440 LPG/Not Sure??

[leabby]

Inherited a Volvo 440 last year from my uncle. he brought the car in 1993 and kept it until he passed away at the age of 93. I even have his death certificate.

I took the car with only 10,000 miles on it.

Converted it to gas at a cost of £2400.00.

The car has now covered £26,000. Not a great deal of history, but if the car is looked at by a keen eye, it is clear that many original parts are still in place. Including the brakes and exhaust (except one piece which I recenlty changed). The underside is as new.

Yesterday, whilst parked the drivers door got knocked and it is dented. The repair can be carried out simply enough by a panel beater.

I can trade this in for as a scrap vehicle and get £2000.00 PX.

Otherwise the car is immaculate in every way. And covers the equivalent to 80MPH.

Their are two LPG tanks, totalling 120 litres. These fill up gor about £65.00 and cover approximately 650 miles before I need to stop again.

Not sure if I should just buy a new vehicle via the scrap system. Keep the car and repair the damage (via insurance).

Fix the car and sell on. Or sell the car with the damage still in place.

Could I get more than £2000.00 for the volvo????

Really srtuggling, with what to do.

Any suggestions?? Would this sell for £3000.00, bearing in mind that the conversion cost £2400.00 and was carried out by an approved fitter.

[capt jack]

Sadly there's no way a 1993 440 would be worth anything like £3000 - probably £300 is closer the mark.

If you are going to scrappage the car it'll be worth the same with or without the LPG conversion.

If you're going to buy a new car anyway, I'd be tempted to remove the LPG kit and then scrappage the 440, if the LPG kit is in good order, and you don't mind the slight hassle. It could be refited to another car, or sold.

On the other hand, if the 440 is otherwise good, why not get the damaged door repaired (especially if it's on insurance anyway), and carry on using it and get your money's worth from the conversion?

Personally I think scrappage is a con - anything that looks too good to be true is usually too good to be true!

Cheers

Jack

PS: 650 miles on £65 worth of gas works out at an equivalent of around 45mpg on petrol, not 80 I'm afraid. To be doing the equivalent of 80 mpg you'd need to be getting over 1100 miles on your £65 worth of LPG. Sorry!

[leabby]

I will probably repair the car. However, I think £300 is not realistic. I have seen these with a great deal more miles sell for £1400.

When I say 650 to the tank. I mean that at 50p per litre (LPG), the car take 120litres at a cost of approx £65.00. The car will cover 650 miles on this. Which means I pay around £10.00 for every 100 miles of driving.

I had the car conveted last September and the diffrence is magical. I am guessing that I save around £25.00 everytime I fill up.

Certianly a lot more MPG than I would get on petrol.

[Blue 8]

£3,000
nearly dropped me cake

Isn't this a double post?

Yes i thought it was.

[leabby]

Don't drop your cake, waste of good food. new to forums and made an error in where I should put my enquiry (sorry, sorry,sorry).

Not selling as I obviously won't get a good return of my LPG costs
(£2400.00).

Buy a good triumph spitfire nearly 15 years old and it would cost you £2500 pounds or more, so why not a Volvo 440 with only 26,000 miles and in almost mint condition.

Always garaged and still smells new inside. With the exception of the recent knock, which can be repaired the car is as if it just came out of the showroom.

I appologise for the fright, but one person says its only worth £300, which I find a bit of a joke. Hands up and sorry again for the 3K mentioned, but I beleive without the LPG system I could sell for at least £1500.00. So if I do decide otherwise, I will sell for £2000.00 as I am sure that with a congestion free vehicle in this condition it will sell.

What with half price fuel and a saving of another £8.00 a day congestion fees, it can't be bad.

Not looking for a scrap, just asked for some directional help.

Thank you

[Blue 8]

Originally Posted by leabby

Buy a good triumph spitfire nearly 15 years old and it would cost you £2500 pounds or more, so why not a Volvo 440 with only 26,000 miles and in almost mint condition.

Thank you

1/ Because its a 400 series

2/ Because its not a Triumph Spitfire its a Volvo

3/ Because with the odd exception most 15 year old Volvo's struggle to reach good 3 figure sums let alone 4 regards less of mileage

4/ see here

[capt jack]

Sorry leabby, the £300 reference wasn't meant to be literal, just by way of illustrating the fact that £3000 is a bit ambitious. But with around £1000 to £1200 being top dollar for a good 480, being realistic even a really nice 440 is really really going to struggle to top £500, even with the LPG.

Check out Autotrader........sorry.

It's a hard fact, but with the exception of a few Amazons and the 1800 series, old Volvo prices don't hold up very well. That's what makes them such a good second-hand purchase. Top notch engineering but low prices! Consider these examples:

* My LPG converted V70, a 97 CD auto model with still less than 200,000 on the clock, and in absolutely perfect running order and superb overall condition is valued at around £250 - and that was from a Volvo dealer with whom I had discussed (pre-scrappage) buying a new S80!

* I recently saw a low-mileage S70 in stunning condition that had sold for just £400.

* When new, the 1800 I believe cost more than an E-type Jag - not a situation that's followed the cars into their dotage, with E-type values probably now around ten times that of the 1800.

Sounds like you've got an excellent car there - and with LPG you can look forward to many low-cost miles!

Cheers

Jack

[Paul240480]

Yeh you've got to keep it IMO. You'll have years of fun with little outlay.

Crapage mmm, one way to bump start the sale of the back log of new cars sat waiting for new owners somewhere in a dis-used airport or worse in some dockyard with sea-salt being sprayed on as the tide turns! But then I'm a cynical bugga LOL.