Caprice engine swap?

[kevm14]

Private seller. He also said "the car is mint."

[kevm14]

Jesus Christ I need to go buy this car right now.

Notes from 20 minute phone call. Guy sounded 100% normal.

Cadillac dealer in Nashua. These guys: http://www.macmulkincadillac.com/
Was one owner (owner's wife). We both laughed about this and he said "Well it's better than the little old lady who only drove to church on Sundays."
Had it over 5-6 years, 32k, CPO
Last year did alignment, does once a year
Brakes done last year.
Tires brand new, less than 6k.
Runs great, about 17 mpg
"Has 350"
TPMS comes on, two sensors are bad, happened after the tires were done so he was like...well I'll wait, I don't need it.
Year 2014 nav, bought brand new ($200), updated firmware was required. So it has that.
Brand new F150 2016, car sits for months. Loves it, but time to sell.
Daughter was going to take. Didn't want it. Found out she was pregnant, wanted different car.
Did low and high beams, both, $600. One was burnout or something and he said do everything due to the labor involved. Smart man.
Brand new shocks in back (combo MR and air leveling), mounts rotted. $2000. This is a pretty big value. I pressed about the rotting and he seemed to think it was a freak thing because the rest is really clean underneath. Either that or the shop conned him into it. He bought the shocks himself (thought probably RockAuto) and had it done. He found out originally because he had a failure to align issue and the shop said the shocks were about to fall off or something. Who knows. New shocks though so WIN.
Did a MAF, a buddy showed him where it was and he replaced himself.
Heated garage for parking. Does Methuen have any heated garages?
Winter, not much driving. Had a Dodge truck.

The only catch is he just canceled the reg (still has the plates) and insurance. Something about he thought his daughter was going to take it or sell it. I didn't quite follow - he did say he wishes he didn't cancel. So the test drive would have to be local he said. Or like, he would drive. I will have to finagle something because I'm not buying a car like this on a 5 minute spin around the block. But given that literally everything else sounds awesome, I can work with this.

This car couldn't fall into my formula any better really. It is kind of crazy.

- CPO, was second owner. Took care of it.
- Has high value replacement parts. Rear MR shocks. Good tires. Probably good brakes. Front end lighting (lol). Updated nav disc even.
- Already has replacement vehicle to drive, so not trying to score cash for whatever other reason.
- Priced exactly where I think it should be.
- Pretty poor marketing job on CL (short description, few pics).

This is all aligning very nicely.

As to the buying price. By my estimation, from what I've seen and heard, and based on Edmunds private TMV, the car is totally worth $5500. Do I dare go lower?

[kevm14]

I followed up with a few things via text.

- Does have title.
- As to whether this car was listed previously, his story is that he pulled it because his daughter was going to take it. But then she got something else due to expecting a baby.
- Got address.

Will map.

[kevm14]

The address he gave me is a water treatment plant in North Andover. I don't blame him for not wanting to meet at his house. I did confirm that he lives in Methuen. EDIT: he actually works at the plant. I was told to ring the buzzer in fact. lol

Bing says if we leave work at 4pm, it will be a 2h 19m drive, up from only 1h 46m without traffic. So that sounds terrible. Only 96 miles. It puts us straight through Boston, I93. The other routes are slower. Though the I495 rt is only 7 minutes slower despite being 27 miles longer.

Google has some different directions and actually recommends I95 slightly over I93. 95 around Boston may be less stressful? Could also try Waze and see what happens as we drive. Or we just do 495 and get probably the least traffic slow downs and more consistent experience.

If this works out my only comment is that Bill is bad luck. Also I owe him like $42 or whatever. For a previous bad luck trip.

[bill25]

If this works out my only comment is that Bill is bad luck. Also I owe him like $42 or whatever. For a previous bad luck trip.

I think Jersey is bad luck... (Fun Fact: It isn't really new anymore. Retail items can only be "New" for like a few months")

[kevm14]

Update. I ran the Carfax. Surprise. Last mileage recorded, 126,xxx. CL ad said 110k. I re-ran the Edmunds value and I came up with $4,850 or so, which is significant enough to mean that I am unwilling to pay $5500 (I was before).

I mentioned this and he said the car was not with him when he took the picture and it sat for 6 months. Odd that he would just throw the mileage up from memory (and be 16k off) and NOT go back and correct it, either. Anyway. He sent a picture of the current dash and it is 125,xxx. Which means the dealer must have written 126,xxx and meant 125,xxx. Easy enough to read a 5 for a 6 I guess.

So when I said the value is less and that this is a problem he replied that $5,000 was his bottom line. I passive aggressively stated that I hope it is in as nice of condition as he is saying. He said "you will like what you see." Ok.

Still I am already two TPMS sensors into the car the second I buy it but I think that is fairly offset by the replacement stuff and what I think will be very nice condition.

[kevm14]

Finally got a good Carfax that I can use.

It has some oddities.

3 owner, not 2 owner.

First owner had a corporate registration/title. There is no data here at all except it drove 15,5xx miles per year, for about 2.5 years and was then auctioned at 37k...

Second owner is weird. Another 2.5 years. But this time only 2,4xx miles were put on it the entire time. This is where it started its history with MacMulkin Cadillac. It had a lot of work done pretty consistently every 3-4 months from Feb 2009 to Feb 2010. Steering gear replaced....god if they didn't use the right rack I'd be so pissed. I guess I will have to see how it drives. That busted-ass NJ one steered nicely so this one better do the same. Also "axle housing / integral carrier" replaced. Differential? Transfer case? I have no idea. Somehow this is reported as being done twice, 3 months apart but within 65 miles. That is very strange. We are still only at 39k here, and the 2010 timeframe. What's even more strange is in March 2009 it was offered as a CPO car and then proceeded to have a bunch more work done until it finally sold to the current owner in Feb of 2010.

I will say the repairs could translate to abuse. It had both mechanical repairs and interior stuff like the console, outside door handle and seat/seat upholstery replaced or repaired. Bill might say, hey, that sounds like a rental car up through 39k and they spent the next 2-1/2 years repairing that damage. I guess anything is possible.

I wonder if MacMulkin bought it from auction and basically repaired it. That would explain the low mileage, since it wasn't a real private registration. I mean it is reported as personal but maybe a tech bought it or whatever. I'd love to know what happened and probably never will. Unless I drive to the dealer and find someone who worked there for like 10 years. Haha.

Third owner is our seller I guess. March of 2010 with 43k. I'd say nowhere near 32k. But whatever.

Carfax calculates a pretty normal amount of mileage, at 12k/yr.

It continued very consistent service at this dealer, lots of checks. Much less severe repair history with this owner, straight up to 126k. Which I guess tells me that they fixed it properly.

Conclusion? It is a used car and all cars have some kind of history. If the car looks and drives fine, then it's good enough for me. I need to make sure I am satisfied with the test drive though.

[kevm14]

A new AC Delco NV7 rack is available for this car on RockAuto for $634. Says 2005-2006 only. Oddly the remans show 2005-2011. So I guess as long as one was available in 2010, good enough for me. 2010 was a tough period for GM in terms of the bankruptcy, parts supplier issues and all kinds of stuff.

EDIT: Actually it was July 2009. I don't know if that is better or worse.

[kevm14]

Random thought: no adaptive cruise to use on the drive home if I buy it.

[kevm14]

Alternate option if this one doesn't pan out:
https://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/6127587924.html

Hot off the press, 1 hour old.

05 Cadillac STS - $4500 (West Milford)
V8, AWD, Sun Roof, Every Option, Metallic Blue, Grey Leather Interior, Great Condition, New Brakes & Tires. 141,500 Miles

1SG, FE3, AWD, no adaptive cruise. Getting to be a pretty common find when I find one with the 18s. Pretty much guaranteed actually based on my experience. It is NJ, of course. But looks like a private seller and the price is more or less reasonable for the mileage and condition.