Is this car worth is?

[White Comet]

Hi,

Sorry first of all...I have no pics as I have just went to test drive a 2nd car that was on sale. (Private Sale)

I was just wondering if this car is worth $16,000

2003 Mazda Protege 5
Auto, leather, sunroof, a/c, black, remote start, warranty till '08/100kms, 1 owner (I believe), Black and has 44,000 kms on it

The inside looks extremely mint, but it's just the outside that worries me. The front bumper has more stone chips than an average car, it would seem like a bunch of dead flies after driving for 10 hours or so on the highway for a long trip. The hood has also a couple of chips. Not big...maybe roughly 2-3mm in diameter...sry no ruler here. But the chips on the hood...some of them are starting to rust, u can see it if looked at it closely.

Aside from the chips, the body also have some of those very light dents, ie people opening doors, shopping carts, etc. Paint is still intact, but you can see the little dent.

So my question is...is this car worth it and would you buy it?

Thanks

[Chookman]

Hi,

Sorry first of all...I have no pics as I have just went to test drive a 2nd car that was on sale. (Private Sale)

I was just wondering if this car is worth $16,000

2003 Mazda Protege 5
Auto, leather, sunroof, a/c, black, remote start, warranty till '08/100kms, 1 owner (I believe), Black and has 44,000 kms on it

The inside looks extremely mint, but it's just the outside that worries me. The front bumper has more stone chips than an average car, it would seem like a bunch of dead flies after driving for 10 hours or so on the highway for a long trip. The hood has also a couple of chips. Not big...maybe roughly 2-3mm in diameter...sry no ruler here. But the chips on the hood...some of them are starting to rust, u can see it if looked at it closely.

Aside from the chips, the body also have some of those very light dents, ie people opening doors, shopping carts, etc. Paint is still intact, but you can see the little dent.

So my question is...is this car worth it and would you buy it?

Thanks

You probably won't do too much better. I was in the market for one of these cars the last few weeks and the best one I saw was a mint 2003 with 45-50K loaded with manual transmission asking $16000 from a dealer. The best I could get them down to was around $14500. Since you are looking at automatic, you've got to add $$$ and then subtract for the poor exterior. Black book trade-in value on that car is probably in the $11000-$12000 range. Knowing that, anything you offer over $13K in a private sale should be more than they can get in trade plus the tax savings they'd receive.

[Neb]

Prices seems kinda high, but the car does have low milage. I just sold my P5 not too long ago. It was a 2002,for aroudn 10k. Priv sale. Trade in value is around 6000-7000 for an 02 with 100k km.

I think the prices on trader are kidna inflated.

I wouldn't be too concern with the stone chips on the hood, that could have happpend all in one trip behind a dump truck or something with rocks/sand coming off it.

But try to negotiate.

[White Comet]

thx for all the replys...I'm actually just a student. Negotiating...never good w/ talking so meh...dunno how to.

Another question: Are off-leased cars any good? I saw like 3 of them at www.ontariocarstore.com, their ad was in AutoTrader as well. THey have an '03 P5 selling for $14900 w/Auto and about 58kms but i dunno the reputation of this used car dealer

Lastly is that is trade in any good? It's less hassle for me...but it's about the pricing.

My family currently has an '00 Honda CRV EX 118kms Auto and a '02 Civic 4dr LX-Sport 105kms Manual. I really dunno how much they're worth

Thanks

[sixer]

These cars have rust problems, rear inner quarter panels and bubbling on emblems, etc. It will first appear on rear wheel wells. I was about to buy one too, but ran away after finding this out. Watch for this being temporarily being covered by sellers. Look at other ones you see in the mall, etc. You'll see. Thin paint is the problem, easily get stone chips as well.

[White Comet]

what do you mean by bubbling and the rear wheel part?

[radeonboy]

These cars have rust problems, rear inner quarter panels and bubbling on emblems, etc. It will first appear on rear wheel wells. I was about to buy one too, but ran away after finding this out. Watch for this being temporarily being covered by sellers. Look at other ones you see in the mall, etc. You'll see. Thin paint is the problem, easily get stone chips as well.

haha this happens on the 92-95 civic model years too. mine is starting to bubble. I think rust is re-forming. Previous owner probably tried to hide it by sanding it, but thats just temporary, not permanant. The panel needs to be replaced. Its rusting from the inside out.

[White Comet]

as long as u have rustproofing...it's good no?

I dunno....rust doesn't seem to be avoidable here. The same thing happen in a 91 civic

[mandipdhillon]

Buy my car...

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/s...yundai+tiburon

[evolution921]

I think $16000 for a P5 is a bit overpriced. I was looking at them last year, they were going for about the same price range. So $14000 would probably be the most I would pay for a P5. All those dents and stuff means that the previous owner didn't really care about his car. There are a couple of P5 on my street that have rust on them already. You can probably have a Matrix XRS for not a lot more.

[wong8egg]

I think it is a little bit high for a Protege5 especially if it is on private deal, he/she should able to do better than that.

Check trader.ca also for reference.

[White Comet]

The car is actually from trader.ca

Maybe at around 14000 from dealers...not those big dealers tho