Now it's MY turn to ask for help...

[marauder307]

I need to ask: does anybody here need a driver, or know somebody who does?

The situation is thus: when my wife moved out here in February, she left behind a 2004 Grand Am, well-used but still in good shape. The thinking was
that her folks would sell it off and that would be that...we went ahead and got her new wheels when she got out here. She left the Grand Am in a paid-ahead state, good through to June.

It's June...almost July. No sale. We've got two things working heavily against us. One, the car's at her folks' place in Beardstown, IL, a rather depressed area heavily overrun with illegal immigrants who can't get loans. Her folks have gotten lots of callers, but no takers. And I can't carry three car payments right now---I'm already firewalled on two.

Two, the car's got a TON of miles on it---55-60k in the mere two years that it's been on the road. It's a former Enterprise rental car, so when she got her hands on it in early summer 2004, it already had 30k-plus on the odo (pretty typical for retired rentals). She, in turn, used it while activated with the Army out at Ft. Riley---those of you in the Midwestern area have probably heard of the place; an old Army cavalry post that even today is still way-the-hell-outta-the-way. It made several road trips between Springfield IL and Ft. Riley and St. Louis (we met shortly after she got the car, and her unit's HQ is at Jefferson Barracks), so the bulk of the miles accumulated since summer '04 have been highway miles.

So...we come to my request for help. I reiterate: does anybody need a daily driver/beater? Or know somebody who might? Maybe got a kid, or know somebody who does, that's headed off to college?

The vehicle in question is a 2004 Grand Am, Bright Red, 4-dr. V-6, 4-spd auto, cruise, Monsoon stereo. Tires within the last 9-10 mos (I think). Odo reading (approx.) 55-60,000 miles, mainly highway, and has been strongly maintained since going into private ownership. Car is located in Beardstown, IL, so I'm hoping that the Windy City crew and Rider90's Midwestern Panther Alliance can offer some succor to our situation.

Outstanding balance is in the neighborhood of 13k (I think the Enterprise people probably ripped her off, but that's not really material right now). We're just trying to cut our losses; her folks will take anywhere from 7.5 to 10. Another possibility is to throw us 2k and take over/refinance the payments---we'd be open to that as well.

Thank you for reading...please :help:

[Bluerauder]

Outstanding balance is in the neighborhood of 13k (I think the Enterprise people probably ripped her off, but that's not really material right now). We're just trying to cut our losses; her folks will take anywhere from 7.5 to 10. Another possibility is to throw us 2k and take over/refinance the payments---we'd be open to that as well.

Thank you for reading...please :help:
Kelly Blue Book lists the Private Party value at $8480 in Good condition or $9185 in Excellent condition with 60K miles. If it is only Fair it drops to $7555. So, your 7.5-10K figures seem to be in the right range. However, it looks like a problem with that outstanding balance of 13K. :(

Good luck on the sale.

[Breadfan]

OK, well, let me start by saying I feel your pain. My car before my MM was a 2001 Grand Am GT. I tried to sell it prior to buying my car, knowing I wanted to get something else.

My car was an '01 GT coup, in pretty much immaculate shape. Looked brand new. Plus, it had new 17" wheels (which really fit the car nicely), new tires, Eibach springs, and KYB struts. That car handled quite nicely. It was pretty well loaded, almost everything but leather.

Here's where it gets tricky. I got no bites on that car. BUT, I was trying to get around $7k for mine, and I had 90k! But the car itself was in great shape.

However, I ended up trading it in for 2 reasons:

1.) I couldn't really sell it.

2.) A few months after starting selling it, mine FINALLY developed a lower intake gasket failure. It was leaking coolant slowly, luckily externally. It ran fine, but the leak probably would get worse and would need a LIM replacement. I've done this job before, it's not all that fun, but not too hard. Only $100 in parts, but the labor involved makes this an 800-1200 dollar job if you can't do it yourself.

Since it had that leak, I wasn't about to sell it to someone unless they knew what they were getting into. So I let a dealer mess with that and have the burden of selling it.

I took a hit on the sale though.

You're in a rough spot with the owed money on the car, and it's value. They're hard to sell for blue book regardless of the area you are in.

Unfortunately I never sold mine, it was traded in, so I don't have much in the way of tips. You could possibly try a reserve auction on eBay, and if you don't already have one try and autotrader ad. It may just need more exposure. You may also consider moving it to a new location to sell in a different area, maybe if you have a friend or someone who can keep the car in their driveway while it sits for sale.

Best of luck!

http://www.neuralimpulse.com/cars/pics/DSC_0019003.jpg