Bus prices

[pierrox]

Hey all,
There comes a time when you have to take the hard decision...
We bought a 71 Westfalia, garage fire survivor, 11 years ago. The idea was to restore it and enjoy it, road tripping the US each time we'd visit the family. Because we're living in Europe where we have a 1976 bought new by my parents. We used to visit NC once or twice a year.

Then Covid happened, lockdowns, travel restrictions and then life was no longer the same a before.

So after 11 years, the bus has covered about 500 miles altogether.
It's a great bus, we're the third owners, first one kept it for 22 years and same for the second one. It was only used in the fall and spring by the later owner. When we first saw it, it was clear that it had been protected and cared for - no rust, no issues. So it was never a question that we'd have to sell it one day. But now it doesn't make sense to keep it: my inlaws downsized so we have to pay to garage it, and as said earlier, we never got a chance to really use it. We didn't even camp in it once, even if the whole interior is brand new!

Not having bought or sold a VW in years, I'm wondering what would be a fair price. It seems the highs of post Covid are done but I can't quite figure out what I should ask for it. In summary, we redid the whole interior (Sewfine seats and doors), Dynamat everywhere possible. Outside it was repainted on its right side (where the fire damage was) but we clear coated the rest of it to preserve the incredible smoke patina. We also sourced a good replacement pop top, with the better Buttys Bits hinges. Mechanically it had be redone before us, I just made sure all was good and reliable - fixed the servo brake, changed all the brake pads and lines, new carburetor (proper stuff), electronic ignition, changed all the rods so the steering would be as new and many more things, etc.

There are tons of pictures on its Instagram account:
http://instagram.com/biencuitbus

And I have the whole story on the French VW Camper website:
https://vw-camper.fr/t/le-cousin-americain/11357/52

What price should I ask for? And where to advertise it apart from here?
Thanks guys!


Link

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Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[SGKent]

is the bus in the US or Europe? If the US you can put an ad

on:

TheSamba classifieds
Bring a Trailer
Send it to an Auction
Facebook MarketPlace
Craigslist
Ebay Automotive
Put a for sale sign on it and drive it around town

No idea on prices, you have to do research on that by looking at sales thru auctions and what other people are offering their buses for. The value is made up by willing seller and willing buyer.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[pierrox]

It's in the US (North Carolina) and has a NC title.

I'll do some research on prices.

Thanks for the links!
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Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[Abscate]

Pristine Westy on BAT WERE UNDER 30k before the recession, so tin tops will be less than half that now, and falling.
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[SGKent]

[pierrox]

None at the moment:
https://bringatrailer.com/volkswagen/bay-window-camper/

And a similar 71 one - though "in its juice" so not necessarily the same audience - which just sold for $18K. 3 years ago, I think it would have done much more than this.
_________________
Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[static]

Send a note over to https://kieftenklok.nl/fr/ and see what they offer. If you don’t really need to sell it right now, don’t.

[pierrox]

That's actually a brilliant idea.

I've also considered shipping it to Europe, so at least we can use it and it's not just sitting idle in NC. I imported two VWs in the past, a Karmann Ghia and a brother of our bus (built 5 days after ours) for my brother. It was fairly simple and surprisingly cheap - shipping was $1000 for the Karmann, $1500 for the bus. But this was before covid, before energy became expensive, and before tariff. Wonder how much it would be these days, and how complex - plus the fact that it wouldn't be a regular import, it would be something we already own. We'd be taxed on import for sure as you can only relocate once for free, and it has to be within 12 months of moving out of the US.
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Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[Abscate]

You don’t pay tariff to move your own property.
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

if you're looking to get rich, you won't. I sold my bus on BaT because I wasn't going to deal with the bullshit of a classified ad. It pulled about 17k

I would expect yours to do low 20's. Not sure if that is a number you can live with or not, but it's the reality.

money got expensive to borrow and almost everyone today lives paycheck to paycheck
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[visibleink]

I think about buying an aircooled again after all these years....seems prices are falling.

I think one reason is there's just not many shops left to work on them. Not everyone that ones a VW wants to be dropping the engine and turning wrenches.

It's like the model Ts - there's so many out there they just aren't worth much if there aren't a ton of people that want them.
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Been on the samba so long I remember petting that dog to see VWs, WYHI, and green bug girl.

<-- Helga, she slammed her dub in '53 and adjusted valves with her teeth

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[scrivyscriv]

[SGKent]

I visited my heart surgeon today to discuss my upcoming open heart surgery. He asked why I wanted to wait until late June or July. I told him there was a VW bus at home with a type 4 engine that I was fixing an oil leak on, sort of like a Porsche 914-4 / 912e etc that I needed to finish some work on. He lit up and started sharing the cars has and is restoring, plus racing. I would guess in his 30's. The dream is very much alive with a lot of people. Right now people are short on cash because the last administration fleeced us down for every dime they could get.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[pierrox]

[Abscate]

Fora don’t give good statistics on markets. Social media is killing Fora slowly and steadily, most sales don’t show up here. I routinely see sales in greater NY go down at 1/3 of samba asking prices in the ads.

I see you are indeed an edge case on import fees and such, the long period between import does change things. Thanks for sharing that.

I don’t know why I thought it was a tintop, I’ll double my meds.

Skills price is probably on point. Buyers don’t care what you spent fixing it up, thry compare to others on the market.

The 2025 recession will flood the market with cars not being used in paid storage but ot looks like it’s already below your “ don’t sell threshold” which I would agree with
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[orwell84]

I’ve never considered the selling value of my bus except in terms of insuring it when I’m done. After owning it for 30 years, I’ve probably paid for what it originally cost in time and money. When you drive them, stuff breaks eventually. You can’t really have a bus (and use it) and have the money for the bus. I value my time as well and in that calculation is whether I enjoy that time and what it might take away from others. Mostly, I enjoy the time spent working on it. Sometimes, it makes me feel like I’m wasting my life and I have to stop for awhile.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[SGKent]

edited: if one were to buy a brand new factory car, the depreciation would be a lot. It would go down in value, not up. I would argue that a nicely restored VW bus is going down less than a new car, and that it has more potential to go back up than a new car. Value is willing seller and willing buyer. It is a FACT that changing local, and state economic conditions, income levels, employment, and taxes can make values higher or lower as people have more or less disposable income to spend on cars like our buses. Where American buses are shipped to Europe, exchange rates and other costs may affect values as well.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[SGKent]

FWIW I was looking at another insurance company today thinking maybe of changing the policy because of paperwork problems, and looked up insurance industry sales comps. The recent low on the SUV (Station wagon) is $13,000 and the recent high is $62,000. The 2/3 high value was around $45,000. The 1/3 low value was around $23,000. It all depends on willing seller and willing buyer, as well as condition. I did not look up Westphalia campers, which would be higher.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin