buying '97 960, requesting thoughts?

[ten20k]

Hi,

I'm a new user here, I hope I'm posting to the appropriate forum. Thanks for anyone with time to offer their thoughts.

I'm looking at a '97 960 Volvo sedan with 122,000 miles and new tires (less than 1k miles old), regular oil changes, smogged last week, full records and all features working, that belongs to a customer of my Volvo mechanic who I really trust. The person is selling it for $4,400. I know very little about cars, and don't know if this is too cliche but I looked it up on kbb, and it seems like the absolute highest it should sell for is $3,500-$4,000. But I don't know if that takes the new tires into account?

I've got an appt for my mechanic to fully inspect the car this Wednesday morning, for $180. I'm unsure and would appreciate advice regarding the following:

a) Is getting it inspected a waste of $? The seller already has all the records and is willing to share them (I'm not sure if that's before or after the sale, but I'd think if she's willing to have it inspected, she'd be fine with letting me look at her records).

b) Is there any way that $4,400 is a fair price? If not, what is an honest fair price for it, if it passes inspection fairly flawlessly? (I don't want to make an insulting offer, but obviously saving $400-$900 would be really helpful.

c) The owner (the guy I trust most at the shop) is less involved with the shop now. In the past when I asked him about purchasing other customers' cars, he has said he'd be able to talk down the seller by a few hundred. I think he'd probably do likewise here if he thought it priced too high, but given that he's there less often, I happened to speak to another staff member today, who seemed highly reticent to be involved at all.

I understand obviously that good boundaries should be observed, but I got the feeling they are more inclined to side with the other client, who has been their client for fifteen years, vs my one year, and who undoubtedly has spent a lot more $ with them. I know having an inspection is supposed to help me negotiate better, but I'm concerned whether they might not be fully honest about any flaws/older parts (the owner definitely would be), and just whether it would be better for me to ask up front if they'd lower it by $400, rather than spending $180 and then negotiating?


Thanks for thoughts on any part of this, if there's anything you think I'm excessively worrying about feel free to let me know, or any particular features of the car I should ask after, I really appreciate the advice!

[lindy8_man]

Well, That's pretty low in miles!

The power train is fairly bullet proof.

Here are the problem areas for these cars:
- Power Seats stop sliding forward and back. -->Requires pulling seats and replacing the cable
- Vacuum controllers for the hvac system. --> This job is at least $1200 switch through the various settings check while accelerating
- Heater Core --> basically the same job as above. Turn on the heat. Do you smell anything sweet?
- Radiator --> Tanks are plastic and will fail.
- Evap system --> Check all the Rubber connectors

Check on all these things. Look that the records. Have ANY of these been done? In particular look at the HVAC stuff. If they have not been done, it's just a matter of time...

The rest should just be maintainance...

I won't comment on the price tag. But I would take the above into consideration. as for the inspection... You should do what you are comfortable with...

97 was the last year they made the "960" in 98 - 99 they called it the "S90"