Well after 5 years and 120k miles with the S I am looking at switching platforms. GF and 2 french bulldogs with no back seat is becoming a pain. Some lovely crackhead sliced the top of the S a while back, I have fabric taped the slice and it has held out alright with only some minor leaking in extremely heavy rain and only had to remove and replace the patch 2 times in 1.5 years. Also I managed to bump the latch closing it one time and a tiny but oh so critical plastic piece broke off so I would need to eat another $250 or so for a new set of those. So the question is do I sell as is or do I eat the $2,000 to go brand new. Any experiences or educated opinions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Also for reference, its an 02 w 150k miles so its not like I'm going to see a huge resale value.

Also I have heard rumors that there are places that can do the soft top with an aftermarket top for around $1100, if anyone can point me in that direction I would greatly appreciate it.

 

selling a convertible with a damaged top is going to be hard

but i see a lot of the s2000 being sold have a messed up top

so post it for sale without fixing it, and see if u get bites.

if not, then change the top.

a guy i know, he owns a dealership, he had his s2000 tops replaced for like $650 with some cheap vinyl aftermarket tops. parts were like $300, labor $350.

i can ask around, see if i can find the guy who did it for him.

i changed mine for $1500 with an OEM top

 

I say patch it up good and sell it as is. Doesn't make sense to invest that much just to sell it. Buyers won't really see the value in it and you'll be out a good chunk. The car has 150k, so flaws are expected.

 

You're screwed either way. Future buyers will use that as leverage to negotiate the price down for that amount. I'd patch it and sell it as-is.

 

I would just be clear about the tops current condition and sell it as is. Make it clear that your cars price is lowered based on the cost of a replacement top.

 

Give people the opportunity to make you an offer that you WILL NOT refuse by upping the price a bit. This way they feel like they got a deal and you walk away with cash in your hand.

I would say 5/10 S2k's had damaged tops when I was looking for mine but they all wanted anywhere from $13-14k for them anyways. Most were close to the 90k mark if not higher and all AP1's. Most of the people selling were pretty hard to reason with even though they overpriced the cars and many of them lied about the cars condition in general. Nothing is more discouraging to a buyer than driving 40 miles for a car that is full of lies all while the owner is totally unreasonable..Be honest, take pics and disclose all that is/may be wrong with the car.

That alone is a hard quality to find in most sellers these days.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. I personally wouldn't want to buy into something with flaws which is why I'm struggling with this. And I am worried that if I fix it there is a small chance some asshole will cut it again before I sell it. I am going to see about patching and go from there! Thanks!