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I purchased a 1994 Admiral Blue Metallic 6sp., Coupe, 64k miles in Excellent condition for $9,500 back in August.
that’s crazy. I would have definitely paid $9500 for an admiral blue LT1/6speed but there was nothing around when I wanted to buy. There were only 4 C4s locally. 1 was a 90 red/red automatic with a torn interior, the one I brought, and 2 other ones in the 12k+ range.
I'm in the same boat as you, OP - confused about the market and pricing.
I'm in CT and most listings I see for nice C4s seem to run in the $7K-$10K range - more for immaculate cars, of course. Anything lower then that is either an early stripper car, or needs work. Much as I dearly love mine, I don't really have as much time for it as I'd like and I'd rather have all of our cars garaged - one currently lives outside, and there's been a lengthy rash of car break-ins in our area. And my kids might appreciate a couple grand in their college funds more than watching me drive it.
Anyway, I impulse listed it back in October for $7500 - a smidge less than I paid in 2018. Yes, it's the wrong time to try to sell, but I thought it was a reasonable starting price. It's a high mileage '96, but well-sorted and in very clean condition (minor paint flaws, could use floor mats, no major mechanical issues). There's a minor oil leak of some kind and the heater doesn't work, but it's a summer car here - who cares about the heater, I thought. I probably would have taken $6750 or something if that was on the table.
Yet the only real interest I got was from a guy who wanted to talk down into the $5k range because he'd read the heater repair could run $1200-$1500, and wanted to fully deduct that cost. Only two other BS inquiries. So maybe all those other C4s I'm seeing listed aren't selling at those prices, or maybe it's just not gonna move in the fall. I dunno. I'm going to reevaluate in the spring and see if I can even convince myself that I still want to let her go in the first place...
I recently saw a nice 94 green/tan automatic with 55k miles sell within a few days for $6500, then flipped for $8500 within a week. The listing is gone so I can only assume it’s sold.
so they sell, but only if it’s a good deal. Now the question is: what is a good deal range for higher mileage C4s?
Hagerty estimates $4600-$7400 for a fair-good shape car. So let’s split down the middle since high mileage/driver grade. $6000 would be the benchmark. - 10% for auto puts it at $5400.
$5400 does sound like a pretty good deal for a car that’s in good working order. But we all know flippers are all over the place so most offers will be in the 4k range.
I guess even at $4500-5000 it isn’t too bad. I paid $6500 for the car and the rest of the money was in repairs. I’m about 8600 all in with parts, not including the tooling/hours I spent doing stuff like the heater core, interior, gaskets. I’m closer to $10k if you factor in labor.
I’ve already gotten 5k miles out of it, I figure by spring time ill already put 7-8k miles. That would end up costing about $0.40/mile for “depreciation”. Not to shabby since my last car cost me $1.00/mile. Keeps the miles off my new Tacoma so I’m saving some depreciation there.
maybe I’ll keep it until May/June timeframe and see if it’ll sell during the nationals. Or I’ll just trade it in for something.
Well, i can say I think they will go up, if I'll be honest I feel like I bought mine at exactly the right time, my car at the time of purchase was listed 2900, I got it down to 2200 and at the time it had working AC, heater cable stuck but assumed working, and all it needed was injectors and intake gaskets. That was April 30th 2021.
After 17k+ miles on it since early May to now, taking it to Orlando and Saint Petersburg many times as well as well, the thing still runs and drives great, hits 60 in about 5.4 and with a crap launch down the 1/8 will still run a 9.1, prob would be quicker if I practiced more. Only things that failed on me so far was the air pump, which was an easy fix, a fuel pump, and the transmission governor gear, all easy repairs. My car is no base either, for 85, it has leather, Z51 steering rack and Z51 3.07 rear end, cruise control as well but I think that was standard.
Anyhow I'm happy to see them going up in value, in SWFL I see people trying to sell crossfire cars for 4-5k which blows my mind, I will note that my C4 is far from perfect, needs piller weatherstripping and new door panels, that's the major issues for the most part interior wise, paints pretty good for 36 in a half years old being a July 85 car.
Moral of the story, I feel like I got a really good deal, and glad I picked up a C4 when I did, because I really feel over the next few years these cars will finally get the love they deserve. Without the C4, the Corvette wouldn't have had the step towards modernization that has given us the Corvettes after it.
At the end of the day a car is only worth what it's worth to a buyer.
This is one of the most often quoted but inaccurate statements made when someone asks what a car is worth. I am a buyer for a Mercedes Gullwing...at $5000. You might argue that I am therefore not a serious buyer. The same could be said of a person offering $4000 on the OP's Corvette. The point is that a car is worth what transaction price a buyer AND seller agree upon. It's like saying that markets can be determined by only looking at a demand curve (when both the supply and demand curves are critical to understanding a market).
i know this is an old thread, and prices for everything has just gone crazy. that said, i started looking at corvettes again a few months ago, and honest to god, i haven't seen much in the $3500-$4000 range in the C4 sales....but honestly the range of C4 prices regardless of condition is just all over the map, it sort of makes it hard to decipher honestly.... some of the prices that i see, i wonder if people put that price on b/c they know they are going to get low-balled? that's just a guess....
the other thing i've noticed, there have been a lot of C4s in the $10k range, and people will say there are some major problems w/ the car....and i'm like: and you want $10K for it???? wow! don't know what that's about..maybe its just an odd time to buy....
just my feeble observations.....
Originally Posted by Avacado11
As we come up to 2022 what are C4s fetching these days?
KBB/NADA/Hagerty values them around the $7k mark. But we all know those book values are just benchmarks.
a friend swears that C4 are only $3500 cars and the only reason they are high is due to the chip shortage.
I beg to differ because IMO the C4 is far too old to be affected by a new car shortage. As in someone who can’t get their hands on a C8 is more likely in the market for a C7, not a C4. There is no shortage of C4s.
That being said, I’m looking to let my C4 go for something practical. I listed for $5900, car is in working order and nice shape. It is less than I paid. Highest real cash offer I got was $4000. Highest trade offer was a $4500 bmw. But then again it’s the beginning of winter here.
now I know we are all C4 enthusiasts on here so we are willing to pay a little more for something we want, but what do you think is a fair price to pay for a driver grade, sorted working 91 C4 base/auto with 107k miles?
Well not all c4 are created equal there are 4 different engines, 3 diff. interiors 2-3 suspensions so on, I have a 1996 lt4 stnd suspension collectors edition which is a one year engine 350hp and I thing one year 6 speed ZF tranny. So the prices will vary widely! I would only buy a 1991-1996 and as i said if you want to hold value or increase a LT4 engine is the man to do this with!
Well not all c4 are created equal there are 4 different engines, 3 diff. interiors 2-3 suspensions so on, I have a 1996 lt4 stnd suspension collectors edition which is a one year engine 350hp and I thing one year 6 speed ZF tranny. So the prices will vary widely! I would only buy a 1991-1996 and as i said if you want to hold value or increase a LT4 engine is the man to do this with!
Yeah, this is pretty well known, but I just love my 80's retro gauge cluster. It's just one of the most awesome features on the 84-89 C4's. You lose that to (more reliable) analog gauges starting in '90, but that cluster is is so cool, IMO. Like being in a space ship.
Well not all c4 are created equal there are 4 different engines, 3 diff. interiors 2-3 suspensions so on, I have a 1996 lt4 stnd suspension collectors edition which is a one year engine 350hp and I thing one year 6 speed ZF tranny. So the prices will vary widely! I would only buy a 1991-1996 and as i said if you want to hold value or increase a LT4 engine is the man to do this with!
There are technically 5 different engines if you differentiate the LT1 and LT4.
There are technically 5 different engines if you differentiate the LT1 and LT4.
- Crossfire
- L98
- LT1
- LT4
- LT5
I have an L98. All C4's are cool, despite year. Some are faster and fetch more money than others, but who cares. By today's standards, these are not fast cars when compared to contemporary sports cars. Heck, even new Honda Civic Si's will give these cars a good run for their money The ZR1's fare better performance-wise when compared to modern sports cars, but any C4, if well cared for will likely be OK.
Problem is, you find a lot of C4s that look like this;
And the delusional owners think they are worth 4x what other C4s in similar condition are priced...because "never seen rain", "adult owned", "serviced at GM dealership since new", insert other nonsense reason.
I purchased my 1992 Convertible with a hardtop last year for $14K then put another couple grand in wheels and tires that I wanted. I also installed the missing air conditioning parts for another bunch of cash. I love the car and still just have a very little over what it would have cost to just purchase the new LS 3 that was already professionally installed. I had a 2019 C 7 but my wife thought it was "too showy" so I feel i have the best of both worlds, a great looking car with all the power I can ever use for not a lot of money. My way of saying it is hard to put a value that applies to all C 4's.
with the right mods, you can easily make your c4 run circles around the c7
i know this is an old thread, and prices for everything has just gone crazy. that said, i started looking at corvettes again a few months ago, and honest to god, i haven't seen much in the $3500-$4000 range in the C4 sales....but honestly the range of C4 prices regardless of condition is just all over the map, it sort of makes it hard to decipher honestly.... some of the prices that i see, i wonder if people put that price on b/c they know they are going to get low-balled? that's just a guess....
the other thing i've noticed, there have been a lot of C4s in the $10k range, and people will say there are some major problems w/ the car....and i'm like: and you want $10K for it???? wow! don't know what that's about..maybe its just an odd time to buy....
just my feeble observations.....
People absolutely list way high because they know that 90% of what they get will be people offering 30 to 50% of asking price thinking theyre some master negotiator.
When I sell, I always list at a fair (but I'm sure people on here would say overpriced because it wasn't lowest on the market) price, and basically ignore all the fools who send in joke offers. The real buyer shows up in a couple of days or weeks and buys it at asking. It's annoying to have to deal with the dumb offers, but nothing you can do about them.
Hagerty currently values them (using '96 base model as example) BETWEEN $7k and $31k, not "around the $7k mark.", and certainly not $3,500. Prices aren't exactly all over the map either. CONDITION and LOCATION are everything. If looking at the overall range of "$7k-$31k", sure, prices are all over the place. But, if you look at values for a specific condition vehicle, there is a very narrow field of value which is easily navigated.
Prices are indeed higher today because of the chip shortage, that is not a false statement, and you can see that on the graph. HOWEVER, the same thing applies to almost every other used car regardless of how desirable or undesirable it may have been. I've seen 90s Dodge Neons with over 250,000 miles in "fair at best" condition selling for over $6k locally. That is way out of line, but, the market is supply-and-demand. Around here, anything that runs and drives is $6k minimum.
I recently paid $8k for my '96 C4 which is somewhere between fair and good condition both in current market value and physical state. To me, that's fair enough. Hagerty insures it and knows exactly what I have. They do not think $12.5k is out of line for replacement value, so I'll go with that value for my car because if it gets totaled, I get $12.5k. If that isn't a metric for "actual value" I don't know what else could/would be.
We can say "the market is f*ed and the bottom will drop out" and to wait to buy, but maybe the market holds. ...which means prices stay the same or go up from here.
Times are uncertain for used car values without a doubt, but one thing is for sure, if you look at todays market with an eye on yesterday's and a mind for tomorrow's, you'll never buy a car. Best we can do is keep an eye on the market and look for what we feel is fair in price and acceptable condition for that price. My C4 isn't prefect. It was a drivers car. I don't mean some pompous arsehole with leather gloves coasting down country back roads, I mean the previous owner drove the **** out of it and loved it so much he recently spent more than I offered bringing it back to a nearly new state mechanically. The interior smells like a machine, not a new car, and while that would turn most off, it turns me on. ...so maybe the seats and carpet stay in their current condition. I really only need weather stripping at this point. Given the fresh engine, transmission, brake booster, master cylinder, hard lines, soft lines, bushings, grommets, hoses, sensors, fuel pump, etc. and receipts to prove it all, $8k didn't feel like too much even though it still needs about $3k in weather stripping, seat covers, and carpet to make right. As the condition was between #3 and #4, that's what I offered. He could have refused, he did after all list it at $12.5k which according to the receipts was less than he recently put into it. But did I low ball him? Did I over pay? Honestly, I didn't think so on either account. I think I got exactly what I paid for, and that's all that matters.
All-in-all, things might not bode well for future C4 values. Historical data suggests values were somewhat falling on the condition 1&2 cars but staying fairly stable, and values were tanking on condition 3&4 cars for a whole decade before covid. Compare that to something like my '93 T/A where prices were very stable and doing nothing but increasing long before covid for cars of all conditions. The wow factor is really in the values between condition #4 cars. C4 trended down over -38% while the T/A trended up 104%. Not knocking the C4, just pointing out the trends/numbers, but it clearly isn't really a desirable vehicle if just looking at those numbers and trends. Fortunately though, there is a lot of intrinsic value with these vehicles. The C4 is the generation I like the least, but I do like my C4 very much. Much more than I anticipated honestly, and growing by the day. We're at odds with each other because of the 4l60e, but that's the only thing I can fault, and it's not the C4's fault. I hate automatics. Period. Always have. There most likely is a ZF swap in this cars future, then it'll be what I want. ...and perfect. Or, I'll trade it in on a 6spd C4 or C5 and finance a little. I haven't had a car payment in over 25 years or a mortgage payment for 6. No credit cards (or debt), so my credit rating had dropped quite a bit. I need to finance something. Le Mans Edition Z06 maybe?
Anyway, I'm thinking regardless of what the new car / computer chip industry does, used car pricing all around will stabilize or continue to slowly increase as more money enters circulation thanks to the new Minimum Wage. You can't forget about the new minimum wage. That has just as much effect on the market as "shortages", and while the chip shortage is temporary, the minimum wage increase is not. In most areas the raise to $15/hr is expected to happen gradually over the next 3 years, so money will continue entering circulation at a higher rate than normal for 3 more years. ...that is likely when values begin to stabilize.
The C4 is just underappreciated right now, and has been for some time, because not enough time has passed. There is no disputing that. They are still fairly common because they made a ton of them, and the newest one is still only 26 years old, which isn't so old, relatively speaking. A kid in high school could easily afford one of these today, which is just fine, if they have the resources to fix stuff that breaks, and know how to maintain it properly.
Unfortunately, you're going to continue to see condition #4 vehicles as they pass through owner after owner, each doing their due diligence to decrease its value and condition. Eventually, I suspect that you'll have a dearth of condition 1,2, and 3 vehicles - in other words, scarcity through attrition. That's going to happen, it's just a matter of when, and when it does, buyers will look to the C4 as an invest-able and enjoyable sports car. I love my C4 vert, but I don't really consider it an investment. It's just a great car that's fast enough, handles beautifully, is relatively good on gas, fun to drive, comfortable, and still gets attention. I have a '69 vert as well, and have to say that the C4 is generally what I would prefer to take if I were going on a longer trip.
This is happening in the Porsche 928 market, a similar story -- I've owned several of them back when you could buy a nice S4 one for about 9-10K, and a so-so condition model for about $2.5k to 4K, all day long. And that was less than 10 years ago. They were underappreciated because the motor wasn't in the back and didn't have the iconic '911' badge on the engine trunk lid (to say nothing about it not being 'air/oil cooled'). Same deal there - you are starting to see less of the nice ones, as the majority have slipped into the wrong hands of neglectful owner and neglectful owner, slowly being degraded into non-driveable condition because the purchase price was so cheap (but of course not the maintenance). People (beyond the loyal cult-like following) are starting to appreciate the 928 now, and that will only continue. Same will happen to the C4 eventually, so enjoy these firesale prices while you can.
I can name several other examples across the car spectrum throughout history, but I think you get the point.
Last edited by Corvette-ZL1; Jul 11, 2022 at 02:55 PM.
All this talk of the used market being high is forgetting one, VERY important thing. Inflation. The prices for the cars aren't really out of line with the effects of inflation taken in. Money is literally worth 20% less than it was pre covid, so combine that with a supply side shortage, of course used cars will go up.
They will likely slowly creep back down some, but not much. Reality is, we have done nothing to atop inflation, so used cars will keep going up in value. Theyre a durable good (like real estate) that has an intrinsic value, and so they will go up in price with inflation.
I don't see where inflation has affected C4 value much at all. I am still finding the same deals that I did last year and the year before. These cars are being sold at firesale prices, despite the economy, in general.
Regardless of year or condition the vast majority of the time buying one as an investment is likely never to pay off. If a purchaser buys one for the enjoyment of driving the buyer will never be sorry no matter how much they put back into it.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
I love they made it look like a mini wing. I may just have to buy a vert just for the rack! 
...so maybe the seats and carpet stay in their current condition. I really only need weather stripping at this point. Given the fresh engine, transmission, brake booster, master cylinder, hard lines, soft lines, bushings, grommets, hoses, sensors, fuel pump, etc. and receipts to prove it all, $8k didn't feel like too much even though it still needs about $3k in weather stripping, seat covers, and carpet to make right. As the condition was between #3 and #4, that's what I offered. He could have refused, he did after all list it at $12.5k which according to the receipts was less than he recently put into it. But did I low ball him? Did I over pay? Honestly, I didn't think so on either account. I think I got exactly what I paid for, and that's all that matters.
