Thinking of selling my pampered 135k mile 2003 Black/Black Acura CL-S 6MT. Just not quite ready to put the For Sale sign on her, because I'm having a really hard time figuring out what she's worth. There is a huge range of values on the internet, and sadly some of these babies have found themselves on buy-here-pay-here lots, where they get "no respect". I think mine's special, because of its history. I've owned the car since 30k miles--bought from a similarly type-A original owner. It has only seen Royal Purple oil-at religious intervals. 105k service done by me on my hoist, with meticulous attention to the Factory Service Manual- which I have. Has $1000 set of newer Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. EBS dimpled rotors and Hawk pads. Stainless lines. Brake pedal feel is better than new. She's very unmolested. Leather is good-excellent. Rear seats have no wear. Not a single door ding; only a left rear quarter repair from a parking lot incident many years ago (which I supervised and forced all new parts and no, I mean "no" fillers). Clear coat is in excellent shape. Even the headlights show barely any signs of wear or oxidation. Car literally goes garage-to-garage during my work commute, and if God -forbid, I have to park in a public parking lot, I'm the guy at the end of the lot. Runs without any issues. Gets reliably 29-30mpg on the highway. And here's the clincher: I have records of every drop of gas, and service since 30k in a notebook in the center console.

Don't ask me why I'd even consider selling her, other than I'd like to try driving something else in my lifetime...and this one will never break! Anyone have any ideas on price? Does service history really matter to anyone with these cars? Any recent sales here on the forum? NADA is around $8000. I'm really stuck.

 

Hmm. I've had 3 of these cars and know how hard they can be to sell. You have to find the right buyer, but when you do they're very set on this car. I see the really clean ones selling at $6K-ish on the low end. Seen one in similar condition and history as yours at the local Porsche dealer, a trade in. They were asking $10K, it wasn't on the lot more than a month so don't know if they sold it or sent it to the auction?

I'd say $8K is a good starting point, especially if you're not in a hurry to sell. Just have to wait for the right buyer. May take a day or a month LOL. Your only competition is the 2004 & up manual TL's are getting down in the $6500 range for the cheaper ones and most are under $10K now. Same as the 350Z.

 

Sounds like a beautiful car , value is in the buyers eyes not the seller . I paid 5200 for mine with salvage title clean paint and interior strong engine , but no service records . I wouldn't take less than 6800 for your car if I was in your shoes... or I wouldn't sell it.

 

photos?

 

Sounds like it'll be worth more to you than to anyone else.

 

We all think our cars are special you have to be realistic when pricing your car your tires aren't adding value to it and if that accident shows up on carfax or other history reports you definitely will take a hit on the value. Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

Sounds like a nice car. My guess would be 7-9K if you find someone that's is looking for this car. Depends on what part of country your in. I personally would pay more for a southern or west coast car than something from Northeast or upper Midwest.

 

Thanks for the advice so far. I think 8k is prob a fair number to start. Let's face it, other than a 6sp TL, there isn't anything as fun, useful, economical, or reliable as these cars in this price range. I'll get some pics thrown in "my garage" as soon as I get her detailed.

 

04+ TL's for the $6500 range? I don't know where you're at, but I never saw any near that much, the cheapest they were was around 10k...
And to OP, I would agree that 8k is a fair asking price to start at, good luck with your sale! Definitely sounds like an awesome car, I wish I had gotten that kind of history with my car.

 

Real world... $7000 to a buyer looking for this car specifically. Your not getting much more then that from anyone that is just looking for any used car.
It sucks but you have to face reality.
I got only $8K for my car with 105K miles & all the maintenance done with mods almost 2 years ago.

 

sounds like you should keep it 1-2 years, get some worth out of the money you just spent on the tires and brakes or maybe post high at 8k-9k, see if you get any bites at a price that would help you recoup some of that money.

service history should help get you another $500-1K for the right buyer. I would guess the fair range is $6500-7900 for the high miles. Also, does yours have NAV? If so you could play up that and the rare production #'s (Link: Production #'s)and maybe squeeze another $500 out of it

split the cost of the new tires with your buyer and you should have an idea of a fair range. Good luck.

 

That sounds about right. I've seen a couple 6 speed aspec and 6 speed supercharged 04 TL's for $9K-$11K. Obviously that's the exception not the norm but if you look hard enough you can find one for that cheap.
Anyhow I agree, just hold on to it for a couple years and then sell her. If you've been that meticulous about it up to now its only gonna be that much harder to find one a couples years from now in that condition.

 

I'm just gonna through this out there, when I shop for a used car and it has mods, I subtract money from the price if it has mods, I would prefer it to be original, lots of people are starting to do that nowadays, and it is a 03, that is a 10 year old car, be lucky to get over 6 for that.