What Is It Worth? (1997 Volvo 850)

Twinsen · Post by **Twinsen** » 13 Jan 2006, 12:25

1997 Volvo 850
Green
Automatic
28,xxx Miles

My dad bought the car brand new in '97. He has been the only one to own it. Never smoked in. Bone stock. What is it worth? My camera at the time wasn't acting right, but these are the only pictures I have at the moment.

eBay

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 13 Jan 2006, 13:53

If there really is only 28k miles on it*, a lot! How about a web search for Kelly Blue Book, etc?

*Inside joke about the Odometer gear failure defect. Search this site for details and a repair.

Twinsen · Post by **Twinsen** » 13 Jan 2006, 15:07

No way am I going by KBB for this low miles. Yes, its true mileage, we have been the only owner, and really have no use for the car anymore as my dad has since upgraded to an '06 S80...I think its an S80...whatever it is, it has a turbo and a fat intercooler.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 13 Jan 2006, 19:51

Someone got a steal!

Twinsen · Post by **Twinsen** » 13 Jan 2006, 20:26

We didn't sell it for that much. Can someone please give me a quote?

Post by **matthew1** » 13 Jan 2006, 21:36

kbb.com seems high for late model Volvo V70s and XC70s. I've done a bunch of research in the last 3 months, and the prices it comes up with are consistently higher than real world.

I'd do kbb and ask that price if I were selling.

Twinsen · Post by **Twinsen** » 13 Jan 2006, 22:37

$8,000 seems a bit low for this low mileage.

Post by **matthew1** » 13 Jan 2006, 23:02

It's been in your family almost 10 years, you know the car. It's probably never let you down. There's an emotional attachment there. I have the same attachment.

I'm looking at trading in my '97 850 T5 with 76,000 miles any day now, and the trade in value is going to be as low as $5000. It's going to really hurt to let that car go period, and even more so at that price. I've had it since 2000, and my dad had it for almost 2 years before that. His friend bought it new and sold it to him. I know the whole history.

There's a big allowance for milage in any good $ calculation formula (try playing with milage for $/mile tradeoffs), but there is a practical limit. You reach a limit where any further reduction in miles won't add any value at all. It's the law of diminishing returns.

In an interesting aside, the state of Washington last year taxed me on the car as though it was worth almost $11k. It cost me about $150 over what it should have. Ouch. That's unfair, but there is no recourse to challenge their valuation -- I checked.

Twinsen · Post by **Twinsen** » 14 Jan 2006, 08:45

It's not really the KBB I was going by though, that's really the thing, I'm saying. So I guess 850s aren't as wanted as a Mitsubishi 3000GT, Toyota Supra, or an Acura NSX. The reason I ask this, is that you can't go by the KBB for these cars, so that's why I was trying to see if you could for this Volvo. And believe you me, personally, there is NO emotional attatchment from me on that Volvo. I have never liked it since my dad bought it.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 14 Jan 2006, 09:00

Well then, you probably did the right thing by selling it for less than what you could have gotten for it....you made a new volvo owner happy!