Good evening!

I think I may have finally found a solid candidate for my first XJ. It's a 2001 with 169k miles for $4900. I was curious if this is too high of a price considering the millage. A majority of the ones I've seen with similar millage are sold for less than $4,000. Would the quality of the jeep (pics below) justify this high of a price? Should I go into the test drive being leery of anything, anyone see a red flag? Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Pictures aren’t showing up. Maybe it’s just me?

 

Sorry about that! Must not have gone all the way through when I uploaded them.

 

Pics make it look pretty clean. Have you pulled a Carfax report on it yet? I'd look to see that it was properly maintained too. And check that it's not a write-off or flood damaged vehicle either.
As for the price, clean (rust free ones) are starting to get harder to find so they're starting to rise in price a bit now. I would check everything, All fluids, make sure the trans shifts as it should, and that the color of the fluid is right, (not over due, etc.), get it up to operating temp on your test drive, make sure it levels off temp wise where it should, good oil press., you know... all that jazz. lol.
Check the common places for leaks, head, valve cover, RMS, pan, trans cover, oil filter adapter seal. No coolant leaks, thermostat housing, water pump, whining from the power steering, etc.

You want to make sure you're looking at a solid vehicle and not what a used car salesman would call a dolled up "cream puff". vehicle.

And final 2 cents on the price, while they are starting to rise in price, different areas of the country have their own local market values too.... so I'd go with that and what some others have said in different threads here, blue book value doesn't really apply as much to vehicles like this nearly as much as they may have in the past. Clean XJ's are harder to find because they're no longer made.

 

Looks clean from the pics but it also looks like it could be a dealer? I’m weary of dealers myself.

It’s an 01 so do the checks you can to eliminate a cracked head when you look at it or at least make sure no coolant has mixed with the oil.

If it all checks out, that’s a fair price in my area. But as mentioned before that varies greatly depending on location and buyer. I knew going into it what I was willing to spend on what I wanted and held out until I found what I wanted. I have a thread somewhere on here with a lot of good info from other members when I was searching myself

Link to my thread: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/little-help-239161/

 

In my area that price for that clean of a Jeep would be fair, even a little better than fair. (because you can't find Jeeps that clean in my area period). I paid more than that for mine, and it was not -nearly- as clean underneath (but it only had 49k on the clock).

 

Found out the grey one was in a accident and the dealer was being way too difficult when trying to find out details about the cars history to justify driving 3 hours for a test drive, but I think this one may be the best I've come across. Was being restored for a friends son and he passed away. The restoration was done throughout the car top to bottom, have yet to receive pictures of the underside, but the owner did send pics of some parts of the restoration process. Said he has all the receipts from parts that were installed, some by him and some through a local garage. 74k miles on it, wants $8,000 for it. Also said that some spare parts are included in the price including door handles, lightbulbs, and switches. Not much to see, but what do you all think of this one when compared to the other two on the thread?

Ad posted by owner: Dark green and gray clothe. 74k original miles. Backed up by carfax and service records. Michigan truck but wintered inn Phoenix.
Mechanical restoration by me. Everything is new. Will go over all the details in person. It is being pinstriped and cleaned as of right now. Many new photos to come of restoration. Every step of it. Will show in person. Beautiful automobile. Must see....new tires. complete brake overhaul. All new U-Joints and ball joints and wheel bearings and shocks. Front drive shaft completely rebuilt from CCI on 26 mile.

 

pass

 

hard pass... that's a lot of work being done. No way to really know if it was done right. Plus 8k? That's ridiculous

 

Despite being in an accident back in '08 do you think $4900 is a fair price for the grey one? I know that a few other guys commented but that was before I found out it had been in an accident... I've always been told to steer clear of anything that has been in an accident.

Just looking to use it as a daily driver with occasional weekends in the woods, along with handling Michigan winters. I've been combing through craigslist trying to find one with no rust, that seems mechanically sounds, but each time I go into drive it the guy is either way too aggressive and pushes me out of the sale by pricing too high and is not willing to come down (i.e. $8000), or the thing turns out to be a pile of rust backed by very convincing pictures. So far the only solid ones I've found are the green and the grey ones above. Are there any other places to look besides craigslist?

Just stumbled on this one as well:

https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/c...384618222.html

 

All I can suggest is to check these 2 links, look around the site and try posting up in the locals to see if someone will help you out.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/loo...osting-224555/
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/i-j...w-what-239162/
Posting links to ads without having a human being there in person to inspect it is rather pointless and you could end up with a really expensive lawn ornament.

ETA:
Print this out then take copies and fill them out for a vehicles you look at.
http://pop.h-cdn.co/assets/downloads...-checklist.pdf

 

I found mine on Facebook marketplace it’s a pretty good place to look. Cars.com and carsoup.com usually have some too but I don’t think many private sellers use those two from my experience. How far are you willing to travel for the right jeep? I searched in a 6 hour radius from me everyday before I found mine.

 

^^ not a bad idea... I just moved to the US from living in Australia... and tons of people use FB marketplace for selling vehicles of all types. In fact that's where/how I sold my vehicle there. before the big move across the pond.

 

Got ya! Thank you for all the help guys! I’ll just keep searching until I find the right fit for the right price.

 

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invent...sModified=true