Seems to me that if the sedan was in fact maintained by older folks, he probably wasn't a DIYer, and had work done at a dealership/independent garage. Wouldn't that show up on a carfax report? And I don't believe in no haggle dealerships, even though I have never dealt w/ one...if they want the sale bad enough they should work with a reasonable offer. The coupe has 30k more miles, and I bet the 157k are HARD miles, to boot. I would adjust the $4100 asking price down accordingly, IMHO.

Again, hard telling without seeing the actual cars.

 

Well I've driven both cars now and I can tell the '99 is in better shape. He did most of the maintenance he listed in the past 20K miles. And the owner is a ASE certified mechanic and works as a manager of a fleet of snow removal equipment/tractors etc. It definitely drover smoother and I'm pleased that the maintenance was done relatively recent.

I talked him down to $3,700, which is great. It will take me a little longer to save enough scratch to have that much to spend on a second car but if it's around when I have I'll probably go for it.

My last thought is future maintenance, how long do clutches on these cars last, and is there anything else they need that hasn't been done yet?

 

Autocheck and carfax are good friends at a time like this.. Not to be trusted 100%, but, more to be trusted than what anyone says.

Forget the no haggle morons. I go into a no haggle place one time and there's this Cadillac. Retail book is $5000 or so. They have it stickered at something like $4900. Well hell Cadillacs in my area you're lucky to get 50% of retail book. So I tell the guy I'll pay 3 grand right there - it is too much but I love the car - I know these clowns paid $1500 for it or less. No, can't do it, no haggle. Three months later I drive through the lot and it's sitting in the back.

Then I read about how these places treat their employees. It's no wonder they're full of ,.h7 and don't care about anything. No haggle = F minus and the F stands for FORget it.

"Book value" is a pile of **** in the first place. You have KBB and you have NADA and there's dealer book and there's the one you look at and there's the one banks look at. PfffffT.

When buying a HONDA you have good and bad news. Good news, the resale is amazing. They actually can sell for close to retail book. Some dealer sales even have special honda only lanes, they're so popular!! The bad news is that when you go to buy one- you're going to pay for it

This fool who did all that repair work all at once so many miles ago I don't believe all of that for a second. Let's see some receipts, you know? And a reason for all of that!!

Also as for you I sure hope you let that guy know you didn't have the cash to buy right now before you went out to look at it... for the love of god, please, do not ever go and look at a car for an hour and then tell someone you will have the money next ____ or when ____ happens or whatever else.

Back in my drinking days I remember I had about five people in a row come out and look at a car I was selling, look it all over, and then leave telling me they'd be back when they had the money. It got extremely ugly after this one guy drove around in my car with me making me think he was going to buy it and then told me he'd be back to buy it when some relative passed on

The car business. You have to love it. And hate it.

Best advice in the world whether you're buying an automobile, a property or anything else: ALWAYS be ready to walk. Get your price, do NOT settle, get your terms or get moving. Period. I've had so many self assured morons call me back the next day or a week later, you wouldn't believe it. Even if it is a Honda - and they do sell fast - there's always a better deal out there if you look hard enough.

 

How long...well that is going to depend. In one of your first posts it looked like it had been changed once already. So, from there if the install and products used were/are quality.....it should go another 150~200K plus......driving styles, are you going to teach someone to drive a stick, ect will all play into how long it lasts......