I'm looking at purchasing another '96 xj6 vdp and looked up the values.
It's at $5633 in excellent condition in KBB vs $7050 low to $13550 high in NADA? Why do you think the great disparity, and which should serve as the proper guide?

 

I would suggest you check with your bank or even your local card dealer and ask which book they follow. My experience during a brief tenure selling cars was that dealers in the state in which I lived, CO used NADA because that was what lenders were using. We would have folks bring in KBB, which interestingly were typically higher not lower, but we had to use NADA because that was what the lending institutions were following.

 

I wouldn't pay more than that 5,600 dollar number. Old Jags are a dime a dozen out here. That 13,000 dollar price would never be supported by the market. Low "Acquisition" pricing is what makes old Jags fun. There is no such thing as a low "retention" price.

 

As to the proper guide....since you say "another x300" you already have a leg up on the average bear. I specifically targeted the X300 range after a couple years of maintaining S-types for the wife and daughter. I started looking at cars listed in the $3k to 3.5k range. After looking at a bunch and driving a few, I concluded most of the ones I'd looked at, I would end up with about $6k-$6.5k invested to get them to "near perfect." This assessment was almost entirely parts-cost, as I planned to do most of the work myself. Then, I surveyed the listings of other brand/model cars that I thought I wouldn't mind driving to work everyday, and found them non-competitive.

Therefore, I concluded a "primo" X300 would be worth somewhere around $6k-$7k to me, and fortunately, soon found one here on the forum in that range that was just shy of perfect. This self-analysis was performed in 2010, and I still hold that a near perfect X300 is worth about the same to me. In the open marketplace, I suspect the value is somewhat less, the figures you quote from KBB sound about right.

But if you are the buyer, you get to decide what any particular offering is worth....to you...and act or pass on the deal accordingly.

 

I agree. For most high quality very low mileage cars made in the last 10-15, maybe 20 years for something special.... somewhere between $5-7k wouldn't be unreasonable. It certainly depends on the make/model but this seems to be a sweet spot value for "something special" even in this vintage across many makes/models as a true market price, even if NADA/KBB don't reflect it.

Specifically for the X300, this $5-7k range was my budget as well when I bought mine as I didn't want a "project".

I've seen a few very low mileage X300s pop up offered for over $10k, but I think that is too high. But if you have the money, don't mind that initial outlay and it's the perfect car for you, then it also is a personal decision. As long as you can live with that decision, then it's all good


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