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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 12:02 PM
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Default No Luck Selling C3

Thought I would start a thread to see if anyone else has had any difficulty trying to sell their C3s? In particular the low horsepower 1974-1982s. I have a '79 that I have been trying to sell for about the last 2 years. In those 2 years I have had 3 people come and look at the car. I'm sure the first thing anyone will tell me is that I MUST be asking too much for the car. I did start it high at about $12,000 but am now down to about $9,900. Nobody seems to want to pay anything more than $8,500 for a '79 regardless of condition. My car is in excellent condition but I can't even seem to get a response to any of my ads. Just wondering if the market has completely died for these cars?? There has to be SOMEBODY out there who wants one. Thoughts??

Last edited by La1000; Nov 16, 2015 at 12:04 PM.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 12:20 PM
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You asked and I am not trying to offend but the market is there but with the internet it's a buyers market, people can find just the perfect car for them at the price the want to pay so if you do not even get looky lous out I would think you are asking too much for what it is and it's condition,
OF course I didnt see your car or even the ad, so

I could see a really nice 79 fetching 8500

Did you post it here in the for sale section? people will wanna see it....
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 12:25 PM
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Bats...Yep it's posted just looked it up....One piece of advice I would give La1000 is to add some interior photos as asked in that post...The ones in your profile are too small, also if you are going to lower the asking price 9,900 I would change that in the post.

Nice looking 79...Have you tried to sell it locally, sitting in the front yard or maybe at car shows....?

Good luck with the sale....
Brian
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 12:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Wee
Bats...Yep it's posted just looked it up....One piece of advice I would give La1000 is to add some interior photos as asked in that post...The ones in your profile are too small, also if you are going to lower the asking price 9,900 I would change that in the post.

Nice looking 79...Have you tried to sell it locally, sitting in the front yard or maybe at car shows....?

Good luck with the sale....
Brian
Yeah, I found it,
To start with lots of large good pictures are a must in many cases the buyer will not be local,
YEp, hit shows and cruises with the little tag "for sale" with your email and phone number,
Flood CL and all the local free classifieds, even consider ebay just so it is seen by all those cats.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 12:38 PM
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Thanks all. Yeah my pics on here are old and I haven't touched my ad. I haven't had luck on this site at all. My best luck came through Facebook believe it or not. Autotrader did nothing (and cost me $49), Craig's list got maybe a few responses but no looks and only lowball offers. With the winter coming, I won't leave it outside (in Michigan). Any other sites I can post to?

Last edited by La1000; Nov 16, 2015 at 12:39 PM. Reason: Typeos
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 12:42 PM
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If you are looking for feedback, I would agree with the members that say your ad does nothing to help you sell. You basically have the same picture, 4 times. The drivers side view, period. The car could have no seats, a rusted frame, a missing passenger door and a Yugo engine and no one would know it.

Post photos of everything, including fine details if the car is a great example. They made a lot of '79s, the most ever at that point, so unless you give people a reason to think is better than the other 79s, they wont.

Also, not sure where you are advertising. Try ebay? Local CL? Sometimes you have to pay to advertise a little.

Finally, if I had a car for sale for 2 years and $8500 is what I was offered, Id have sold it by now. That might be the market. Although in your case, if only 3 people have seen it, sounds like its not advertised properly.

EDIT- looked at your ad again, and someone asked you in February for more pictures and you told them to go find them in your profile. In the time it took to start this thread asking why its not selling, you could have made that sales thread 100% better.

Last edited by vettebuyer6369; Nov 16, 2015 at 12:45 PM.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 01:01 PM
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I would say you probably won't get much action on it this time of the year where you are located.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by La1000
Thanks all. Yeah my pics on here are old and I haven't touched my ad. I haven't had luck on this site at all. My best luck came through Facebook believe it or not. Autotrader did nothing (and cost me $49), Craig's list got maybe a few responses but no looks and only lowball offers. With the winter coming, I won't leave it outside (in Michigan). Any other sites I can post to?
ebay is still the best bang for the car sales buck, whether it sells there on not.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 01:41 PM
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Like what happened to a buddy of mine some 30 years ago, he had a beautiful '35 Ford rumble seat convertible....all stock turned it into a V8 club winner....paid 13 kept for some years, sold for 15k..... after all that work, told him at the time to turn it into a hotrod, because anyone alive will know it as that, and a steel body ROD goes for like 50 grand......or did, back then.....

SO, the point IS, all the market has dried up, all the guys wanting one either have one or are outta the market for various reason....DEATH, REtirements and moves SOUTH, like me, long way to ship a car.....

trouble is, from '76 up, the later sharks look almost identical.....

back in '95 I paid only 8k for my customized old show car '72 vert..... today, insured agreed value of maybe 12 grand it goes to my son when I kick off.....

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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 02:24 PM
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When I first started looking for a C3, which included all year ranges, I didn't expect to pay more than $9K for an exceptional rubber bumper car with the stock 350. I know that may sound low, but there are a ton of them out there, they are not the most desirable style (vs Chrome bumpers), internet makes them easy to find, and by current standards the power leaves a lot to be desired.


At your price point I feel like I could get just about any '79 out there so you need to focus on what makes yours worth the money. Take the guess work and time out of it for the potential buyer and just include this info with good pics right off the bat. Does it have a solid frame, birdcage, any recent repairs/upgrades? I think most people expect the car to need some work and you need to let them know they will be spending $ on a solid base.


Also consider craigslist in addition to Ebay. With the apps out there now you can easily search whole regions and cities on your phone quickly. That is how my brother and I both found our vettes in the last 2 months. Personally I wouldn't buy a car I cant see first and trying to get a car off ebay from across the country only complicates it.


Just my $.02. Good luck selling it.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 05:44 PM
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Be thankful your not trying to sell a C-4. I just bought a low mile C-4 for a daily driver in great shape for $2800

Last edited by gjohnson; Nov 16, 2015 at 05:45 PM.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 06:29 PM
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Originally Posted by gjohnson
Be thankful your not trying to sell a C-4. I just bought a low mile C-4 for a daily driver in great shape for $2800
I see low mile C4s for under $5,000 regularly. As far as C3s... I have sold two 1980s in less than a year... One through word-of-mouth and one on eBay.
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 06:55 PM
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It's amazing how the C4's get no respect as a Corvette. My personal opinion when I first saw the C4's in 1984 was that I thought it looked too much like a Pontiac Firebird and nothing like a Corvette. Looks like that same opinion was popular and still is .
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 06:56 PM
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an L-48 automatic, not exactly a desirable combination...
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 07:08 PM
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Originally Posted by gjohnson
Be thankful your not trying to sell a C-4. I just bought a low mile C-4 for a daily driver in great shape for $2800
Wow that seems like a great deal to me! I wouldn't mind one of those at that price...
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 11:01 PM
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Yep, its the market.

Went through a similar scenario with a boat... bought it for $9k, then was ready to sell it three years later... broker told me to start at $20k... six months later went to 12k, three months later went to 9k and it sold in a few weeks.

i guess when you cant accept market realities you just keep the car till you die and your hiers sell it at the market price with no remorse.

Good thing C3's are easy to love and keep for long periods of time.

Carl


Originally Posted by La1000
Thought I would start a thread to see if anyone else has had any difficulty trying to sell their C3s? In particular the low horsepower 1974-1982s. I have a '79 that I have been trying to sell for about the last 2 years. In those 2 years I have had 3 people come and look at the car. I'm sure the first thing anyone will tell me is that I MUST be asking too much for the car. I did start it high at about $12,000 but am now down to about $9,900. Nobody seems to want to pay anything more than $8,500 for a '79 regardless of condition. My car is in excellent condition but I can't even seem to get a response to any of my ads. Just wondering if the market has completely died for these cars?? There has to be SOMEBODY out there who wants one. Thoughts??
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Old Nov 16, 2015 | 11:53 PM
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Originally Posted by gjohnson
Be thankful your not trying to sell a C-4. I just bought a low mile C-4 for a daily driver in great shape for $2800
Well bought!

OP, follow the advice here and it'll be gone in a month.
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Old Nov 17, 2015 | 12:27 AM
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I have sold 3 rubber bumper Vettes over the last 5 years with no problems at all on eBay. All three of them ended up bringing more than I had thought they would.

Any car, regardless of make, model, year or condition will sell if it is priced right and advertised where everyone can see it.

Have you tried listing it on eBay?
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Old Nov 17, 2015 | 12:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Vet76te

Any car, regardless of make, model, year or condition will sell if it is priced right and advertised where everyone can see it.

Have you tried listing it on eBay?
This!
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Old Nov 17, 2015 | 07:02 PM
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Yep, been trying to sell my 82 CE for a few years, would seam 82's just aren't there yet. or maybe its a sign I should keep it
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