New here, need Advice
 

I've been to this forum a couple of times but I'm only posting now because I need some advice. My girlfriend has a '92 SVX. Her dad gave it to her but she's not really a car-girl (?) and hasn't taken great care of it. Among other lesser problems, the transmission died two weeks ago. Rather than fix that and all the other problems (list below), she bought a lightly used Civic. So, we still have the SVX and are wondering what to do with it.

'92 SVX, 74,050mi, Touring package, white. I won't list the specs you're all familiar with; it's a really nice car. Right now it crawls forward gradually at 5-10mph as the engine revs to 3 and 4,000rpm. It goes forward even in reverse. No warning lights are on, and the trans. fluid level seems fine. It had the bad SVX tranny symptoms I've read about for a few weeks before the failure. Other problems include noisy wheel bearings, an exhaust leak at the Y-pipe and a broken power window and sunvisor.

Now, I guess the problem is we don't have an easy $2300-$3300 to spend on fixing the transmission problem, so we're considering selling it for parts, or, preferably, to someone who'll fix it up. It seems to be worth about $3000-4000 in good condition, and it's not in great condition. As admirable as the car is, as much as I'd love to make it a 5-speed and all that, we can't really do much besides sell it.

Here's the advice part: What should we do? I love the car but don't need it, I am not a mechanic and have no tools, my girlfriend doesn't care much, and paying to fix the car would be a stretch for us, especially since we both have other cars now. Is the transmission repair estimate in the right range? Would it be cheaper at all to install a 5-speed? Does someone here want to buy it? It's located in Laurel, MD, between DC and Baltimore.

Sell it to someone that cares about the vehicle whom might be willing to perform an MT swap.

The SVX is and always will be an investment for serious people.

solarsvx is looking for a white one. see if he'd be interested in fixing it up. you can pm him on the boards.

Welcome to the site. I would suggest selling it complete to someone who can fix it up. If you try to part it out, you need to ship everything and it is a long and hard process to do it. It is a special car and there are members who would invest some money to fix it up and get it back on the road again.

As far as the price, I think you are a little off. You mentioned before that you don't have the $2,500 to put into the car. That is what you need to subtract off of the selling price for someone to fix it up. The going price may be somewhere around $3,000 to 3,500 (I don't know without looking at it) and then subtracting the $2,500 you would be looking at getting $1,000 for it. Hope it works out for you. :)

yeah earl's right. the max you maybe able to get for yours in good condition would be around $1200. by good i mean great body, clean interior, and good paint. don't forget the buyer would have to ship the vehicle down to where ever they are. that'll cost $500 easy.

Your best bet is to sell it whole, but its value is at best about 8-900 bucks.
If anyone here is seriously interested, I'll be glad to eyeball the car, as I live about 30 minutes from Laurel.

Ron.

humm... Another one? :D


What those guys are saying is correct. You are looking at around 1000 in great condition and 800-900 in a decent condition.

I am very interested in purchasing this car, and I am local to you. I sent you a PM with my email address.

Thanks

Mike

I'm glad to get so many responses so soon. I've put some pictures at
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~cobas/SVX
The car is in a parking lot, where it basically became undriveable, 14070 Baltimore Ave, Laurel, MD 20707. If you are local, you're welcome to look at it and let me know if you want to see the inside, but it's not like you can drive it far as it is. The front bumper needs paint and has some deep scratches. Otherwise the body isn't so bad. If it moved, I would have washed and waxed it, but it's just gathering dust. I would have liked to do a 5-speed swap on it ideally, so it'd be great to give it to someone who will.

I was hoping someone would be willing to pay more than $3000 - $2000 = $1000, but if there are SVX's for sale, running, for $3000, I guess that might be about right. It seems worth more to me, but that may not be realistic. Drop me a PM.

You got a couple of wheels on backwards ;)
I said it first!!! :D

That car needs a paintjob. A complete one I would say. but if it was 74000 miles for true, this is good for a 92, right?

I have an offer of $3,000 now... jeez, I thought 3,000 was sort of a starting price and then we'd go down, but... I'll take it! Plus shipping, MD to MN. Hope it doesn't fall through somehow but it seems pretty good. I'd prefer to sell it to someone here who is obviously an SVX-afficionado, but it's not worth $2,000 less, y'know? Sometimes marketing to a well-informed crowd can be bad? :)

If you've got an offer of $3000 for a '92 with a bad transmission, better jump on it. You're right about trying to get top dollar on this forum; no way. Good luck.

dcb

The $3000 buyer wants to make the money order including the shipping cost, then that I pay the shipping company to ship the car. This has me a little suspicious so I'll see why they can't just pay for the shipping directly; it's listed barely cheaper than other SVX's listed that actually run - he must have seen those too - and he was eager enough to pay three grand.

And now ANOTHER guy that wants to include the shipping cost in the "100% Valid" certified check and can barely write English and repeats himself. He has an "associate," that handles shipping. The other guy had a "client." I didn't think there was that much woodwork for things to come out of. Should I see if he'll pay $4,000? I'll try that just for fun.