Time to sell Vin#10480. How to valuate?

[SherryC]

I will be putting my Vin #10480 up for sale soon, and would like any advice on establishing value since sales prices seem all over the place. Has anyone used "Bring-a-Trailer" auction services?

Mine is a gray interior, manual, no gas flap. It has the Eddie Ghesquire custom fuel injection, so it starts right up every time and doesn't do that hunting/seeking. I hate to sell her, but I have a spinal injury that prevents me from driving her regularly.

SherryC

[mark w]

Hire a Classic Car appraiser to come see the car, inspect it, and provide you a value with comparable cars as sales examples.

[mike123]

If you're concerned with getting a fair price, there are plenty of bidders on Bring-A-Trailer and eBay, so if you put it up for auction you'll get a fair price within a week.

Alternatively, if you have a specific number in mind, you can always just list it at that price and see what happens. But there is a decent chance you'll be asking too much and have to wait months with no serious interest, or asking too little and it will sell immediately and you will have left some money on the table.

In my opinion, as someone who watches DeLorean sales pretty closely (but has also never sold a classic car myself), I think it is a waste of money to hire an appraiser.

[ssdelorean]

When you get a price sorted out I know of someone in the next state over who contacted the DCO who is looking to purchase. Will send a PM with contact info.

[Mark D]

If you're considering going the Bring a Trailer route, do some reading through the comments section on previous DeLorean auctions (there are a lot, so focus on the past year or so) to see the types of questions you will get as a seller. On BAT sellers are expected to be engaged with potential buyers during the auction since the majority are bidding sight unseen. They are bidding on YOU as the seller, as much as they are bidding on the car itself.

With BAT you can skip the appraisal, and spend that money on having the car professionally detailed so it looks as presentable and flawless as possible. Spend a few hundred dollars to address any easy to fix cosmetic or mechanical issues up front. Sellers that don't replace items that take 5 minutes to fix give the impression to buyers "If they are too lazy to fix XYZ that takes just a few minutes to repair, what other larger issues have been deferred?"

Also spend a few hundred dollars on a professional photographer to take photos of the car in a staged location. Do not take photos of the car in your driveway. Not in a random parking lot. Not on the street somewhere with a dozen other cars in the background. You want to chose a location and photograph at a time of day that has good lighting and presents the car as an object of desire. The photos should make the buyer WANT the car.

Obviously you'll also need to have photos taken of any known flaws, major blemishes, etc. and be as up front and honest about any issues the car has.

Money invested getting the car ready for auction and spent on professional photos will be paid back easily due to more interest in the auction and higher sales price at the end.

If you are planning on selling it yourself in a more traditional way, much of the same still applies. You can still look at BAT auctions to get a better idea of where the top end of the market is, and how your car compares to some of those examples. An appraiser is going basically going to do the same thing in terms of finding comps that match your car's spec to try and determine an asking price if you were to go that route.

[David T]

You can try to "appraise" the car yourself but you must be brutally honest and point out any and all flaws. The way to approach it would be to get the Millenium Concours guidelines and compare your car item by item against it. Deduct points for any deficiencies. Top prices would be for a 100 point, #1 car. If you go to BAT or E-Bay be as honest in describing the condition as you can and post a lot of pictures. The best prices go to the nicest cars or the ones most accurately described. Include anything that goes with the car and it's service history. Remember if you sell it privately the price should be 5% lower because you don't have to pay any commissions. Don't accept anything other than a wire transfer or cash. If you want a quick sale an auction is the way to go but then you have transportation costs on top of the fees.

[SherryC]

Thanks, all, for the good advice. The car isn't quite ready for sale, but I'll definitely take some of these suggestions when it's time.

[Timeless]

I may be interested. Keep me in mind when you officially list it for sale.

[Iznodmad]

I know a former owner in Kentucky looking for one. If you figure out a price, let me know please. Thanks.