Someone help me understand Terminator pricing

[04Cobra03]

Just as mentioned above. Most of these cars are modded. And even though it doesn't take much, the $$$ adds up quick when you take a stock car and go to town. The guys that mod their cars will see 25% of that investment on resale if they are lucky. Buyers like myself understand that and do not want to end up with a car that is worth 20K, but has 30K in it. And 10K comes quick when you do these right. This is why prices are somewhat all over the place...because you have two types of buyers. The guys who want super low miles and stock, and the guys that want cars that are already done. This is a special car, and every one is different. Placing a value on one without knowing the specifics is not easy. My sonic 03 had 29K miles when I got it with a whipple and every imaginable mod including suspension and chasis. 600rwhp will not work very well with a factory IRS so cars like this really have no choice but be built well. Otherwise its just a hack. I paid 22k and am satisfied considering what has been invested by the PO. Could I have gotten a 30K mile stock car for 18k? Probably if I looked hard enough, but thats not where my goals where. Every car and every buyer is different. The estimated prices in this thread are just that....estimated according to certain data. The OP wanted to know why the price spread was not wider than it is. Answer is simple really. 03/04 cobras are at the bottom of their bell curve as they are no longer dropping in value. Gt500's of all years are dropping and doing it fast. So what you have is folks that look at all this and are not willing to pay 30K for a terminator when a GT500 is the same price. There are guys like me and probably most others in this thread that would rather have a terminator, but let me asure you, we are in the minority. The masses out there will look at a 2007/08 GT500, compare it to an 03/04 and will pick the 500 every time. Thats just the way it is. Thus the terminator price are 'pushed' down. The occasional sale of a terminator with 200 miles for $35K is super rare and rest assured that car is going to some collection and not a guy who will mod and drive it!!

I agree. i love The terminator and thats what I wanted. unfortunately for me, I had my heart set on Comp orange so I paid mid 20's for mine that has just a catback, intake, and short throw with 29k miles. I wanted a non molested one. My brother bought his super clean Screaming yellow Whipple 600 HP 38K mile terminator for the same as I did. Its all about what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it. In both our cases the Prev owners would not budge a penny less. Its a sellers market at that point. We both had to have the cash or they would hold on to them.

 

[Flad]

My Heads sore reading thru these 3 pages,

what does come to mind is.

Most talk about mods and cost associated with them.
Funny thing is mines practically stock 23k miles, and it seems that every time i turn around it needs something. if not a alternator,
tires, TOB, half shaft or battery. It seems I can't keep up with the wear parts, let alone spend money on mods!!
When I look back at the 10 plus years of ownership per mile...these cars are not cheap to own.
Thank goodness their holding their value

 

[landonvan]

Just some food for thought. My friend just totaled his 03 with 30k miles and a whipple. They gave him $25,100. So I think we are doing good.

 

[im4darush]

Who is they, and what kind of policy did he have?? I have my 03 insured with grundy and have a agreed value policy that will pay me the pre-determined value if I have a loss. In this particular case, yes it is possible to get 25k back. On a standard insurance policy, I would think that would not happen. Regular insurance company will look at the current book and give you what the car is worth.

 

[Zemedici]

Just some food for thought. My friend just totaled his 03 with 30k miles and a whipple. They gave him $25,100. So I think we are doing good.

Which insurance company did he steal that from?

 

[SADDLE]

Back in 2011 I bought my old SB coupe with ~4k miles on it for $24k. I threw a boatload of money at it and sold it in 2013 for $28.5k. At the time of sale it had ~6k miles on it.

Like some have mentioned, there's a lot to take into account when evaluating the ASKING price of these cars. Most sellers want to account for the money that they have thrown at the car in mods. This raises the asking price to levels like we see in the marketplace on SVTP, i.e. unreasonable/outrageous. Sellers who are selling stock or near stock cars do not need to account for mods, price their cars accordingly and most likely sell relatively quickly.

In my opinion, the aftermarket is why these markets going forward will be so hard to forecast. Back in the days of the 67-69 Fastbacks, there wasn't the opportunity to throw gobs of money at your car with aftermarket parts. Just look at what goes on every year at SEMA. The aftermarket is now a multi billion dollar industry. This makes it hard to pinpoint what buyers of our generation will value 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. I'm guessing that most will look for period correct modifications. Example, In 20 years if I had to pick between two equal Terminators and one had a TVS and the other had a 2.2 KB, I'm picking the screaming KB all day.

These cars have a cult like following. The prices will remain steady and stable for the foreseeable future, IMO, if not begin to slowly trend upwards as supply diminishes. As we all know, the Terminator was the first of its kind and paved the way for the next ~12 years of Mustang performance. It has its place in history and all of our hearts. There's a price that will continue to be paid to have a part of "history".

That's my $.02.

 

[landonvan]

I just talked to him and he has USAA insurance. I was mistaken his cat has 18k miles. But he is getting his check this week.
And for specialty cars like ours. If you total it, the insurance company will compare several other cars like yours to come up with a price.

 

[Franco]

Who is they, and what kind of policy did he have?? I have my 03 insured with grundy and have a agreed value policy that will pay me the pre-determined value if I have a loss. In this particular case, yes it is possible to get 25k back. On a standard insurance policy, I would think that would not happen. Regular insurance company will look at the current book and give you what the car is worth.

I too have Grundy and have an agreed value. Being it is listed as a collector car. I set my value higher than 25 just in case I don't mind paying the extra premium which is still reasonable. 2 years ago I lost my 89 lx vert in sandy and no questions were asked they paid me my agreed value.

 

[04Cobra03]

Back in 2011 I bought my old SB coupe with ~4k miles on it for $24k. I threw a boatload of money at it and sold it in 2013 for $28.5k. At the time of sale it had ~6k miles on it.

Like some have mentioned, there's a lot to take into account when evaluating the ASKING price of these cars. Most sellers want to account for the money that they have thrown at the car in mods. This raises the asking price to levels like we see in the marketplace on SVTP, i.e. unreasonable/outrageous. Sellers who are selling stock or near stock cars do not need to account for mods, price their cars accordingly and most likely sell relatively quickly.

In my opinion, the aftermarket is why these markets going forward will be so hard to forecast. Back in the days of the 67-69 Fastbacks, there wasn't the opportunity to throw gobs of money at your car with aftermarket parts. Just look at what goes on every year at SEMA. The aftermarket is now a multi billion dollar industry. This makes it hard to pinpoint what buyers of our generation will value 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. I'm guessing that most will look for period correct modifications. Example, In 20 years if I had to pick between two equal Terminators and one had a TVS and the other had a 2.2 KB, I'm picking the screaming KB all day.

These cars have a cult like following. The prices will remain steady and stable for the foreseeable future, IMO, if not begin to slowly trend upwards as supply diminishes. As we all know, the Terminator was the first of its kind and paved the way for the next ~12 years of Mustang performance. It has its place in history and all of our hearts. There's a price that will continue to be paid to have a part of "history".

That's my $.02.

agreed

 

[FromGTtoSVT]

My Heads sore reading thru these 3 pages,

what does come to mind is.

Most talk about mods and cost associated with them.
Funny thing is mines practically stock 23k miles, and it seems that every time i turn around it needs something. if not a alternator,
tires, TOB, half shaft or battery. It seems I can't keep up with the wear parts, let alone spend money on mods!!
When I look back at the 10 plus years of ownership per mile...these cars are not cheap to own.
Thank goodness their holding their value

It's also all on how you drive them

My car with 18k miles has actually cost me very little to own. I treat the car right and have had ZERO issues that I didn't cause myself. I am still on the stock battery and alt 12 years later

 

[Fastback]

It's also all on how you drive them

My car with 18k miles has actually cost me very little to own. I treat the car right and have had ZERO issues that I didn't cause myself. I am still on the stock battery and alt 12 years later

What this guy said!

 

[P49Y-CY]

It's also all on how you drive them

My car with 18k miles has actually cost me very little to own. I treat the car right and have had ZERO issues that I didn't cause myself. I am still on the stock battery and alt 12 years later

wow your stock battery has lasted 12 years?! amazing. my batteries usually only last 5-6 years or so. I too am on stock alternator at 115k tho. but I would agree with that poster said because I think these are expensive just to maintain if they are daily driven, and that's not including mods or upgrades.

as far as the thread, lots of good opinions. I gladly paid asking price and I think top dollar $25k from my buddy for my coupe in 2012 because it was stock, had low miles, was a color I wanted, plus I somewhat knew the car's history. I have dumped close to $10k into it for mods and upgrades by now too. but I love the car and spend like crazy on my car hobby

 

[03cobra#694]

It's also all on how you drive them

My car with 18k miles has actually cost me very little to own. I treat the car right and have had ZERO issues that I didn't cause myself. I am still on the stock battery and alt 12 years later

What this guy said!

Same, except I did have to replace the original battery about 3 years ago.

 

[MTBSully]

My terminator is worth $30k all day because **** you.

 

[Bigfootz83]

so i'm looking around and what i'm seeing is terminators with ~25k miles going for ~$21kish and i'm seeing the same car with same bolt ons with ~80k miles going for ~$18-$19k, even seeing very low mileage <10k for ~$25k.

Why are very low mileage terminators and 80k+ mile terminators being priced within $5k from each other? I'm really having a hard time figuring this out.

i

 

[Bigfootz83]

deal of a lifetime!!

So i'm looking around and what i'm seeing is Terminators with ~25k miles going for ~$21kish and i'm seeing the same car with same bolt ons with ~80k miles going for ~$18-$19k, Even seeing very low mileage <10k for ~$25k.

Why are very low mileage Terminators and 80k+ mile Terminators being priced within $5k from each other? I'm really having a hard time figuring this out.

Have an opportunity to buy a Terminator for $2,000

 

[im4darush]

Have an opportunity to buy a Terminator for $2,000

Sounds like a nice car!

 

[Shadow Grey 03]

Have an opportunity to buy a Terminator for $2,000

Signed poster of the Governator?

 

[R.D.P.]

Have an opportunity to buy a Terminator for $2,000

action figure?

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Have an opportunity to buy a Terminator for $2,000

Maisto Die Cast Model?