine is registered as a '97, delivered early '98, yet I have the later tail lights (round).
As it's R it could be either, but I would have thought it should have the later lights also to be an honest '98?

Open to correction/explanation of course.

Mine was registered April '98 on an R but has the early tail lights (which I prefer). Just the usual random TVR spec I think.

Or even customers choice perhaps?
TVR were pretty flexible when they could be, it's just that I don't recall seeing it before.

Either way, thanks for that, clears up the 'mystery'

[ChimpofDarkness]

chris1972 said:

I've looked at all angles, even a project, but the cost of restoring is likely to be more expensive than purchasing a decent example in the first place.
Chris

It's always been like this with classic cars.

And you have to look at a Chimaera in the same bracket a classic car these days, just a much more practical & usable one.

I've just done a comprehensive pence per mile calculation, comparing every single cost aspect of running my Chimaera against a petrol Golf purchased for similar money.

Surprisingly due to the depreciation of the Golf the picture actually isn't as bad you you might think.

It turns out if you're smart with your TVR outgoings and avoid the temptation to spend on unnecessary mods & enhancements the Golf & Chim are only a fraction apart on the pence per mile figure.

If you can find a good value Chimaera at say 45-55,000 miles that's had all the right things done already like replacement suspension, alarm, outriggers, clutch ect, you should get something that will easily give you 5 years cost effective service.

Buy the very best Chimaera you can afford at this time of the year, haggle hard, and you could even call it the sensible option.

Remember, its highly likely the Chimaera will give you all/most of your money back after the 5 year period, whereas the Golf will be worth no more than a bag of crisps.

TVR...... the not so illogical choice after all



NB: I feel the need to caveat my man maths by saying I would recommend any prospective TVR owner to have a reserve fund on hand just in case something catastrophic & expensive happens.

But hey, that's the same for any car isn't it?

[madasafrog666]

Prices have dropped in the last couple of years, sold my P reg 400 2 years ago for 10k after owning it for two years and got my money back plus some!! You can now buy these for around 6k.
Even Fenhurst have a 500 at 9995

[Julesprivate]

Prices for EVERYTHING considered a "luxury" have dropped in the past couple of years, there is a recession on after all (despite what the govt says about us having come out of it).

If you buy a car as an investment you're asking for trouble IMHO.

Bear in mind though that if you "only" get £6k for your pride & joy that same £6k will go a LONG way to fund a replacement car, it's swings and roundabouts...

I don't normally give any consideration to the future value of a car I buy. I buy it because I want it and will enjoy it. I can't really put a price on the enjoyment I get, but it would more than offset depreciation even if the car ends up worthless in 3 years time (which it won't).

Jude bought me an XJR for my 40th. It was a car I'd always wanted and she paid just £3500 for it (~£57k less than it was new 8 years earlier). i had that for 6 years and sold it for... £800! But that's still less than £45 a month in depreciation and £45 a month wouldn't hire you a car like that for half a day!

It's the same with my Chim. To hire a car like this would cost me ~£175 a day minimum! So to get to drive one EVERY DAY is just amazing. Even if it depreciated to zero in 3 years it means I got to use it every day for the same cost of hiring one for a day a month.

Obviously I haven't factored in the running costs but I think you get the idea of how I look at it...

Cars like these aren't really financial investments they're investments in your health & mental wellbeing. I can't put a price on that...

Edited by Julesprivate on Tuesday 6th November 22:25

[james280779]

A friend of mine bought a Cerb with a blown engine last year for under 4k. no idea how much to fix it but he did most of the work himself and replaced it with red rose parts (speed 6 obviously)

[C350]

madasafrog666 said:

Prices have dropped in the last couple of years, sold my P reg 400 2 years ago for 10k after owning it for two years and got my money back plus some!! You can now buy these for around 6k.
Even Fenhurst have a 500 at 9995

It's that price for a reason though and has been there ages. Good cars will still command decent money

[Hot1]

Recently prices have seemed cheap but I think that is due to the time of year! I managed to seek my 98 400 with replaced cam, clutch outriggers, for £8700 it also had a private tvr plate which fetched another £1500 for me I made a profit on that car of £1200! I think as others say if you have a good car they fetch good money with all the horror stories on line people want a car that has had a lot of money put into them!

[simonej]

Have prices really changed that much? Admittedly I only ever tend to look at the price of 500s but I bought my 500 three and a half years ago for £9500 and I'm pretty sure I'd get that back come resale.

I was also looking at a 400 a couple of years ago for £3500 so there's always been some bargains around. I reckon it's the time of year coupled with every so often someone being desperate to sell.

[chris1972]

ChimpofDarkness said:

NB: I feel the need to caveat my man maths by saying I would recommend any prospective TVR owner to have a reserve fund on hand just in case something catastrophic & expensive happens.

But hey, that's the same for any car isn't it?

It's the same with all cars, especially modern diesels, as they can cost just as much, especially once you get diagnostics and labour n top of that. There's always a caveat, but a least with the chim I woudn't be relying on it as my daily run about. I remember BMW wanted ££1250+VAT to replace the high pressure pump and a single injector in my old bimmer. Fortunately, I found a good Bosch specialist nearby that did them both for £550! But that's main stealers for you!

I've got a couple I'm viewing over the next couple of days... lets see what turns up!

Cheers
Chris

[chris1972]

madasafrog666 said:

Prices have dropped in the last couple of years, sold my P reg 400 2 years ago for 10k after owning it for two years and got my money back plus some!! You can now buy these for around 6k.
Even Fenhurst have a 500 at 9995

But even looking at the ones selling on Ebay these look expensive. I think it will be a little while until values pick up again. You never know, we may have a blistering summer next year... but I wouldn't put any money on that!

[chris1972]

Just out of interest, how do people feel about Cat D Chims?

[edo]

chris1972 said:

Just out of interest, how do people feel about Cat D Chims?

Keeping forever, fine.

Want to sell at some point, better be cheaper than a cheap thing on sale.

I don't care how well it was repaired, the fact it had less damage than some cars that aren't cat D, they are a pain in the arse to sell and insure.