Found an Evo I like in good condition with 119,000. They are asking $14,800 and from what i can tell its stock or has been put back to stock.

I'm going to drive the car tomorrow and find out if the 120k mi service has been done. My question is if it has NOT been done which im doubting it has been, what is a fair price to beat them down to. My local Evo specialst quoted 12-1300 parts and labor just for timing belt and water pump.

 

Is it an 03? I'd say 13 is a better price

 

I would start at 13,000 what do you have to lose? I'm sure you can pick it up for 13,500-13,800 if the service hasn't been done. Good luck

 

Thanks guys yes its an 03. I just want to go in being realistic. I was figuring if i get it for 13500 ill prob take it. I'll start at 13 and see what happens!

 

Just make sure there is no whining from the transfer case and the transmission shifts good. Both of those will be big dollar hitters if they need to be replaced or rebuilt. There is no full proof way to see if a car was once highly modded or not, but a good thing to check is the radiator fins near the turbo. If they are real beat up, could be an indication there was a turbo swap at one point.

Otherwise, there are plenty of great examples of higher mileage Evos that run great because they were well taken care of, but just want to make sure you know what you are getting into before you commit to the car. Good luck!

 

If the 120k service hasn't been done, let him do it first (so you don't have to argue about how much it costs and deduct it from the sale price). Or maybe you can have some deal where you split the cost of it if there is nothing wrong (meaning that when they replace the driveline fluids, there aren't a bunch of teeth that come out with it), so that way you can at least see what gets done to it rather than just believing that they did it, or that the service had everything done that you would assume would be done.

I suppose it varies from place to place, but $1,200-1,300 seems a little high for JUST timing belt and water pump done by an Evo specialist shop. I would even argue that it's a little on the high side for the full 60k/120k service. I paid something like $700 or so for my 60k service (driveline fluids, coolant flush, serpentine belt, timing belt, water pump and spark plugs) from a reputable Evo shop, and it's not like I knew the owner or anything. And while it was a pretty good deal, I'd say you should pay $900, maybe $1,000 tops at an alleged Evo specialist shop. The only reason why any place would charge that much would be if they are trying to profit A LOT off of you, or if they really aren't an Evo specialist shop. The reason why I say that is because a lot of the driveline fluids are fairly unique to the Evo (assuming that they are using the OEM stuff), so if they don't service many Evos, that stuff will just sit on the shelf. I got a quote for the 60k mile service from a mechanic I know who is generally very affordable for most cars, but his quote was REALLY high (kind of like yours), and from what I could tell from the price breakdown, I was pretty much getting charged for the whole container of fluids and not just X-amount of it.

 

Thanks for your responses guys! I went to see the car today and the interior was neglected to say the least, cigarette burns, the turn signal stalk looked glued back together, seats were nasty and no rear speakers. No service records and did not want to budge on the price. No record of timing belt being done so they asked if I would split it. It drove pretty good (but this is the first one ive ever driven). I heard a faint ticking from the motor. I walked away.

Also I'll do some research on other shops in the new england area

 

It sounds like you just saved yourself a big headache.

 

I did not have a good feeling about it for sure!

 

jesus, poor evo, sounds like the guy treated it like it was a damn civic beater, cigarette burns

 

Why not this one.
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/4334973622.html
Or this
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/4333203484.html

 

be patient you will find the right one for you.

 

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/cto/4305247019.html

 

The interior was the first red flag, I would never treat my car like that!

Im hoping!

Thanks for the links, I did see the modded red one but it has too much done for my taste, but I will reach out to the others.

 

He actually called here to discuss his car and what it might need. Since he said it probably didn't have any maintenance done this is what I quoted him. Also we would spend a little time going over the car checking the brakes, ball joints, tie rods, etc making sure he had a car that would not give him any trouble later.

I really have no idea how you got a timing belt service and water pump, all fluids, plugs labor for $700, seems like you got someone to work for free, which is great. But a terrible business decision. Shops have overhead, wages, taxes, to pay and not to make any type of profit it just wouldn't be a real business. I wouldn't expect you to go to work for free. Why should the employees here?

Oem timing belt kit w/pump: tensioner, idler, idler pulley, balancer pulley, timing belt, balance belt, water pump $550
5 qts oem Diaqueen $75
5 qts Bran Penn $35
1 Oem oil filter x 1 $6
1 gal Oem coolant x2 $24
4 Ngk Spark Plugs x 4 $12
Motul 600 Brake fluid x 2 $40
Tax $47.88
Labor 5.5 hrs @ 95hr $522.50
Total $1336.88

You could always find someone to do it a little less, thats the name of the game people will under quote all day. But what kind of service will you get? I feel our shop goes the extra mile for our customers, all the work is done at a reasonable rate thats expected to get the job done right, no rushing or cutting corners. If we were trying to "Profit a lot" like you said I would charge dealer prices and this would be well over $2,000.

If you have any more questions on another Evo purchase feel free to call me again and we would even be happy to look over any car you're looking to buy.

-Brian