I decided to put this in the Classifieds rather then build thread since the intention here is to sell this one.
Just about 1 hour ago I had the winning bid on this '06 Pontiac Vibe 97k miles with auto trans. It has a bump in the rear quarter which resulted in an insurance claim. State Farm claims the car has a Pre-accident ACV Actual cash value of $4,541. Rather than spend to fix the car, State Farm paid the owner and then State Farm sent the car off to auction where I bought it.
I had in a max pre-bid of $1,675. This price is the absolute maximum I was willing to pay. The pre-bidding ended at $1,500. When the bidding when live someone else bid the car up to $1,650 and that was trumped by my $1,675 and it took everything I wanted to spend but I got it. With fees included I will need a check for $2,223 to buy the car. After that I will have to pay Ohio Sales Tax (since not a dealer) of 6.75%. From there is wil have to be state inspected for $53.50. Add in some title and tag charges and I will have roughly $2,500 into the whole car.
I hope to sell it for $3,500.
State Farm gave the car a market value of $4,500. Saving $1k for a dent and a scratch (in plastic) seems like a good deal. That will make me $1k but for that $1k I will have at least 8 hours invested into the transaction:
- 2 hours to shop/inspect
- 2 hours to pick-up
- 1 hour in registration/title/pre-inspection
- 3 hours to travel back/forth to inspection site
The car hails from Sylvania, OH (suburb of Toledo.) I deduced this from the keychain the car had which listed a auto repair shop in Sylvania. Toledo is much better than Cleveland and specifically the East side of Cleveland where they get a whole lot more snow and use a whole lot more road salt.
I might pick up the car later today or tomorrow.
Here is what I know so far: