2001 PI 23,000 miles for sale. how much to offer?

[stinkydogfilms]

Hi,
There is a 2001 Police Interceptor for sale in my area. It is a Federal Agency owned car with 23,000 miles showing. It is very clean. No lights, no bars, no cage.
The owner is asking $8500.00 OBO. What do you think I should offer? I have a 91 Box I don't want to get rid of. I like the 5.0 engine.
Wife may make me get rid of the Box. I figure the PI with 23,000 non abused miles should have 4-5 years of trouble free driving. What do you think the PI is worth? Another big plus is no shipping involved.

Thank you,
Mike

[miamibob]

Do a Kelly Blue Book search with the zip code of the area it is being sold. Be certain to search with all the options, mileage, etc...to get an idea. Not sure where you are located but $8.5K, off the top of my head, sounds like a lot of money!!

[IPreferDIY]

+1. Also check listings in your area for comparables. Something that you could use to bring the price down would be the presence of an all-plastic intake manifold with the dreaded plastic coolant crossover. That would have to be changed eventually if it has one.

[Bobcat]

I'd wait for a later year, the 03+ ones are the ones worth spending a penny on. They got suspension and performance ups. Especially it being a police car, I'd buy the newest you can. Especially for 8k you could get a beautiful interceptor. Hell I got my 06 for 900$ with 140k and 12k idle hours. It needed paint when I bought it. Now it needs more, but it's a mechanically sound car.

Oh and since all the departments are getting rid of them now, they're everywhere. Don't fear 60k + miles. They go for-ever-rr

[SVT98t]

FYI, I bought my southern 03 Town Car with 98k on it for 7200.
Just throwing that out there.
You may want to negotiate lower.


-ryan s.

[pantera77]

Hi,
There is a 2001 Police Interceptor for sale in my area. It is a Federal Agency owned car with 23,000 miles showing. It is very clean. No lights, no bars, no cage.
The owner is asking $8500.00 OBO. What do you think I should offer? I have a 91 Box I don't want to get rid of. I like the 5.0 engine.
Wife may make me get rid of the Box. I figure the PI with 23,000 non abused miles should have 4-5 years of trouble free driving. What do you think the PI is worth? Another big plus is no shipping involved.

Thank you,
Mike

$8,500 for a 13 year old p71? Holy shit. I don't care how clean it is you could get a marauder for that price.

[Bobcat]

$8,500 for a 13 year old p71? Holy shit. I don't care how clean it is you could get a marauder for that price.

That's true......

[jaywish]

The miles are what makes it tempting. It would probably not hurt to negotiate hard.

[Mainemantom]

A Federal agency car with low miles is a good find. Generally not driven hard. Agree that it is high priced. Check NADA as well as KBB for value. I think the seller is trying to double what he bought it for. You could go to a GSA auction (where this car more than likely came from) and get a better price for something just as nice.

[IPreferDIY]

I haven't bought a car in awhile, but here's some general used merchandise negotiating tips that might be useful.

One trick I learned from the "Pawn Stars" TV show (but have seen used elsewhere and have used myself) is that the first person to name a price loses, though this might not necessarily work with a professional seller. The original asking price wouldn't necessarily count in this case, though if you determine it is unrealistically high, it might be an indication that you don't want to spend too much time on this one. Of course, everything depends on context, but the idea is that if you've determined that $7,000 would actually be a fair price and the seller reveals that he (or she) is "really" interested in $8,000, you say you were thinking more like $6,000 and eventually split the difference.

Since you will have already determined a fair price ahead of time, you should conduct yourself in a way that indicates to the seller that you've done your homework. For example, if the car has the original plastic coolant crossover, you should ask if the seller knows about this problem. Mentioning the class action that was settled many years ago might get you bonus points. After this preliminary "feeling out", you can get the seller to start things off by saying something like "What are you really hoping to get for it?". Sometimes they'll drop right into your range.

One trick I learned to keep pushy salespeople at bay is to say something like "I'm not comfortable with that" or "That doesn't feel right to me". Their response will give you a sense of how willing they are to accommodate you. If a seller is insistent on a price that can't be justified, it makes it that much easier to walk away.

One of my cardinal rules is be willing to pay what something is worth. Look for really good deals by all means (sometimes sellers just don't know what they have), but if you're dealing with a seller who knows what's fair, you should be fair too.

[LithiumCobalt]

One of my cardinal rules is be willing to pay what something is worth. Look for really good deals by all means (sometimes sellers just don't know what they have), but if you're dealing with a seller who knows what's fair, you should be fair too.

^^^THIS^^^

Also, I have found the best position to be in when looking for a car is when you don't NEED a vehicle. Be comfortable walking away. If a seller is unreasonable to deal with or is unrealistic, I say "good luck with the sale" and move on without regrets.