Why Is the resale value so high?

[Alex_G360]

So about 8 months ago i crashed and totaled my previous car. after searching through Craigslist i stumbled upon my Subaru GL. She runs great i have some minor work that i need to do. the front windshield is cracked and iv noticed lots of older subarus have the same kind of crack that goes horizontal across the windshield. Anyway just because i decided to type in the car into craigslist and a couple other sites to check its value and see people listing and the worth to be somewhere between 2000-3000. And that is for worn down/ used. Maybe i am naive but to me thats ridiculously high. i have talked to a couple guys at shucks and they said its good because your able to do lots of swaps for the engine ect. I would just like some more info. I paid 500$ dollars for the thing and i do love it. (very reliable, Good gas mileage but i am still surprised. Will anyone please enlighten me on the subject?    

[Crazyeights]

These things go in stages. First the car is worth a lot when it's new. The value slowly declines over the years until it ends up at the end of it's service life. Next step is Pick-N-Pull or... Not too long after the last of the EA81's left the junkyards the prices started to go up. Now the EA82's are almost gone from the yards and new parts are starting to dry up. Prices on nice EA82 body cars is about to go up. There are Soooo many 94+ Legacies both on the road and in the yards I doubt prices on those will ever go up.

 

Does any of this make sense to anyone else or is it just me?

Edited May 25, 2017 by Crazyeights

[d8usti5n]

Some people think they have gold, they will be sitting on them a while more than likely. But it does come down to supply and demand, when theres not a ton of them on craigslist its easier to sell for more $$

[DaveT]

Yep, some years ago, I bought a rusty one locally for $150.00.  Ran it for another 10 years.  Lots of rusty ones around here back then, in CT.  3 years ago, I bought a rust free one from CA, paid about 3K for it plus another 1K to ship it.  Supply and demand.  I probably have more used parts for them than most local scrap yards, since I need them to keep running them.   

[dfoyl]

I'd expect to see almost all 80s era Japanese cars to start climbing in value, especially the less common variants like the 3 door coupe. BRAT's are already well on their way. Parts are getting harder to find, the "only driven to church on Sunday" examples have all come out of the woodwork, and the few still out in the wild are getting restored instead of towed to the junkyard. I haven't seen an EA81 based vehicle at a yard for at least 6 months, and EA82 based vehicles are sporadic here compared to being a staple in the yards a few years ago.

 

You can't get cars like this any more. Lightweight, easy to work on, decent fuel economy, reasonable handling. Subaru made a decision to go to wider, heavier vehicles with the Legacy platform along with the rest of the Japanese car-makers in the late 80s/early 90s, and each generation gets bigger and heavier. The early WRX's will be next, although the US missed the first few years.

[Subaru Scott]

It would be nice in one way, if our old Subarus had a higher resale value. That if we kept them really nice, we would be rewarded for something more, above and beyond being the most reliable cars on the planet. But then again, they would not be nearly as affordable for those of us who can't, or don't care to, spend a lot of money buying a car. 

My 94 SVX cost me 1800 bucks. I've put a lot of time, and a little money into it since then, but it was in pretty good shape when I bought it. That car cost over 30k dollars 23 years ago. I remember visiting my old co-workers at a dealership in Indianapolis, where I had worked a couple of years prior, and there was a new SVX in the shop being prepped. I said, "Wow, that sure is an awesome car, but I'll never be able to afford one!" 

I paid about the same for my 83 convertible. And even if that was in mint condition, probably wouldn't fetch more than 5k. Look at what 5k will buy you in a late model Kia. 

I just picked up an 07 Tribeca last week, and you won't believe what I paid for it...

So I have to say I'm pretty happy about the low resale values. I'm glad they're not worth that much to other people. I know what they're worth to me, and my whole family can drive really nice, super dependable cars for cheap. 

Any Loyales you see for 2-3000 are dreamers. There's a couple pretty nice ones in this area that have been for sale for months, and they can't get 700 out of them.

[MR_Loyale]

They may be asking 2-3000 but asking is not the same as getting. 

[franbev]

http://jalo.ps/s7L6gEr

[andrsn]

They may be asking 2-3000 but asking is not the same as getting. 

 

I always look on the ad to see how long its been posted. People put crazy prices on stuff all the time, just wait a while and make a reasonable offer. I still see deals pop up often on craigslist.

[Rust]

When in was a teenager you could pick up a vw bug anywhere for next to nothing, those days are long gone.  Unfortunately the same transition from a throw-away car to a collector car is fully under way for the pre-legacy era subarus.   Lucky for us the subaru cult following is much smaller than the vw cult, so I do not foresee prices for classic subarus ever getting in the range of the old aircooled vw's.   

 

a sign of things to come:  https://www.mecum.com/lots/KD1216-266453/1979-subaru-brat/

[Downwash77]

I paid around 2k for my 83 wagon and for thr condition it was in i thought it was a good price.