A bereavement and downsize means that my car fleet needs downsizing to one. Unfortunately, that means my Sprint Blue 20VT is soon to be up for sale. How do you value such a car, the prices seem to vary wildly?

Suggestions?

The car is a Sprint Blue 20VT
Black Leather Interior.
2 Owners from new, just 57k Miles
Registered Jan 1997 R Plate

I’ve owned the car since September 2000 – Purchased second hand from main dealer Alan Gibson in Basingstoke with 22k Miles.
Whilst in my ownership the car has always been garaged.

From 2008 – 2017 the car was SORN’d and parked in the garage. (I needed a family car and the BMW dealership made an insulting trade in offer. The 2004 BMW is now scrap and the Fiat is still alive so that’s 1- 0 to Coupe!).
In 2017 the car was recommissioned with over 3K’s worth of work, most of that parts!
The engine was removed, all the belts, oil seals, water pump and clutch were replaced. As were the radiator, condenser, aircon pump, tyres, battery and a whole heap of other parts.

Apart from a Strut Brace (An original Sparco) the car is entirely standard, but remarkably spritely given its age.

Overall it's not a show car, but is completely genuine and original. Having looked round other Coupe’s in various workshops, this car is very solid underneath. and all the usual suspect points, are in really good condition for a car that’s 22 years old.

All the keys including the Red Service key and the Immobiliser siren keys are present. The car also has the original Clarion tape unit, along with the stereo remote and front panel case.

There’s a whole heap of history with the car including the original sales invoice, service history and Fiat sales brochures from the late 1990’s.

I’ll try to post some pictures after the Easter weekend, but any suggestions appreciated!

Sorry to hear of your circumstances Jono.

If you had intended to advertise it on here you (your coupe description) would be subject to fairly close scrutiny ranging from coupe experts to many who have a little/some knowledge of what to look for down and to those who know not very much...

You would of course need seller's permission which you've no doubt read all about in the appropriate section, complete with contact details and more photographic detail.

However it's a fair question and you've done your best to promote a feel for your coupe, though it's a shame you have felt the need to move it on, also that you weren't able to parade it at MITCAR last year

If the mechanicals have been attended to then a low-mileage example such as yours, garaged for long periods, minimum seat wear and u/v light degradation is theoretically tempting and could be worth around 3k - however if corrosion has had a chance to take a hold in the suspect places, viz. boot/wheelarch seams, rear 3/4 panels behind the pininfarina badges, rear arches and rear sills then the price may become more negotiable depending on the extent of decay. Other factors such as floor pan integrity, lacquer peel and general working order of parts ditto.

Sift through the various examples for sale on here and on external outlets such as Pistonheads and Ebay (others are available) and try to gauge your asking price - if it's too high you'll soon know! Last estimate on here was 4k but that was some time ago. If you advertise on here your post will go into a "holding area" until it's approved - this is not personal but an evolution of protection measures for buyers who have been subject to legacy dishonesty in the For Sale section.

Hope this helps.

Many thanks for the feedback. Yes, I had hoped to go to MITCAR but the weather looked so bad I didn’t fancy the drive up from Southampton…I didn’t mention I try to avoid using the car in the rain …we have boats down here for going out in water!

I’d done a little bit of research looking around on various sites, I was thinking it was more like an offers around £5.5K car. There’s a CAT D car at £3K on eBay and pretty much nothing under 4.5K.

Piston Heads has quite a few LE/Plus models the cheapest being nearly £8K. Are LE/Plus models really worth that much more?

Thanks also for pointing out the restriction on selling, it was only when I’d re read the instructions, that I realised that it wasn’t just being a member for 3 months that got you permission. So, looks like I may have left it too late to post an ad on the forum any time soon.

If you were to advertise it on Ebay for example there is a section on here that enables you to draw attention to it though....

but you have clearly been a forum member for many years so all you need to do is to create your ad according to the excellent template described in the Selling Rules and if it's fine the Mods will accept it - shouldn't take long!

I'd like to add that a Coop advert benefits immensely from having some really nice, carefully selected photographs of the car, as opposed to ones that look like they've just been quickly taken and thrown together.

After all, nice photos give the impression of someone who has taken an interest in the car during their time with it.

Of course something like a [enter make and model of car that is ridiculously popular and has a massive fan base] advert could have a single, rubbish, low resolution photo of the car next to an overflowing wheelie bin and it'll still probably get loads of interest but the Coop is a different story.