What is a fair price for a once-wrecked 2004 SVT Focus?

I took the advice of the GRM braintrust with my other topic, and started looking at used enthusiast cars instead of buying a new econobox.

At first, I was checking out the MS3, then by chance, checked out a local SVT Focus for sale and remembered just how much I liked these cars when they were new.

Anyway, I thought I had found the perfect 2004 SVT Focus. It's Competition Orange with the European Appearance Package, has only 24k miles on the clock, and seemed solid during the test drive.

My problem is that Carfax shows the car as being in an accident, and I can't get the previous owner's contact info from the dealership. Granted, the Carfax report says there was no frame damage to the car, but I'd feel more comfortable having an independent party check out the car for me. The car still has a clean title, so no worries there.

The car has a fair amount of minor scrapes to the front and rear bumper, around two of the wheel wells, and a significant scrape on the passenger side near the side skirts. It looks to be pretty consistent with a car that was parked on the street for most of it's life, but it still cleans up ok.

My offer to the dealership was 7k, considering that the car is harder to find, but not exactly rare. So far the best counter offer is $8500. What do you guys think?

Thanks, GRM braintrust!

Here's the link to the car in question: http://audifl.jackdanielsmotors.com/preowned/dsp_viewcar.cfm?vin=3FAHP30524R109812

If they're not willing to let you have an independent party inspect it--or they give you any reason at all to be uncomfortable--don't buy it.

Carfax is about as vague on collision damage as they could possibly be. That could be nothing more than a scraped bumper once in it's life or a full front end replacement. Have a body shop not associated with the stealership look at it for you. They will know what to look for. If they won't let you take the car off the lot, see if you can bribe the BS owner to stop by after work with you for a small 'gift'.

Yep, I learned the hard way with my truck that Car Fax is practically useless... while it did allow me to figure out the history of the truck, there was nothing that would have put up a red flag prior to the sale.

While 24K miles seems low... The price seems rather high... I was talking to a guy at an auto-x last w/e. He paid $250 for his SVT. It turned out ot be a "bro-deal" (a dealer had offered $200 in trade and the friend/seller just wanted to be rid of the car), but he said book value for the car was $3000. I gave him my card in case he decides to sell...

I like the color. Take it to a good shop to make sure it doesn't have frame clamp marks from having the frame straightened. That's not a deal breaker but it permanently lowers the car's value over it's lifetime.

Get an independent check.

I'm a lurker, but I just bought one. 03 SVT ZX5 w/ every option, all original paint, no accidents, 24k mi. I paid $7k from a private owner. It's absolutely mint....not even a pebble was on the floor...it still smelled new. The car also had about $4k worth of upgrades. (Not cheap ones either)

The problem with these cars is they're owned by a lot of kids, which means most are beat up and wrecked. I looked at three before I found this one.....and it only popped up on craigslist the night before I was ready to plop down $30k on a MINI.

My advice with an SVT is WAIT. Find one that was owned by an older driver who not only was responsible, but had the money to maintain it. It took me almost 6 months before I found this one.

I'm a grown-up, and I sold my pristine, never wrecked, '03 red 3-door w/ roughly 47k miles for $7k a few months ago. I probably could have gotten a little more if I'd held out longer, but I was ready for it to go.

Some days I wish I still had it.