How to price high mileage NSX?

[bruckner]

In my active search for an NSX, I just came across a 170,000 mile example that's been for sale for a few months. The asking price (33K$) is way off what I'd be prepared to pay for it given alternatives in the same price range, but I'm struggling to put a price on such a car, if only for theoretical purposes. It's a 1 owner car and all original, no accident, MY 1992, red exterior with black interior, manual transmission. I'm not asking whether the NSX is a good high mileage purchase, there's tons of threads about this and the consensus is clear. With so few transactions being struck on such high mileage cars however, and even fewer offerings, I'm not sure how one would establish a fair price. It's all in comparative value, surely a high mileage NSX well looked after is a good purchase at the right price, but has 100K miles less to offer than it had 100K miles ago, and this must be taken into consideration.

Any ideas? All subjective perhaps, I'm curious to know what you guys think. We all know market value is no more than the price paid by the highest bidder, I nevertheless think it's worth a discussion beyond this evident fact of life.

If this has been discussed previously, I apologize in advance.

 

[curtsr]

I agree that 33K does not reflect the mileage that this particular car has reached.
For your theoretical I'll assume that all maintenance is up-to-date so there is no deferred maintenance to account for and deduct accordingly.
Not knowing any unique aspects (coupe, unusual color, options, etc) my opinion is between 20-23K.

 

[bruckner]

I agree that 33K does not reflect the mileage that this particular car has reached.
For your theoretical I'll assume that all maintenance is up-to-date so there is no deferred maintenance to account for and deduct accordingly.
Not knowing any unique aspects (coupe, unusual color, options, etc) my opinion is between 20-23K.

1992 (no idea about snap issue, at this mileage I would imagine it's either been fixed or will never fail), red with black interior, no option that I can spot on the pics I got, no mod whatsoever.

 

[vivanshah]

edit: 1992 - got it. I'd say high teens to low twenties depending on condition.

 

[N-Wing]

With all the maintenance, I would be over 20k. I sold my 92 for around 24k with 130k miles. It had just had a full up service and clutch done. I know that service (from the best in NYC) made that sale possible. Otherwise I would be in the low 20's or less depending on the issues.

 

[JD Cross]

As an original owner I think there's value in a one owner car.

This car has averaged 8 k miles per year, perhaps 2 k miles per year more than average.
This suggests either a longer than average driving season (sunbelt car?) or a long road trip each year.

Everything that's been done or happened to the car rests with one person so the owner's driving habits should be easy to find out.
There should be complete maintenance records which has value.

(If the owner does not have complete records I'd walk away, no excuse for one owner not to have a complete record unless he/she didn't care about the car)

If you can meet with the owner and establish a bit of rapport you should gain some insight as to how the car has been treated.
How often detailed, was it always garaged, etc.

If all the maintenance has been done over the years and is current now I don't think mid-to high twenties is out of line.
You would only be the second owner.
I'd much rather own a high mileage one or two owner car with complete records than a lower mileage unit with 5 owners.

 

[nsxtasy]

I agree with JD Cross. If all the maintenance is up to date and it's well cared for - on a 170K mile car, you can tell that in an instant - then it could be worth $24-26K. That's a fairly high price for a car with that much mileage, but that's because of a premium (say $4-6K) for being a one-owner car with all the maintenance up to date and excellent condition for the mileage. Most NSX's with that mileage would be worth around $20K, or less if they're pretty beat up.

Also note, that's my estimate for a car in the United States. I'm not familiar with the Canadian market, although I've heard that cars generally sell for more north of the border.

At $33K, I'd walk away and give the owner a couple years to realize his price is way off the market.

 

[NSX2398]

Part of the problem with the Canadian market is that there is a natural price difference due to US/Cdn exchange rates. When new back in 1991, the $C MSRP was $80k .. and $120k in 2005. Back in 2001 when I imported mine for example, there was an exchange rate of $C1.60 = $US1.00 which was probably the worse it got. But as a result, on the resale market, Canadian used NSXs typically went for $10-15k more than US prices. I paid $29k for my while comparable examples in Canada (if you could find them) were in the $40s. If this person bought it new in '92, he paid a premium and if you look at the used market today, there's probably still a premium being asked and he probably is hoping he can get it. Even though there are cheaper deals in the US, people hesitate to go long distances and deal with 'out of country' sellers and this somewhat preserves this imbalance in price. As everyone says, good maintenance records are a good indicator .. but I find that people often cheat on significant things like the timing belt which is 7yr/80k miles .. which means this car should be on its 3rd timing belt by mileage and close to 4th by # of years and if it isn't, then it may have good records but not at the recommended intervals. And if it hasn't had at least one clutch replacement, it's probably long overdue. I'd be suspicious of other high mileage/year items like A/C compressor; transmission synchros; clutch and brake master cylinders; ABS system; tie rods; CV boots; cooling hoses; etc.

 

[funnieguy]

33k seems kind of high. I paid 19k for mine @ 160k '92 with most of the maintenance up to date. It wasn't in the greatest shape though... (paint could use a touch up, struts for hatch and trunk were shot, clutch master cylinder was leaking, yadda yadda... )
I do think I paid too much for mine though... but there wasn't much around me in the midwest so I took what I could get and fixed it up a bit.

 

[bruckner]

Part of the problem with the Canadian market is that there is a natural price difference due to US/Cdn exchange rates. When new back in 1991, the $C MSRP was $80k .. and $120k in 2005. Back in 2001 when I imported mine for example, there was an exchange rate of $C1.60 = $US1.00 which was probably the worse it got. But as a result, on the resale market, Canadian used NSXs typically went for $10-15k more than US prices. I paid $29k for my while comparable examples in Canada (if you could find them) were in the $40s. If this person bought it new in '92, he paid a premium and if you look at the used market today, there's probably still a premium being asked and he probably is hoping he can get it. Even though there are cheaper deals in the US, people hesitate to go long distances and deal with 'out of country' sellers and this somewhat preserves this imbalance in price. As everyone says, good maintenance records are a good indicator .. but I find that people often cheat on significant things like the timing belt which is 7yr/80k miles .. which means this car should be on its 3rd timing belt by mileage and close to 4th by # of years and if it isn't, then it may have good records but not at the recommended intervals. And if it hasn't had at least one clutch replacement, it's probably long overdue. I'd be suspicious of other high mileage/year items like A/C compressor; transmission synchros; clutch and brake master cylinders; ABS system; tie rods; CV boots; cooling hoses; etc.

Interesting take. There is no doubt a premium is associated with cars already in Canada (whether originally sold here or imported), but I've been following the market closely in the past years and this premium is no longer what it used to be. I suppose this is due to the exchange rate now close to par and a reasonable influx of American cars into the Canadian NSX market. There are many candidates offered here at high prices and these tend to stick, the majority of cars advertised today on hebdo.net have been for sale since the early days of the summer! I missed out on 2 opportunities in the past month in the 30-35,000$ range, 1991s with different levels of modifications and relatively low miles and equally good shape, these sold within 2-3 weeks, a reasonable market exposure time IMO. This leads me to believe actual sales prices in Canada tend to be within the range of asking prices for comparable US cars, I have no idea what average discount could be observed between asking prices and selling prices South of the border. Anyway, this wasn't the original topic and it probably belongs to the Canadian forum.

Anyone knows of actual 150K+ mile cars that sold recently?

For those who might be interested in the car I referred to in this thread's opening post, here it is: http://www.lespac.com/vehicules/autos/boischatel/d-acura-nsx-1992-LPaZZ27928213WWcpZZ26WWgrZZ12

 

[vh_supra26]

Sorry for bumping an old thread. I was told to do a search before making a new one.

Anyways, two part question.
1) How much do you guys think a clean title 92 5 speed NSX with 300,000 miles worth? It runs and drives and looks like it a decent car.
2) Is KBB a good / reliable guide to use?

I used KBB as a guide and with 300k a dealer retail is $21.8k. Than a fair market range price would be anywhere from $22.6k-$15.8k. Fair purchase price $19.2k

Using KBB again
@50k a dealer retail is $42k. Than a fair market range price would be $43k-$37k. Fair purchase price $39.8k
@100k a dealer retail is $32k. Than a fair market range price would be $32k-$26k. Fair purchase price $29.5k

 

[blue_myriddn]

1) How much do you guys think a clean title 92 5 speed NSX with 300,000 miles worth? It runs and drives and looks like it a decent car.
2) Is KBB a good / reliable guide to use?

2) No.
1) Going to REALLY be dependent on a whole lot of variables. If I were buying a 300k NSX, I would take it to a shop that was experienced with NSXs and get a run down from them on the mechanical condition of the car. Then I would start with $30,000 (about the bottom of the NSX market) and start subtracting reasonable costs from that number. I would expect to end up somewhere between 22k-26k.

As I said though, highly subjective.

 

[vh_supra26]

^Thanks for the input

I was expecting it to be a little lower. There was an Acura dealer in Texas selling a 91 with 200k on it. Their asking $21k. Unfortunately by the time I got there someone had already put a deposit on it. Drove 3 hrs for nothing I think I'm going to pass on this one with 300k and keep searching.

 

[docjohn]

the value of a high mileage car is up to you and the seller to decide.....you have to be knowledgeable about the car and due the full evaluation of the motor's health and ability to maintain good compression.

 

[Speedmaster]

So, I have zero issues with a high mileage car - so long as it was properly maintained.

My 1991 I purchased with 334K on the clock. Motor and trans were tight. Come to think of it, so was the entire rest of the car. Still, I went through it like it was my latest project. I replaced everything I could from injectors to suspension. Car was tight and was a two-owner car. I bought it sight unseen, had it shipped to me and was pleasantly surprised. It was completely original and had all the tools, tire, etc. I sold it at 340k for under $25K last year. I wish I had never sold that car. It will go up in value. Oh, and I paid less than half of the selling price.

My 1995 I purchased from the original owner at 136K. Car looked nearly showroom new. I paid next to nothing for it but wouldn't accept less than 2X that and I would still be right at market value.

Now, my first NSX (1991) had 98K on the clock and it looked like it had been in a demolition derby. Drove like it too. I put a TON of money into that one and sold it. I am still pissed at the jackass that misrepresented the car. But I digress.

My 1997 had 67K on the clock and it looked almost as bad at the 1991 above. It drove okay but felt and certainly looked pretty rough. I let that one go about $10K under market after putting about $8K into it. I still came out ahead.

Hopefully you picked up on two key things; buy the car right (YOU are the buyer, pay the value you think it is) and condition is NOT dependent on mileage.

Good luck.