Why are Vipers decreasing so dramastically in Price?

[Patrick99gts]

I was just wondering why the vipers prices that I'm seeing have been in all time low. My friend orginally bought a 1999 Ford Lightning in 1999 for around $28,000. He just sold it a few days ago for about $25,000 including some mods. He drove it for basically three years and only lost $3,000. I been seeing vipers that originally bought for $70,000 a couple of years ago selling for about $50,000 today. Why is their a $20,000 price drop compared to my friends lightning. I know I lightnings and vipers are two different categories but why the huge difference. Vipers are far superior and they make even less so I think it should be the other way around. I know people are hurting for money and the economy is not very good. I would just like to see our prices stay high. I know the 96 GTS seem to be holding their value pretty good, but thats about all. No 1999 and UP viper should be less then $55,000. Thats just my opinon. Thanks for taking your time and reading my post
Patrick

 

[Sonny 00 GTS ACR]

This isn't meant as a reference to you Patrick, but what was it they said during the Clinton administration... "It's the economy stupid"

 

[garolittle]

Wars and rumors of wars ... all of this uncertainty is killing the Viper market. I will do my part soon by purchasing an RT/10.

 

[George Murray]

You can buy two or three year old Lightnings in this area for $20K, with less than 20K miles. Your friend was lucky as hell.

 

[Bonkers]

The car market is plummiting right now and all cars are being affected (except the econocars) I can score a decent Lightning for ~$13k and my Impala SS will likely only fetch $11k on the open market. With only 14,ooo built the 1oo or so thrashed snakes will bring down the national average.

Next summer the lightning will be hitting rock bottom but the Viper will hold strong, its all a matter of time...

 

[Vreracing]

I think one of the problems is how many people have much extra money for a performance car.

There must be a distribution to it.

Sort of supply and demand.

I think the F body pretty much decimated the Japanese sports cars in the early 90's.

Sure the 300Z, RX7, 3000 were good cars and were better than the fbodies, but for about 10-15K less you could get a car that ran as fast, if not faster.

The sweet spot now is probably about 25 to 30K for a used performance car. Hence the Lightning's position.

About 1-2 years ago it was probably closer to 50-60K.

 

[GCHDEALER]

It is just not the right time of year to sell a Viper, but on the flip side it is never been a better time to purchase a used Snake. Just wait till spring and you will see a steady increase in money collected for used Vipers.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Purely the economy.

 

[RickL]

I agree, totally the economy. I just sold my '01 Cobra Convertible that sticked at almost $34,000 less than 8 months ago for $22,000. My brother has a '01 Lightning that he's looking to sell for around the same price, so I'd agree that your friend got pretty lucky. Now is a good time for me to seardh for a Viper though.

-Rick

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
No 1999 and UP viper should be less then $55,000.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

nevermind those crappy 96-98 cars, pure lemons

When it's all said and done blue/white will by far command the most $$$

 

[genXgts]

Yeah for Craig, spot on as per usual......

Blue/White or die I say!

 

[SSSSE YA]

Originally posted by Craig 201 MPH:

When it's all said and done blue/white will by far command the most $$$


Thank you very much I feel a little better now....

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Craig 201 MPH:

nevermind those crappy 96-98 cars, pure lemons

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Craig, have you even GOT a Viper yet???

 

[Mike 99ACR]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sonny 00 GTS ACR:
This isn't meant as a reference to you Patrick, but what was it they said during the Clinton administration... "It's the economy stupid"

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sonny just wanted to compliment you on your car and color scheme, car looks very sharpe.

 

[Paul Fischer]

What's this "problem with the economy"? Inflation is history, interest rates the lowest in a generation, productivity is rising (especially when compared to our competition in Europe and Japan), unemployment low and take out the effects of ever increasing taxes and lawsuits the consumer price index is in great shape. The only thing that's lower are the stock markets since the bubble burst, would we wish to go back to the criminal accounting practices so fashionable in the Clinton years that were used to justify stratospheric p/e's?

Viper's hold their prices better than anything else I've seen and provide an experience unique at any price. GHC is right, never a better time to buy one.

 

[vipah]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Paul Fischer:
What's this "problem with the economy"? Inflation is history, interest rates the lowest in a generation, productivity is rising (especially when compared to our competition in Europe and Japan), unemployment low and take out the effects of ever increasing taxes and lawsuits the consumer price index is in great shape. The only thing that's lower are the stock markets since the bubble burst, would we wish to go back to the criminal accounting practices so fashionable in the Clinton years that were used to justify stratospheric p/e's?


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Um, you might want to look at the GDP, ISM Index, and the leading economic indicators. They are all pointing to a pretty weak economy. We just barely got through a recession and things are not going well at all. It won't take much to push us back into a recession.

It is a great time to be a buyer, that is for sure.

The Viper experience is great in any economy.

 

[SNAKOIL VA]

Paul's right, other than the stock market, the economy is still chugging away at a good clip.

It sort of reminds me of a discussion a few years ago about whether you paid cash for your Viper or borrowed the money. About half said they paid cash for their toys. The other half borrowed the money and invested the rest in the stock market. (7% loan vs. 12-18% gain in the market was the discussion.)

I think a lot of people used their stock market gains to buy Vipers. With market down for the last 30 months, there isn't as much free floating money to go around and the demand for Vipers (or the ability to pay for them) has gone down.

I paid cash for my Snake. Invested the rest the stock market. The snake has lost a little value, but not much over 3 years. Wish I could say the same for my stock portfolio!

 

[vipah]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SNAKOIL VA:
Paul's right, other than the stock market, the economy is still chugging away at a good clip.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You guys may want to check things out: http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/

 

[Paul Fischer]

Keeping in mind it's a website put together by the editors of CNN (remember cold fusion?) and Money Magazine (the People magazine of business)it's not bad. True enough inflation and unemployment are low but they sure missed the consumer spending numbers and retail sales figures. Manufacturing and industrial production labor under increasing regulation and litigation, no secret there, R&L costs send more jobs overseas than anything else. One notes the dates on their reports, consumer expectations etc. are already out of date. A far better source for economic info would be the Economist magazine and their website. Accurate info, well edited and a very sophisticated readership, the one source of info shared by decision makers on a global basis. Their "Big Mac" index is rather prescient in forecasting currency trends. For around the same price as People or Money magazine you can pick up a copy of The Economist at better newstands and bookstores. Enjoy.

No doubt the bursting of the bubble dried up some easy money flowing into toys like cars. I'm with garolittle, the best way to address this imbalance is to put more dollars in circulation and reduce standing inventory, buy a Viper in other words. Folks used to complain it was an incredible car, only the price was a bit high. Now that that's no longer a problem we'll just have to hear about how hot the sills get....

 

[joe117]

Last year about this time, I had sold a bunch of covered call options on GE that were, as it turned out, called away. I didn't have a loss on the sale, I made money on the sale of the call and I had a bunch of cash to reinvest. I bought and fixed up my Viper instead. At the time I felt a little bad about removing that money from the market and spending it on a toy. I haven't figured it all out but I'm almost sure that if I had bought the stock back instead of spending it on the car, I would be worse off right now. I think my 94 has been a better investment than GE stock in the last year. I know it's more fun.

 

[LETHAL GTS]

If it makes anyone feel better, you can't buy my '00 GTS for less than $90,000.00.

Man I'm getting tired of this topic!

 

[George Murray]

As recently as August, there was a high-mileage 99 GTS (about 45K miles) that sold at a dealer auction in Virginia for $42K. It was a repo, kind of beat up cosmetically, and needed some front suspension work. The dealer who bought the car paid another $5K to get the car ready for sale. No idea what he sold it for...he was asking 55K.

A 97 GTS with 29K miles sold at auction in July for 50K. Lots of bids on that car.

The lowest price I know of in my region was $40K paid for a red 98 RT/10 with 52K miles. That car sold a few weeks ago. It had salvage history, but it was a "light" salvage repair, mostly cosmetic, and the car drove fine. Exceptionally well, actually. I almost bought it.

Now, regarding classic American muscle cars...notice the prices being asked these days?

We all recall the overinflation of such cars from 1987 - late 1990/early 1991. In 1991, the cars took a huge drop (Gulf War timeframe), and seemed to stay that way for five or six years. I've noticed in the past two years that the prices are incredibly high again. At least, the "asking" prices are. I buy/sell/trade a dozen or more classic Mopars each year, as well as some foreign brands (Ford/Chevy LOL). I'm not getting $25K for 69 Charger R/T 440 cars (I think they're $15K cars max), but I see such asking prices all the time. More common than not. Hell...you'll see asking prices of $30K for 383 Road Runners!

Anyone have any thoughts on this trend? Are these cars actually selling for this kind of money, or is this just "asking price inflation?" I know I'm sure not getting those kinds of prices in my region, nor do I pay anywhere near that kind of money.

I'm quite aware that some cars will always command premium prices, like "survivor" cars, Hemi cars, over-restored Roger Gibson cars, etc.

 

[Sonny 00 GTS ACR]

Would that be canadian dollars Bigfoot?

While investing in the markets is sometimes exciting it obviously can't compare with the thrill of a well piloted Viper. I didn't buy mine to make money.

Thanks for the comment Mike!