Forum Valuation Cartel?

[Lotus-e-Clan]

If only ALL Excel owners were members of this forum we could run a pact, a cartel, and agree minimum asking prices..

For example:

resto non-runner = £5000
daily runner (10 yard beauty)= £10000
garaged week-ender (1 yard beauty) = £15000
show queen = £20000

NB. THESE ARE STRICT MINIMA from which one can negociate UPWARDS!


It's time to set a 'Collective state of mind' on valuations.

sign-up below / refine the parameters, even if you are not selling, . :

Agreed?

[marky]

I like your thinking I have an agreed value of £10K for insurance but could not replace it for that as I have spent more than that on restoring it from what was a £5K initial purchase. My car is not for sale but if it was I would want £15k for it!

Mark.

[rs blu]

I think it's a great idea
In Italy there are not many Esprit,. This is because the taxes are getting higher and many sports cars have been sold abroad.
We thought the price of Esprit, still in Italy, would go down again. But it seems that every owner has agreed and now it is impossible to find a good Esprit under 30000-35000 €,if you want a daily runner with some work to do then you will spend about 22000-25000€
50000€ for a good V8 and 45000€ for beatifull S4s.
I have to say that we are a little luckier in Italy. There are not many rusty cars here , often you can find not restored Esprit, like mine, that if you look under her she looks like new and absolutely without rust:D
I think the Excel in England is a bit underpriced, in the rest of Europe the prices are higher.
Unfortunately in Italy there are no Excel, I just think my own and another one and maybe only 4 or 5 Elite eclat
I think the price for a good Excel can be between 20000€ - 25000€ and if restored in show conditions about 30000 €,

[Lotus-e-Clan]

You are easy to convince.

Those that have bought low and have no money for any kind of restoration will compromise 'the Cartel' unless those with genuinely great cars take a positive stand.

Currently the 'tail' is wagging the dog!

We are massively lagging behind other Lotus values and it seems the only other folk recognising this are the dealers...we shouldn't compromise the show by criticising their valuations too strongly.

Now is a good time.

Wake up.

[fueltheburn]

I would say it is actually happening underneath your feet with most not noticing.
Project excels are disappearing fast because the sum of their parts exceeds that of a built running product.
Once this hits a critical mass where even second hand parts become largely unavailable to those at the cheaper end of ownership it will reflect in resale values.

The other end of this would be the sale of a well known finished car that would set a precedent and make investors take note.... This would see a rapid change in prices.

[DavidOliver]

In the UK the attraction of an Excel to the non-initiated is Lotus, sporting and rare image, and the fibreglass body. Forum members know that rain and salt on particularly non-garaged cars can cause damage requiring expensive fixing. Also to the owner who relies on others to provide the labour the cost quickly runs into thousands, our cars require quite often a time consuming repair.
An enthusiast who spends his time restoring his car should add to his valuation estimate the value of hours spent.
At 30 pounds an hour our cars valuation quickly rises above 10.000 pounds. 42 days work!

Forum members know very quickly which of our cars are diamonds.
I suggest we each present a list of check points to establish the quality of an Excel and formulate a Forum standard including before and after photographs of key parts.

I think it unwise for the Forum to hold a list of recommended cars of members.

Gentlemen and Ladies, your thoughts please.

Dave the cog

[TAR]

I have an Esprit which once fully restored will be worth plenty. I have also recently bought a project Elite as I can see the prices steadily moving up. They haven't shot up dramatically but the supply of cars is less now than it was a couple of years ago when I first consided it. I think I may have had the last of the bargains but I know it will not make its money back if I do everything I want to it. However, in the future, as I intend to keep it forever, it will follow the path of the Esprit and become a rare and expensive car. This though keeps me inspired to restore it to its original beauty.

[Roadrunner]

I have always found the Hagerty Insurance on-line valuation tool very useful and pretty reliable. Just select a manufacturer, then model and year and up pop approximate values of many classic cars. The sad thing is the 'Excel' doesn't appear in the list! Perhaps someone ought to remind them that they do exist and are not forgotten about. The Eclat up to '85 is though included which in effect covers the 'Eclat-Excel'. Valuation guide is Fair £3000, Good £5000, Excellent £7300 and Concours £10,300.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I have always found the Hagerty Insurance on-line valuation tool very useful and pretty reliable. Just select a manufacturer, then model and year and up pop approximate values of many classic cars. The sad thing is the 'Excel' doesn't appear in the list! Perhaps someone ought to remind them that they do exist and are not forgotten about. The Eclat up to '85 is though included which in effect covers the 'Eclat-Excel'. Valuation guide is Fair £3000, Good £5000, Excellent £7300 and Concours £10,300.

Those are current REAL world valuations at almost half of the speculative valuations I proposed.

Given almost all other Lotus are valued at 2 - 5 times Eclat/Excel values it's about time for an up-lift.

The problem is, although they are NOT 2 - 5 times better cars, they are perceived as 2 - 5 times more desireable than the Eclat \Excel.
The efforts and activities of key forum members have increased desrireability amongst the classic car fraternity in recent years - current owners could help matters if they didn't let them go so cheaply when the time comes to sell.

[Roadrunner]

I can see that low values are aligned with the high cost of parts/specialist repair and that financial viability is therefore an issue. The Excel is without doubt a very fine and period perfect Lotus model deserving of its place in the motoring world. It has the particular kudos of being the last front engined rear wheel drive Lotus car made (do please correct me if I'm wrong on that!) and that will probably be its marketing and desirability strength in the future. Sadly, and for now, to bring anything less than an excellent example back to a good health is very expensive and probably not viable for those without either deep pockets or very significant personal engineering skills. That said, the time will come when values do rise rapidly given the rarity of the car. For now maybe just sit tight, run regularly, maintain at a modest level, drive occasionally and enjoy the experience.