Seriously?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

Temptation became too much for me and I did sneak in a bid at £2,100 a day or so ago. Although it is very similar to the RB, I thought it worth taking a chance on bidding having run out of steam - and happily bought it at that price.

I was a little relieved to see I was no longer winning the auction this eve, so I won’t have to buy another 244 auto. I still think it will make quite strong money - something close to £4,000. If the seller had the V5 it would make quite a bit more.

:-)

That 244 auto sold for £3,200, which was perhaps a little less than I’d expected, perhaps because the motor car isn’t quite an historic vehicle yet?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

That 244 auto sold for £3,200, which was perhaps a little less than I’d expected, perhaps because the motor car isn’t quite an historic vehicle yet?

I guessed at £4000 +/-£250 so i was a bit overoptimistic even on my lower estimate. Perhaps with a V5 and those things i couldn't quite put a finger on but perhaps potential buyers also picked up on sorted out, it would have made closer to my estimate.

That said, it's still good money for a 40 year old car that isn't quite Historic yet. Given you have the V5 and have sorted the niggles on the RB, if you were to sell that (i know you're not likely to) i would suggest ~£5k quite easily.

This one made for an interesting comparison to the RB in many ways!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I guessed at £4000 +/-£250 so i was a bit overoptimistic even on my lower estimate. Perhaps with a V5 and those things i couldn't quite put a finger on but perhaps potential buyers also picked up on sorted out, it would have made closer to my estimate.

That said, it's still good money for a 40 year old car that isn't quite Historic yet. Given you have the V5 and have sorted the niggles on the RB, if you were to sell that (i know you're not likely to) i would suggest ~£5k quite easily.

This one made for an interesting comparison to the RB in many ways!

I wonder if prices aren’t falling a bit Dave. In the last week I’ve seen a couple of okay-ish late 80s 240s sell for well under 2 grand each. Don’t get me wrong, I think a grand or so is a fair price for a 30 year old motor with a bit of rust, but a year ago I think people were happy to pay a bit more for similar cars. Maybe it is due to the end of the lockdown and the furlough scheme?

I don’t think more sensible prices is unhealthy, in fact the opposite, I think people asking £9,000 for 30 year old motor cars (even in good condition) is barking mad.

The comparison of this car with the RB is a good one, and the reason I liked the blue car.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I wonder if prices aren’t falling a bit Dave. In the last week I’ve seen a couple of okay-ish late 80s 240s sell for well under 2 grand each. Don’t get me wrong, I think a grand or so is a fair price for a 30 year old motor with a bit of rust, but a year ago I think people were happy to pay a bit more for similar cars. Maybe it is due to the end of the lockdown and the furlough scheme?

I don’t think more sensible prices is unhealthy, in fact the opposite, I think people asking £9,000 for 30 year old motor cars (even in good condition) is barking mad.

The comparison of this car with the RB is a good one, and the reason I liked the blue car.

:-)

It's August Alan so i'd expect prices to be a little depressed - many potential buyers are on holiday, funds depleted due to school holidays and so on. This is how things usually go so i'd view it as a temporary blip and things will pick up a bit during the next month or two then drop off from November to February a bit before picking up again next spring.

The end of furlough, lockdown etc may also have a bearing on things but i think it's just the seasonal pattern repeating itself.

[Othen]

This one will be interesting, no MoT, odometer has not worked since 2017, 6 more years until it becomes an historic car, full of rust and lots of mechanical faults:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124859530...IAAOSwQ2NhCYks

... it is a low start auction, so something of an acid test of the market. I suppose its scrap value is £300, the banger racing chap might pay £400 and if someone wanted it for spares it might be £600 worth. It is going to need trailering away (maybe cost £200) and if someone tried to renovate it I suppose there might be something like a grand's worth of fabrication and welding, another couple for a cheap redecoration job and maybe one more for mechanical bits and recommissioning, so about £4,000 would make it nice (but nowhere near perfect). Would the motor car be worth £5,000 after all that?... of course not :-)

[Othen]

Another one to test the market. This one failed the MoT in 2016 and I suppose wasn't worth fixing at the time. It will have been standing outside for the past 5 years, so doubt any of the faults will have fixed themselves and a fair bit of rust may have set it. The car is 15 years away from becoming an historic vehicle, so that isn't a factor: it is just a rusty, 25 year old, 230,000 mile MoT failure:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274906894133?hash=item4001ba4f35:gNgAAOSw1ThhGWg X

I can't help thinking it only has scrap value (£300), but apparently someone has bid £500 for it (unless that is the seller to get it moving). It will be an interesting test of the market to see if it gets any more bids.

:-)

[Moomoo]

Hi folks, new on here. Sold my last Volvo, aV70 in Feb because a smaller car is needed now I'm retired . 20k odd for a good used one to do 4000 miles a year is a an extravagant luxury now.
BUT, having had 121s, 240s, 740s, 940s and V70s there is a void. Been looking for a 240 saloon for awhile as a toy/hobby. It will have to be a very good one because I can no longer do any major stuff. That's why I ridded both my old Land Rovers.
This thread dealing with prices is very interesting. I've seen a 61k 87,
GL in Wimbledon for £7995 and also a very similar offering in Wellingborough for the same money.
These aren't selling so I guess they are way too dear! Correct?

[Laird Scooby]

You've plumbed the depths for those two Alan!

Both are coastal cars so likely to be riddled with tinworm and the red estate certainly isn't a 1994 car, despite the registration! At the very latest it will be 1992 but obviously a late registration (1/1/94) having sat in a dealers yard for at least 2 years.

Moomoo, you've got the general idea, most aren't selling at sky-high prices, almost all 240s will have some rust problems and given everything you've said in your post, if you really want an old Volvo to keep you busy and still provide reasonably reliable transport, i'd suggest looking at 1986-94 7/9xx models instead.

Nothing against the 240, you can pick up some good ones (Alans RB is testament to that) but the chances are because the 240 models have already been through the stage of "it's just another old car, we won't bother fixing x, y, z" there will be a plethora of minor faults to fix, even on cars with decent bodywork.
Non-enthusiast subsequent owners generally won't bother and x,y, z becomes the whole alphabet of minor things not working.

Don't get me wrong, the same goes for many 7/9xx cars too, had more than my fair share of repairs to do on my current 760 because the previous owner couldn't be bothered, didn't know or just plain misdiagnosed and/or bodged repairs.

That said, most of the 7/9xx are at the stage where either those things haven't happened or because the 7/9xx has gone from being in the doldrums in terms of value, faults are being fixed or not allowed to develop the way some older cars would be.

That's not to say the faults won't appear during your ownership but it's easier to deal with one thing at a time than trying to tackle a major onslaught of faults in one go to get it how it should be.

[Moomoo]

Thanks for the idea of broadening my options, I have to admit I'm looking at all sorts, not being too blinkered.
I have a tendency to be impulsive but at 67 , I should have a bit more sense!

Andrew.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

Hi folks, new on here. Sold my last Volvo, aV70 in Feb because a smaller car is needed now I'm retired . 20k odd for a good used one to do 4000 miles a year is a an extravagant luxury now.
BUT, having had 121s, 240s, 740s, 940s and V70s there is a void. Been looking for a 240 saloon for awhile as a toy/hobby. It will have to be a very good one because I can no longer do any major stuff. That's why I ridded both my old Land Rovers.
This thread dealing with prices is very interesting. I've seen a 61k 87,
GL in Wimbledon for £7995 and also a very similar offering in Wellingborough for the same money.
These aren't selling so I guess they are way too dear! Correct?

Hi and welcome to the 240 section,

This thread had a bit of a mind of its own, and has been meandering along for some time now, but I think it is a pretty good place to discuss current prices and values.

We often notice cars advertised at £8,000 to £10,000 - even if they are very nice cars my feeling is that they don't actually make that money. Dave points out the reasons why above. An example might be this car:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402923059...MAAOSwq9ZgnV1M

... it is almost certainly a very nice car, but it has been for sale for at least a year, and so isn't a bargain.

Don't get me wrong, I really like 240s (I have a 244, the Royal Barge) but I don't think they are either exceptional or rare enough cars to command that sort of price (and the market would seem to agree with me - hence the blue car being on the forecourt for a year).

I think you should be able to find a very good car for no more than £5,000 (that in my humble opinion, nothing more).

Best wishes,

Alan


PS. This was my own guide to 240 prices, cut and pasted from this thread a few months ago, and modified a bit after that:

As a guide I'd say (from what I've seen things apparently sell for - not ridiculous asking prices):

a. Rough cars (anything with barn find in the title, cars needing welding to the sills or rear arches, MoT failures): make less than £1000.

b. Middling cars: 1981 and later cars with 100-200,000 miles, a bit of history (maybe the past decade, the stuff before that is just for interest), a long MoT and no obvious welding or repairs needed: make £1,500 to £3,000.

c. Very good cars: 1981 and later cars with less than 100,000 miles, full history, long MoT and in really good condition make £3,000 to £4,500.

d. Historic cars (1980 and older) will generally make 50-100% more than the above categories.

The above is just my observation of the market, it will not stop people hawking around rough cars for £3,000, mediocre cars for £6,000 or very good cars for silly money. I don't think they often achieve their asking prices and just spend months or years on the market until the owners give up.