Valuation help and buying advice

[WillG]

Hi Guys,

I'm hoping you can help with a valuation, and a bit of advice please.

A mate is selling his 2002 Roadsport. It's fairly typical Roadsport spec (from what I've seen), 120 bhp 1.6, 5 spd, leather, momo, harnesses, full weather gear, etc. It's a factory built car, he brought it from Caterham 4years ago for £14k, and had it well look after. it's done 19k. It's had regular services plus Cambelt, sump baffle, etc. Condition is ave/good, i know how its been driven etc, and nothing major has gone wrong.

He's offering it to me for £12k.

It seems difficult to judge values as there seems to be big variations, so I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Also anything else I should be aware of on a car this age, that may be pending or need doing soon?

Cheers

Will

[Zagster]

It may seem a lot in comparison from the original trade price of 14K but prices bottom out after a while. You won't see many Caterhams under 10K for instance and certainly not a 2002 model, good news if you decide to sell after another 4 years as you would be advertsing it for 12K As long as the body and mechanicals are sound go for it.

In the words of a Caterham salesman yesterday "we control the price of the second hand market" They do this by not negotiating on prices of new ones and keeping the price of their second hand ones at a premium.

Edited by Zagster on Wednesday 29th May 07:43

[BraddersCat7]

Will,

I'd be happier paying £11k to £11.5k for that, but £12k is still reasonable; depends how much you like him ;-)

Got a reasonable spec too. It's an Imperial chassis which parts are slightly harder to find, but don't let that put you off at all.

Bradders

ps Changing sump foam shows that it's been serviced by someone who knows them. Mind they generally get removed, as they are a pain if they break up and they often do.

Edited by BraddersCat7 on Wednesday 29th May 10:08

[BertBert]

Does it have any other goodies? Big brakes, wide-track. I assume it's cycle wings? Any other details? Also what condition is it in? Is it super-nice or is it a bit tatty?

If it's a plain vanilla roadsport with no "goodies" and in tatty condition then 12k is probably high. If it's in good nick and if it has other goodies then the price is ok.

Bert

[downsman]

If the consensus is that it is worth at least 11K, I would prefer to buy it for 12K from someone I know and trust than try to save £500 to £1000 buying an unknown quantity.

[TeflonTurd]

BraddersCat7 said:

It's an Imperial chassis which parts are slightly harder to find

This is how rumours start. Parts for an Imperial chassis are no harder to obtain than for metric. Most are interchangeable are they not?

As far asd the price of this Roadsport, the only K Series engined car in the classifieds is an ex Academy Series 2002 Roadsport with 31k miles at £11,450. A race car such as this (and not necessarily this car gets a hard lifein its early years, and repairs are completed for speed not quality in order to get to the next race. This includes any chassis repairs. Race cars are a risk because of this.

So common sense will tell you a Roadsport with 19k is worth substantially more. The cheapest K road car is a 1997 car with 19k - a 1.6 on Jenveys, so liberates a bit more power, but has the stigma of non factory parts.

Unless there is something which differentiates this 11 year old car from others of similar age/mileage, I would say its worth £13 - £14k in the current market. Prices have completely stagnated in this recession, with only the desparate, ill advised, or 'more money than sense' segments selling K engined cars for under this kind of figure.

2002 cars are solid, all the glitches of the Imperial chassis, including flakey powder coating, were resolved by then. Grab it at £12k - its a bargain.

Edited by TeflonTurd on Wednesday 29th May 18:33

[BraddersCat7]

TeflonTurd said:

This is how rumours start. Parts for an Imperial chassis are no harder to obtain than for metric. Most are interchangeable are they not?

Edited by TeflonTurd on Wednesday 29th May 18:33

Just based on my very limited experience. Will CC still make as many Imp parts are Metric, espcially now the chassis deisgn has changed slightly do you think?

[WillG]

Thanks for the info guys.

Looks like we're in the right sort of ball park,so hopefully I can't go too far wrong with this car at this price!!

Just gotta clear space in the garage now!!

I'm sure I'll return with many newbie/upgrade questions in the near future!

Cheers

Will