L Series, what is a fair price to ask ?

penguin · Post by **penguin** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:38 pm

Our beloved 1991 L series is now going to go on the market since our Forester seems to be wroking well. Just hope we never have to fix anything on the Forester as looking under the bonnet is very intimidating !

But the questions is what to ask for it ????

Some factors:
Low kms - 186000 km
Straight, no history of rust apart from a tiny bit above the windscreen where a replacement was not done properly.
White
Standard, nothing added or modified, apart from a tow bar & XHD Rhino roof racks on the roof.
Standard rims, tyres about 65%.
Reg NSW until April.
Runs well, the only issue recently was noisy tappets, had that for a long time intermittently, then we used some tappet additive and it seems to have cleared up. Had a squeeky water pump for a while until I replace that.
When I bought the vehicle I stripped the front end and replaced the steering racks (recon), tie rods (new), ball joints (new), both drive shafts with Cv and DOJ's (new), KYB struts (new) and also the rear shocks as well. I did not want any failures on the road so spent the time and money preventing problems. It paid off as it has not missed a beat in the 30000 we added to the clock.
Interior, OK, well used might be the best way of putting it.
Manual 5 speed, dual range.
Outside paint is in good condition, not worn through.
Got some spares to go with it as well.

So, all that said, what is it worth 1.5K - 2K ???

We do want to sell it soon before the rego wanes (2 months).

Post by **Alex** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:50 pm

it sounds pretty good. Advertise for $2.5-$3k

try and get $2-$2.5k for it.

penguin · Post by **penguin** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:52 pm

Oh goodie, I like the sound of that

dfoyl · Post by **dfoyl** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 6:35 pm

Dreaming. $1200-1500 is my guess if you put a years rego on it, otherwise $800. People don't want to buy a car and then spend another $600 in 6-8 weeks time on rego.

186k is NOT low kilometers, even for a Subaru. I see a lot of L-series in wrecking yards with 210-230k on them (lots of early Liberty's too with similar numbers).

The last L wagon I bought cost me $300, and the only problem was the heater fan wasn't working (and rego had just abourt expired - 1 week left). NO rust.

penguin · Post by **penguin** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:02 pm

1200 to 1500 with a years rego, you must be kidding. Rego here includes green slips. I would sooner send it to the scrap metal yard like I did my previous one (faulty brakes so would not sell it conventionally).

I am going to also disagree on the 186K, our other vehicles had 370K, 448K, etc, that is high, 200k to 300k in mid range, and sub 200k is low for a subaru.

Good that you got a bargain on your last car, but that does not make that the benchmark for all following Subarus. I have also seen lots of clapped out old l series for cheap prices, but often what you pay for is what you get.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:08 pm

I'd say if you get $2-2.5k for it you did very well indeed. Sad truth is it's an old car these days, and you haven't got the desirability factor of a Brumby for example. Get what you can for it and sell it as a car, scrap/wrecking yards pay peanuts for them especially wreckers since again they're an old car and the parts don't sell.

Having said that I know someone who got a mint dark grey Gen 1 Lib wagon for $400, literally nothing wrong with it. And I also see rusty MY wagons with no rego sell for $1200, so judging price can be a bit tricky sometimes.

indy · Post by **indy** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:39 pm

I sold my 1988 L series for $900 a month ago. Had 330,000km's on the clock and 3 months rego.
Yours sounds in much better condition and alot less KM's (for a 91' car that IS low KM's, my outback is an 01 and has 200,000km's which is average).

I'd say anywhere from 1k-2k.
As others said, it is an old car, chuck it on the side oif the road with 2200 on it and see what happens, if after a week no offers, drop the $$$.

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 9:28 pm

penguin wrote:1200 to 1500 with a years rego, you must be kidding. Rego here includes green slips. I would sooner send it to the scrap metal yard like I did my previous one (faulty brakes so would not sell it conventionally).

I am going to also disagree on the 186K, our other vehicles had 370K, 448K, etc, that is high, 200k to 300k in mid range, and sub 200k is low for a subaru.

Good that you got a bargain on your last car, but that does not make that the benchmark for all following Subarus. I have also seen lots of clapped out old l series for cheap prices, but often what you pay for is what you get.

Cars have been around for ~100 years. Your L has been around 22 of them.

$1.5-2K sounds fair...maybe $2.5K? Because of the lower Ks.

And I reckon get your price right - ie the market price - at the very first ad. Nothing screams 'motivated seller' more than a car that sits for too long dropping $$$ every week or so. I know because these are the car adverts I seek out.

Good luck...improve your chances by decent photos (most people just use their phone with pretty average results) and a well worded advert

tex · Post by **tex** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:12 am

Well it's a pity it's not winter yet. But their always well sought after in jindabyne etc, dirt cheap to run and you don't need to fit chains when working on the slopes.

Post by **Alex** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:16 am

your car has under average km, very under average infact.

heres some cars from gumtree. The price i said to you earlier is a perfect benchmark. Dont start advertising any lower than $2500. Cheap cars will sell quicker thats obvious. I think its worth waiting for the right buyer and getting a reasonable price.

The only minus you may have is you dont have a lot of rego left.

Every L on gumtree under $1000 either doesnt have rego, is stuffed, or is just junk.

fair price

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/happy-va ... 1010295438

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/hillwood ... 1013653850

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/port-wil ... 1013248656

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mount-ba ... 1013096946

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/stuart/c ... 1012236566

cheap

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/coffs-ha ... 1013447294

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/salisbur ... 1012981393

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/lonsdale ... 1003669288

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:21 pm

it is one of the last of one of the best

The ratio of low 4WD is appealing to some over the later EJ Liberty wagons, some of which are giveaways also

To many, minimal km does not do anything much as it can be age that does hoses and radiators in. Some of us have bought absolute buckest of poo L Series and driven them home to strip for a hundred bucks or so. I snared a bargain at 250 bucks of a beauty 87 with 188,000 and a stuck thermostat, few oil leaks and burst CV boots - four years ago and snaffled the good bits I wanted for another project.

I do keep seeing these old L's fetch decent thousands though, stick to yer guns !

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:36 pm

I possibly spent too much but my L series had 307,000ks (322,000 now) on it when I bought it for $1200. It had almost 12 months rego, a full tank of fuel and I found about $5 in change when I cleaned it. It has had a few challenges but is going well now so I cant complain. Its only options were the Subaru ROLA roof racks, 13" standard, white Subaru Sunny rims and A/C.

dfoyl · Post by **dfoyl** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:46 pm

How about $1300 for one with 150k :

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/singleto ... 1011494450

Rego til June.

I love these "200k isn't many km's...for a Subaru". It's a lot of k's, period. I hear the same line with Toyota enthusiasts (2JZ's run til 300k, etc), Falcon's (450k, they're used on taxi's so they must be good mate", and so on... Almost as good as "in good condition for it's age.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:53 pm

Well my last L series purchase was $100; the one before it $250 and Ruby Scoo about 8 years ago $500.

Just gotta pick the good ones at the good price. Put it out there and see what you get

You can put a high price on it and negotiate down; you can't put a low price on a negotiate up!

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:13 am

silly me paid $500 for everything I needed for a L 5 speed into Brumby conversion to a wrecker - got flywheel bolts to rear diff and interior - 8 years ago or so

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:28 am

A short story...

This beast of a thing had cancer right through the drive-train, somehow had made it to 380,000km, ruined interior, ruined paint, no door handles, locks you needed to open with a knife, a filthy engine bay, a boot that might pop open on a bump at speed (if you could get it there)

I was told by the mechanic, friends, family and an auto-shop that it was worth about $200 - I needed a minimum $500 for it at the time.

So, I whacked a $1500 sign on it and sat it there. It sat for about a month or so then out of nowhere (After 2 days on gumtree.com.au

) an enthusiast HAD to have it and told me not to sell it until they could produce $1000 for it.

I said sure.

Two days later I got a call asking me if I still had it. ... I said yes.

Sold it that arvo and was never more stoked.

I say just put the vehicle up for a really good price and see if it goes. If it doesn't, lower the price and see who bites.

Depends if you're in a rush or not.