questions about a 1989 Volvo 240 GL
 

I have been in the market for a new vehicle for a while; and recently came across a 1989 240GL. So far what i know is that the vehicle belonged to an elderly man who kept it at his summer home in FL, so it was not ran for a good portion of the years it was located there. Finally, he decided to bring the vehicle to the midwest to sell, and the party who is now selling purchased the car several years ago. It has an extremely low 84,xxx miles on it, and they are asking $2,600 for it. They said it runs fine; although, on damp days the vehicle has trouble starting or doesn't start at all but as soon as the day warms up it has no trouble. I figure this issue is due to some sort of short circuiting due moisture on exposed wires. Their reasoning as to why they wish to sell is that the husband has trouble getting in and out of the vehicle, being that it has a moon roof/ lower ceiling. So in conclusion, what i would really want to know; is it worth the money?, should i be nervous, the fact that it was not ran frequently in the past?, how easy to fix/expensive is the short circuit issue?, what things should i know which are specific to this make/model?

If it has been driven a lot in the past 12 moths is what matters most. If a car sits in a valcano, and someone gets it on the road and drives it a lot in the current time frame you should be ok. The problem is the car is having starting issues now that they don't want to deal with.

What condition is the car in? Are the seats torn? Is the paint pealing? Why is the roof an issue now if they have owned it for several years? Sound like bull to me. I would say that milage is low but not extreamly low. I would say the car is worth $1,500 is it's clean. If not, less than $1,000. Here is the NADA guides value: http://www.nadaguides.com/default.as...8&z=72221&da=1

Make them an offer of $1,000 and see if they bite. Act sad and mention that you are afraid of what it may cost to get the start issue fixed and see if they bite. If they don't say "Well, please give me a call if you decide that you can afford to sell it for $1,000". They will probably call in 2 days.