Wow, from $17K to $5K? That was some amazing negotiations! Or did you mean $15K (which is still a good price for a running Mondial 8.) Well done! Bob
How about this Mondial? Almost 17K. I don't know if it has been posted yet. I'd spoted in http://www.onlinemotors.net/ Image Unavailable, Please Login
I said what I meant, $5000. In my final round I offered $4500 and he said he would take $5500. I told him "lets split the difference" and he said sold. He had been trying to sale this car for about a year. It was advertised with needing a mas air flow sensor.
This car has been on the market for over a year now, at $17K and still available, my guess is it needs a lot, or it's a total rust bucket.
You, sir, have quite possibly just made the best deal in Ferrari history! $5K?? WOW! Unless it is a total POS under that pretty exterior and has squirrels living in the oil sump, or has a Fiero engine swapped in, I'd say you are WAY ahead of the curve on this one! Congratulations!
I found a Lamborghini Jalpa for sale that I talked down to $14K but I only had $10,000 budgeted and he wouldn't go lower. There was a guy in CA a few months ago that I could have bought another 82 Mondial for $10,000 but it needed a little more work then the one I just bought and I felt it was too high after spending 5k on one. There is a saying that I love, "Once in a lifetime deals, come around every other day". I think it is a lot easier to find deals of non high profile cars like the mondial rather then the 308. Of course, after I buy my cars, I want the market to notice them and increase their values.
That was exactly what I was thinking. As I was negotiating the price, I was watching the market for things like the engine block, fenders, etc. I figured that, if it turned out to be a problem to fix it, I could part it out and still make a profit. Thats what I based my final price on (Selling the parts and paying for my time to deal with it).
Out of curiosity, what was the seller's original asking price? Did you just give him an initial low-ball offer? Please share with the rest of us the silver-tongued negotiating technniques you used to do so well on this buy! I am often tempted to make low initial offers on neat cars I see for sale, but I always have a fear of pissing off the seller and then getting nowhere in negotiations. I think this would be a good sub-topic for the "cheap 308/mondial" thread.....good negotiating tips to help folks get those Ferraris as cheaply as possible!
He was asking $17K or $17.5, I forgot exactly. I got it for $5k. I could have worked on it more, but I did not want to loose the deal. 1. Ask them about the car in general terms, "Can you tell me about the car?". This is a general question and hopefully will start them talking about it. Sometimes they will say something like, "what do you want to know". Don't let them make you ask specific questions at first. Bring it back to general terms with something like, "just tell me about the car" to get them started, you might add "what color is it?". If they just say "blue, what else do you want to know", they might be hiding somthing. You can usually tell by the tone of their voice. What this exercise does is gets them talking about the car. In this initial conversation, they will somtimes bring up things that you would never have thought to ask about. Somtimes they will bring up the fact that they put a battary in the back and the acid ate up the carpet in the corner. 2. Take notes about what they say. They will usually tell you the typical info: Color, 2 or 4 door, milage, drives ok. After a few minutes of the typical sales speech, they will run out of things to say. 3. Then ask them specific questions. How is the interior?, brakes?, any dents? etc. Take notes of what they say. 4. Comment on things that are a negitive. "You said it runs ok, so it doesn't run great?" or "So the color is orange? I'm not a big fan of orange". or "so it has some parking lot dents, I know there small, but they cost a lot to fix". 5. Don't ever sound real interested. Never say "I have been looking for one of these forever". 6. Ask if you can come by look at it. "What part of town do you live" "Well, maybe I will stop by and look at it". Both of these statements show little interest. Make it sound like, if you have nothing else to do, then you might stop by. Be polite and tell them you will call before you stop by. 7. Go look at the car. Be polite and introduce yourself. Start with small chit chat "So this is it, huh?". While you are looking at the car, the owner will be standing there watching you. Walk around the car and look at it generally. Then start to notice any blemishes. Ack like they are of larger concern then they normally would be. Such as running your hands over the small parking lot dents. Don't say anything to the owner. Just have that concerned look on your face and maybe sigh. It sometimes helps to write down the problems that you notice in front of the owner. Remember, you do not need to say anything to him because he can clearly see everything that is causing you concern. They will usually start talking to you and say somthing like "A shopping cart tapped that last summer, I just never got around to fixing that". If they try to down play it too much, I might say something like "It looks like a couple carts hit it". You can reemphisize the "tap" to a "hit". Side note: My kids always try to do that. "Dad, I just tapped him and he started crying" and I would say, "if you just tapped him, he would not be crying". 8. Ask him about the price. They say "the first person to give a price loses". One of the questions you should have discussed on the initial telephone call was price. It is always the last thing I ask about on the phone and when I am looking at the car. After you have asked about the car on the phone and went over some of you concerns I will ask "So how much are you asking for the car". After listening to your concerns about the orange paint etc. they will sometimes come back with "Well I was asking $10K but I will take $9k". From early on in the conversation, you want them to be discounting the price. You want them to be questioning their original price for the car. 9. If you don't think the car will sell soon, come back later. Give the seller time to rethink his price and it gives you time to step back and reconsider whether it is a good deal or not. I could go on and on, but I don't want to tell you all my secrets. There are a few things that I should say. It is difficult to lower the price if the car is in perfect shape, BUT! my friend would always say, every car has at least 3 problems, you just have to find them. Turn a positive into a negitive. I know this is backward to how you should aproach life, but when you want the lowest price for a car, this is what you do. If the seller says, I just rebult the engine, its bored out .030 over, say "so its not original?" Negotiating is an art that you get better at over time. It helps if you don't have the money to pay list all the time. Good luck on your next purchase.
Good advice. I just bought a Lancia Montecarlo for GBP1661 (about US$3400), sufficiently under the maket value (about GBP4500) to make it worthwhile.
Is it a European spec? Even if you would only use it as a donor vehicle it should be worth more than $5K. You made an amazing deal. You too got an amazing deal.
I have no affiliation to the seller, etc. Can't validate the claim of white being highly sought after for a Mondial or not either. But if anyone's looking for a 1984 Mondial, this one has 51K miles and the seller is asking $26K... http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/car/454904496.html
And it's SUPER RARE to boot! Someone better snatch it up quick like before the value of a WHITE Ferrari goes THRU THE ROOF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! JIM
Here's one: 84 Mondial QV Cabrio BIN $19,500 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-Ferrari-Mondial-3-0-QV-Cabriolet-2-2_W0QQitemZ230185080065QQihZ013QQcategoryZ6212QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem The mileage is high (91k) and I wouldn't be surprised if it's overdue for some maintenance, given the seller's position on the subject, but it looks pretty good to me otherwise.
Well, the timing belts were done about 9K miles ago, but how many years ago? He says it's a daily driver, so maybe 1 or 2 years ago? In either case, it's a higher mileage motor, so you may want to factor in a timing belt, tensioner and water pump change. Peace of mind plus you can see what condition the seals are in. If you did the job yourself - about $900, if you paid someone, about $2,500 (guestimate.) Not sure I like the verbiage about Ferrari specifying over-maintenance. Makes me wonder what deferred maintenance items the car has? Things such as caps and rotors (about $900 and your own labor), coolant hoses (about $200 for silicone hoses and your own labor, or $900 for Ferrari hoses and your own labor.) Tires are fair? Count on $2000 for new tires ($500 a piece) or you can spend that $2K looking for 348 wheels, or go with aftermarket wheels and tires. Clutch done 28K miles ago? Hmmm... might be OK, but how did the driver drive the car? And it was a daily driver, so it may have seen more stop-and-go action than most Mondials. The Mondial is heavier than the 308 and consequently a little harder on the clutch. Has the brake fluid been bled? When the clutch was done, was the clutch slave cylinder checked and bled? If not, you may want to look at that too. Brake fluid is hygroscopic and will attract water from atmosphere. This needs to be changed regularly otherwise you'll boil your brake fluid. BTW, how are the brake pads? How many times have the brake rotors been turned? Is there still enough material to turn the rotors again? Or do you have to replace rotors? How are the CV boots? Another wear item to consider. And the front spoiler will need a little touch-up paint (if you want a driver) or to be re-sprayed with a stone guard finish and repainted (if you wanted a concourse repair.) Basically - you'll want to get a PPI done by someone who is thorough and can do compression and leak-down tests, as well as put the car on a lift and spend 2 hours with the car to go over it with a fine toothed comb. $19500 is a big chunk of money and, if you're interested in this car, the $500 you spend would be very worthwhile.
No I not interested in tha car. Just wanted to see what a cheap Ferrari would cost to get it up to par. Still can't decide which color combo I want and whether I want a coupe or cab Brandon J
Brandon, I see you own an S2...nice car. A big improvement over the 8 valve...that was going to be my next car...and may still if I have to wait to long for a decent 308
Yeah I love the car. I drove alot of turbos thinking I wanted one of those but I didn't like the turbo lag. My Sales manager at the porsche dealer I worked at suggested I find an S2. Im glad I listened. I get the turbo looks and brakes with that smooth torque curve and netural handling. Plus its a great road trip car. Better than any 911 before it. I am getting ready to head to Florida on Wedsenday for Rennsport Reunion should be fun
It's always sad to see a poor neglected car such as this. At least the owner seems pretty honest about the condition. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200172329350&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNARL:MOTORS:1123 Image Unavailable, Please Login
