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Comments
Thanks,
Jim
NADA has no listing for your conversion.
The E150 Cargo whsle. 11,700. retail 14,075. subtract 3,050. for hi miles.
Compare chassis value with numbers posted by Edmund's.
Jerry
I don't have value on Tiara for 1990 nor the Astro. Click on the link below or copy it into your browser and it will take you to Edmund's value section for the Astro. I would select the model that most closely matches your van. I also don't know of any internet site that has conversion values.
http://www.edmunds.com/used/1990/chevrolet/
Jerry
46K miles, tinted glass, 3.3L, CD, keyless entry, alarm, locks, windows, etc.
Dealer asking $16,775 (says he has $18k into it and sending to auction Monday).
Does this sound like a good deal? Need reply asap...
Thanks in advance.
No info on the Sterling conversion.
NADA indicates following on an OEM 97 Grand Car SE
whsle. 13900. retail 16400.
miles -100. -100.
Jerry
I am a 4 time van owner. I started with a cheaper van Mark lll then to the next level a Glaval then to the next Regency and then found Explorer. I talked to the rep and even toured the factory. I looked at 15 different van companies before I chose Explorer. Yes, the price was a little more but the fit and finish is without a doubt the best of the lot. After owning my other 3 vans they started to squeek THAT DRIVES ME NUTS! I have owned this van for 13 months and 18,000 miles and it's just as tight as the day I bought it. If you are considering a van buy an Explorer. I have talked to many Explorer owners and they feel the same way I do.
This machine is simply 5 star. You can look as I did but you wont find anything nicer.
Sincerely,
Gary
Suggested Retail on the package $39,858
Dealer invoice on van $21,131
Mark III conversion pkg $8,739
Total Invoice $29,870
I am trading in a '93 E-150 with a Glaval Universal package, good shape, 105,000 miles. I've been offered a deal of invoice -$8,870 tradein. This deal would include the $2000 rebate so basically I'm getting $6,870 for my trade. Do dealers get any holdback from conversion packages? I believe the Ford holdback on the van is 3%. Does this look like a decent deal? Thanks for the info.
Dale
No info on '95 Glaval. Info is available on '95 Auto Form, '95 Gladiator, '95 Prime Time, and '95 Universal. All are mfg. by Glaval.
Jerry
THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP
'98 Elan New MSRP 6,070. used whsle 2,640. retail 3,710.
'98 Cargo van whsle 13,725. retail 16,250.
Jerry
I replied to your e-mail.
Jerry
Guitarzan
Community Leader/Vans Conference
No values are available from NADA on the Explorer. However, in checking Coachmen, Quality Coaches, Starcraft, and Regency, I find that their 1995 model wholesale values are 30-33% and retail values are 40-43% of original MSRP.
You might consider calling Explorer for the original MSRP and then apply the % values I've listed in order to determine approximate values. You can also use Edmund's for cargo van values.
Jerry
bzj239
I don't know what if any decision you've made. However, as mentioned in #25, I sold a '95 Chevy/Tiara 2 years ago for $13,000.
I drove it for 2 years and have determined that the '97 Ford/Coachmen that replaced it, is a significantly better van. In fact, I recently decided to continue to drive this one rather than buy a new one.
The $2,000. for the extended warranty sounds like a lot of money. Is it a $-0- deductible, bumper to bumper, 70,000 mile warranty or ?.
How does this van stack up with other vans for sale in you area?
Good luck,
Jerry
Congrads. The one I had, I drove for 43,000 miles and mechanically only had routine maintainence issues, i.e. new brakes, tires, oil changes, etc.
My complaints had to do with the door hinges being a pain to keep clean and fit of the doors that contributed to wind and road noise. If any of the doors start to become stiff or difficult to open or close, it probably will be due to dirt in the hinges around the hinge pin area that is constantly exposed to elements. High pressure water spray such as at a self serve car wash will work to clean them. Go a little easy with the spray unit though, too close may take off the paint. A silicone spray lubricant worked as well as anything I tried.
Jerry
An extended warranty is effectively an insurance policy. I think it is important that one be reasonably assured that the underwriting organization will be in business and able to pay a claim should the occassion arise.
I have spent a very interesting evening looking over the conversion van discussions here. I wish I would have seen this long ago when I was looking for information. Let me share some thoughts, then ask a question or two.
First, I have a '95 Taurus wagon which is bleeding money at this point, with 125 K, and the dreaded Ford 3.8L engine. The last mechanic to look at it said, "my advice is trade it". After long discussions with the family, we decided to look into vans.
I live in SE Ohio, and have traveled to at least 20 dealers looking for vans. What I saw amazed me, I saw vans that blew me away with the stuff in them, and killed my soul with the price. Used vans with low miles are hard to come by, and since we are tired of pouring $$ into repairs, we looked for low miles stuff.
After talking with many dealers and others, several conclusions came to mind:
1. Buy Used. One dealer told me point blank, "the moment you drive a new van off the lot, you lose about the value of the conversion, on the van." That makes sense to me, though any dealer will "blow smoke at certain times." But new vans in my area were way overpriced for what you got, and the dealers were not really wanting to move much off their prices, even for '99 models. They say they want to get old models off the lot, but they won't really give you a good price.
I think that a used conversion loses value "more slowly" over time, at least from my reseach. Are conversions like cars in this? My guess is yes, only worse.
2. Get a well known "name" conversion. Find web sites posted on this thread, and look real hard at them. I saw some really lousy conversions, some from name companies, but where I went, Glaval, Starcraft, Choo-Choo, and top shelf companies were consistently better than lesser name groups, or custom shops. I was really surprised how so many dealers did not like Mark III! They said they were not of high quality. Again they might be blowing smoke, but I was not impressed by a lot of Mark III conversions.
3. In used lots I saw a lot of Ford Conversions, not many Chevys, and few Dodges. I found almost no minivan conversions other than Chevy Astros/GMC Safaris, which some places in townhall say the Astro is more like a truck than minivan/car types.
So many places rated vans/conversions in quality as 1. Chevy, 2. Ford, 3. Dodge. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, many people said Fords were safer, GMC/Chevy were more common, and even at Dodge dealers, finding a conversion was hard. At one van dealer with a recent Internet posting, since all search engines would have them in the top 10 on their list of hits, he had one Dodge, and even with lots of extras, it wasn't up to the quality of GM/Ford conversions.
I'm not sure what to read from that last paragraph, but after driving Ford and Chevy products, my personal preference would be for F-150, or Chevy 1500 base, though we may get an Astro since my wife does not like big vans.
4. Get the most bells and whistles you can: This might seem counter to what I sad before, but if we are serious about a conversion, get a top of the line model with all the power stuff and extras you can put in. The investment is such in a conversion that base models don't seem to have the value and quality upgraded ones have. Also, get a power rear seat to fold down into a bed. The van we may get is not a power fold down seat to bed, and it seems real inconvenient to manually adjust it.
5. Get ready for no manuals. In my experience, even with new conversions there was little in the way of documentation. How does something work? where is a wiring diagram? Who knows? In fact for the van I might buy, I am trying to contact the conversion company for some instruction on how things work in the van. This is rather frustrating, even with the low quality of owner's manuals in general, which seem to spend more time on wearing seat belts, not drinking, etc., instead of how the car works.
Lastly, don't set yourself up for buyer's remorse. As so many posts have revealed, trying to set a value for a conversion is almost impossible. If you buy the van, get the lowest price you can, then don't look back. This part of shopping is different than buying a new car, it is a whole different animal, and new price guides, or used car price guides do no good, other than finding a value for the base van. Get what you want at a comfortable price for you, and never think about it again. You will never know for certain if you squeezed the last dime out of the seller you could.
Wow, that's a lot of stuff, and yes, it is my very humble opinion. I am no wizard when it comes to this stuff, but I hope my experience of 6 weeks on the web, newspapers, and dealer lots can help someone else.
Now, my question for the good man with access to the NADA price guides: Could you give me a value for a Starcraft Imperial Hitop Conversion on an Astro Chassis? It is an 97 conversion, with a low 18,800 miles on it (which means I may have about 9 months of warranty service left!)
Thanks for your time and help, and if I am wrong about stuff I wrote, please let me know.
Sincerely,
John Kay
jkumpire@netpluscom.com
NADA book values;
'94 Ford cargo whsle. 7,900. retail 9,900. (compare with Edmund's)
Universal whsle 1,900. retail 2,500.
Total = whsle. 9,800. retail 12,400.
Jerry
That's quite a post. The '97 Ford/Coachmen I now drive I bought new 12-30-97 for $23,200. includung rebates, sales tax, title, and plate transfer fees. As a point of comparison, the Ford msrp was 23,400. and the Coachmen msrp was 9,200.
The tax, title, and plate costs were about 1,350. of the 23,200.
The plus on a manual rear bench, probably easier to remove and reinstall should you have an occasion to do so.
Buyers remorse: In your case will likely be limited to the potential of acquiring a "lemon". You've obviously done a lot of research so purchase price probably won't be the issue.
The Astro/Safari vans are "trucky" by comparison to the likes of Trans Sport, Windstar, Caravan, etc. On the other hand, I enjoyed the '91 Safari oem passenger van that I once owned. Even with a towing gear, it still managed 17 mpg. I understand most get 18 - 19 mpg with standard gear ratio. (3.42?)
Now for the good part John.
It appears that Starcraft didn't make the "Imperial" in '97. It was introduced in '98 according the NADA book. With that in mind I'll give you the 2 models for '97 and maybe you can determine which is correct.
The '98 Imperial had an msrp of 4,689.
The '97 Sport Star, new msrp 5,598. whsle 2,300. retail 3,230.
The '97 Vintage, new msrp 7,227. whsle 3,010. retail 4,180.
My guess is that it is the Sport Star because the Vintage was still produced in '98 and '99.
'97 Astro Cargo, whsle 10,100. retail 12,350.
mileage adj. is plus 975. and All Wheel drive is plus 1,600. Compare chassis value with Edmund's.
Jerry
Thank you for your kind comments and post. We now have a mystery on our hands!
1. The Van says Imperial on it, in bold white letters on the front windshield. It also says Imperial on the van body itself.
2. There is a Starcraft Mfg. Sitcker on the front windshield by the driver.
3. The notes on the driver's side door speak of it being converted in May of 1997. The title was first transferred from a dealer to an owner on 11/3/97, according to a Carfax report on the wehicle.
4. The same Carfax report has this vehicle as a 1997 Chevy Astro, with a clear title!
5. The first owner loved the conversion, except for the hitop, so he traded it.
Could this be a demo? Or am I being set up for a big fall (with this van being some kind of bait-and switch)?
In my search, I had found a 96 Safari FMC hitop conversion, really loaded, including power back seat. but that was the only power back seat in an Astro/Safari I found.
You know, I wonder about this van, in the one problem that the Astro/Safari is trashed by so many people. Even though it has good scores in insurance, and statistical measures of injury, it is universally approved as a towing vehicle, and is good as a "goods" van, the model is trashed. It is trahed since it is rear wheel drive, with limited front seat room, hard to enter driver's side (which conversion fixed!), low gas milage and some mechanical stuff. But some of the "defects" in comparison to car/minivans are positives when it comes to a conversion? Any comments?
One final question: One of the reasons that many groups like Consumer Reports trashed the Astro/Safari, including the '97 model, was a reported problem with "integrity", meaning, parts not fitting well, rattles, etc. When a van is converted, how much change is done to the body, that might mitigate such a problem?
Thanks again!
John
Thank you for any information you can give me.
Michelle
mbrooks@keyspanenergy.com
The S/L whsle is 1,850. and retail 2,280.
Check the cargo van chassis value on Edmund's.
Jerry
Got the GMC 1500 Savanna van price but having trouble valuing the conversion package. Anyone out there own a Explorer pkg or GMC 1500 van converted that would like to share some info?
Jerry
No data available for Explorer.
A comp of a few other conversions indicate '97 wholesale at 42-44% and retail 55-57% of original msrp.
Jerry
We were interested in a new '99 Dodge Elk Limited low top conversion with 3300K. Cloth seats, custom paint, remote start. Asking $27,500. What do you think about this? WOuldnt come down on his price or up on the trade. THanks!!!!
You should not overlook the "For Sale By Owner" either. You might well find your best value there.
'97 to '99 is a wide range when it comes to cost. The spread might be as much as 8-10,000.
Oh yes, you can always assert to the dealer that you have nothing and therefore cannot be taken for everything
Jerry
Can anyone give me an idea on what a 93 Full size Chevy (350 eng) StarCraft (cloth interior) sport-top with 85K is worth?
I am also looking to purchase a new GMC van and want to know how you Explorer owners like your Explorers...
And if you don't mind, give me an idea on what the 1999 or 2000 explorer X package will cost. The sticker is $20,400. Any help on what you negotiated would be very helpful to all of us trying to get a reasonable price.
Your welcome!
Jerry
You can estimate "invoice" at;
87% of msrp base = invoice
85% of msrp options = invoice
Jerry
What model is the conversion?
Jerry
Thanks for your help.
Mike