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Yes, I have worked in the Volvo-specific trade, largely as a result of a lot of expertise and information gained working on my own stuff and learning things here.
Today at the shop I checked up on the NADA retail value of said 940. NADA says over $10000. Add for low miles. Ran it past the boss, who said, why would a 95 940 be so cheap? His opinion was, even if it IS cheap, there is a ton of money saved, which you could easily spend fixing it up. Basically there is a lot of "room" left to play with.
Now being conservative, let's say that you are getting a $3500 discount from retail. $3500 is a ton of money off. You can do a lot of work for that amount of money even if you're paying someone to do it.
There are a lot of really nice looking later model Volvos that amount to nothing but tired iron. They've been trashed, beat around, ill-maintained, and now they're up on the market. Still, for that kind of a price, you could fix a LOT of problems.
Paintwork will last a LONG time if it's waxed and cared for very meticulously. Even in hot climates. But it will last a very short time if it isn't maintained well, or if it isn't applied too well. You can see most impending problems, but not all. Again, there is so much room left in the purchase price that you could afford to have some paintwork done.
I always figure cars' reference price to be retail price minus a few hundred. That leaves a good baseline to calculate total value/total worth from. I might not be the world's biggest expert, but I can tell you in no uncertain terms, you usually get what you pay for, either now or later. If you make out on the deal, then you got an excellent deal. If you lose your arse, you got hit with a bad deal. That easy.
That isn't to say you can't find deals. I'm just saying, if the car you're looking at is really sharp, had all recent services, good brakes, good rubber, good everything, I would expect a price up to and including the $10-12k range. A "deal" would be $8000-10000. And if that 95 needs only 2k worth of work, it is still a decent price. If it needs nothing, you might have really stolen it. It would pay to have an expert look it over and tell you what it needs. Good luck and share your experiences. I don't want to discourage you in any way but I don't like to see people get excited at the prospect of a car that is only half of what they thought. Although, when the car is half price, then it is no time to argue :)
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1992 940 wagon, very low miles
as well as others.
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