What's a VIN worth?
 

[NA] White '90 right here on m.net - MX-5 Miata Forum

hooo boy.. we may have found the most m.net of the m.net

I just put in an offer on it. Wish me luck.

Low mileage clean NA's are appreciating greatly in price. There is a market of people who want them. While the majority of us on MT don't care about that class of miata's, as we just want cheap ones. There are a ton of people who want pristine low mileage ones that are completely stock. I could totally see a collector wanting a low mileage, low vin number car.

Sure, but the one in question has 150K miles and the paint is peeling off (standard 90-91 Miata white paint problem). So it's not pristine, and will need $10K of repaint at a body shop to be a show car.

--Ian

mrmustang is a serious d-bag.

Yeah... IMO definitely not worth it but there's probably some nut out there who will get all excited about it.

The things people will pay for.

Also, who is broski and why is he being such a dick?

I agree with him. It's a clapped out old car. Not worth much more than a couple grand.

in your opinion
to you

I would argue that a Ferrari F40 is not worth a million, but if someone will pay a million, then how 'bout that, it is worth a million!

SOMEONE will nut over it being a sub-100 VIN... at least that's what the seller is counting on.

Also, it totally makes sense, based on the seller's charging for the VIN, that he not recondition the car at all. As he explained -- it's only original once. Once he starts repairing stuff, then it becomes a full resto build.

Don't get me wrong, I think he's way way off. Stock Miatas do nothing for me (especially awful NA6's) BUT it's not necessary to continually berate the car and the seller. If someone wants a sub-100 VIN for some odd reason, here's a way to get it. Guy is offering, and appears to have been totally honest and straightforward with the condition.

Beyond that, Broski asserts that the 10AE will be worth AS MUCH or MORE than a super early NA. I think he's hugely mistaken there. I love 10AE's but people will be far more willing to pay for the FIRST FEW of a trend, than a SPECIAL VERSION somewhere in the middle of a trend.

thought some one was popping off vin tags with a clean title and trying to sell them...

Miatamecca Original 1990 Good Condition Used Tire Set of 4 Yokohama Miata MX 5 | eBay

My god. $500 for a 26 year old set of tires.

Lol, that's awesome. They'd probably crumble if you actually tried to mount them.

Bah. It's not original unless it has the factory fill of washer fluid.

--Ian

sweet, that means my 20 year old space saver is worth at least 125$

taking bids starting now

Bahahaha "good condition"

whoa, crazy to see him mentioned. That's who I bought my first Miata off of almost 4 years ago.

miata mike is a weirdo

Well, the car in question is batting .500 in that case.

Yeah I did not realize it was higher mileage. Did not spend that much time looking at the thread on miata.net.

...and needs a complete repaint.

--Ian

It's one of the first 100 Miatae built.

I don't give one whit about that. But someone might, and the seller is banking on that. Based on that, the seller is absolutely going about this the right way.

I mean... The first 100 Corvettes are sure valuable. Same with Mustangs.

People will stand in line overnight to overpay for shit all the time.

Wouldn't surprise me if there's someone out there willing to grossly overpay for a shitty Miata.

THIS! We care about turbo's and kitties. Somewhere out there is a curmudgeonly old man who cares about having one of the first 100 miata's. That is the guy the seller is marketing the car to. Will he ever find the guy, and will that guy want to pay that price is another story.

In 15-20 years, someone might pay extra for a car with a low VIN as a starting point for a complete restoration, but they aren't doing it yet.

Yes, cars in "original condition" sell more than restored ones these days, but only when the original condition is something that can be cleaned up to be presentable. Crystal White 1990s aren't presentable, they have paint coming off in big sheets.

His price is ahead of the market, by a lot. Low-mile, good condition 1990s show up on Bring A Trailer auctions somewhat frequently and sell for $10K.

--Ian

There's going to be a first one. And again, this isn't just a 1990, it's one of the first 100 Miatas built. Do I think his price is silly? You bet, but i'm not his target market.

You know he's banking on the VIN when one of his selling points is Feb 1989 dated shocks

I think a low vin number survivor Miata might be worth 10K in another 20 years after kids destroy another 100,000 of them.

I don't understand why this is so difficult to understand.

The car doesn't become worth whatever it's worth when someone thinks it's worth that much, or even when a group of people say "yeah these cars will be worth $10k maybe in another 10-15 years."

This car is worth $8k the moment someone pays $8k for it. Is that time now? Sure as hell not for me. But for someone out there, maybe. Nobody knows for sure til it sells/doesn't sell.

Sure, there's always an idiot willing to overpay for something. That doesn't mean that the price that they paid is actually what the product is worth.

Actually, it does. What other metric would you prefer to use? If someone pays an amount for something, that's LITERALLY WHAT THAT PARTICULAR OBJECT IS WORTH AT THAT MOMENT.

:facepalm:

...except in this case, nobody has, and the car is still for sale. :)

--Ian

RIGHT. Which is why I'm saying NOBODY really knows what it's worth yet. I'm not arguing it's worth $8k. I'm arguing that it is worth $8k if someone shows up and pays $8k for it. That is all.

So what you are saying is you will give the guy $8k for it on a trade in for a ND?

Yes, so we can put the piece of shit on our showroom.

That's the type of shit my buddy and I would have done. We put a used Tribeca on the showroom floor and that thing was there for almost a year lol