What is your KJ worth?

[glend]

I was snooping on Car sales today, and noticed that KJs are incredibly cheap now, as most of them have very large kilometre numbers on them (some at part out prices).. The lowest kilometre listing was 91,000kms for a CRD which was listed for about $9k but probably needs work. I know mine is worth more but how could I ever get much anything for it when people would just point at Carsale prices and laugh. What do you realistically think yours is worth if you had to sell it? But why would you really, at this point, drive it until it dies.

[a-frame81]

Unfortunately for me, with the A/C not working I think I'd be lucky to get $4k for mine, even though it's otherwise now mechanically great and only has about 135,000km.

It's one of the main reasons why I persisted through all the transmission issues over the last year or so, as with that it would be pretty much worthless.

It will be staying for a few more years yet, unless I have an accident and write it off.

[Futal]

You're dead right, recently had the wife's 2006 black KJ Limited it needed some work and could not for the life of me move it at a reasonable price, needed to get out and eventually took 2k for it.. we were changing over all our cars and at one point owned 4 between two of us.

[cmohr]

My old 2003 CRD manual was an excellent shape and a great KJ, it had all my mods on it, I would not have let it go for anything under $10000, regardless of it's age, it was in tip-top condition, mechanically and cosmetically.
When the ******** who ran the red light wrote it off , I had a few weeks of arguing with the insurance about the price of replacing what I had lost, but, that does matter, it's only worth what the Blue book says. I managed to talk them up slightly but still only got 5k for it, a major loss, not due to my fault. Insurer didn't care. I asked them to justify this, and pointed them to multiple listings of similar vehicles, and the costs of replacing all the things like bullbar, lift, tyres, lights, radios, snorkels, roofracks, ect ect, again, they didn,t care, one person actually said to me when I asked how it was fair that they were only giving me a poor market value for the vehicle, and not replacing what I had lost due to their clients negligence. He said, "insurance isn't for replacing what you lost, it's about what it's worth"

I had to spend $11500 to get another KJ CRD Manual, with a few good bits already on it, bullbar, snorkel, lift, tyres lights ect. I went back and showed them that fact, case was closed.

Insult to injury.....
I was insured by the same company that the other driver was (whole claim was made on his policy not mine) so I really didn't have a choice but to insure with them again. When I tried to insure the vehicle for an agreed value, as I had just bought for 11500, they would not insure for that amount, only 9000..And, even when I said I was happy to pay a higher premium to cover the vehicle for the amount I had just paided for it, showing receipts and rego transfer paperwork they said they wouldn't do it......... and with their wording , I take it, they would most likely only pay "market value" again if it was damaged, not the "agreed" value that they are happily charging me for.

I have taken that policy, because I have to have insurance, but once I sort everything out I think I'll be cancelling and going with an insurer that actually has a "agreed value" not market value insurance policy.

Currently, I still value this KJ at $11500, but if somebody wanted to buy it from me they would have to pay more than that for me to let it go.. "That's it value" and it would cost $20000 to $25000 to REPLACE it all if it had to be built up again.

[MadKaw]

We sold our KJ a couple of months ago. 06 auto CRD Renegade with 150,000 ks, lift tune and in very good nick.
We listed it for $9900, not much interest, dropped it $9500 and had a couple of bites but no takers for a while. We were in no rush and didn't care if it didn't sell so left it for a couple of months. Then someone actually came out and looked at and they wanted it. Sold it for $9250.
We were going to trade it, best we were offered was $7500, worse was $3000.
The upside of the Jeep resale value is that we then bought a 2015 KL Limited with 40,000 ks and all the extras for $20500. That's for a 3 year old car that originally cost $55000...

[lujabe]

I think it’s just life with most cars these days... the level of complexity of vehicles and cost of parts means that once they hit about ten years old and a few things start wearing out, the cost of keeping them going can become comparable to the loan/lease repayments on purchasing a new/er vehicle.

Different if you have the space/setup/time/inclination to source parts and work on it yourself, but for most people that’s not the case. I ditched a ten year old car after it needed new struts/shocks, brakes and a water pump all at about the same time - the cost of repairing all that could have paid a lease on a brand newbie for 6 months. Plus it was reaching a km where the turbo could be expected to fail, the air con wasn’t what it used to be, CV joints were original, etc. You cop it on a new car in depreciation, or on an older car in maintenance.

[BeagleCamper]

FCA/Jeep Australia haven't helped either with have successfully developed such a poor reputation through bad dealership experiences, high recall rate, expensive parts & often poor availability to put people off owning an older Jeep.
How warranted that is another conversation!
For me, I've had a pretty much trouble free run except for expected maintaince/replacement parts. Now at 200,000 km. Been used but not abused, lots outback trips towing, Cape York x 2 7 Simpson desert x 2. Expect only worth $4-5K.
I've decided to go the 'repair & replace' route rather than change over. In the last 30,000 km it's been tyres, water pump (&timing belt whilst there), alternator bearing, rear boomerang bushes, front upper control arms, disc pads (rotors still ok), uni joints.
If I can get to the end of the life of these tyres with no further major expenses I'll be very happy.
I recall when we purchased the Jeep the toss up was a Prado. Paid $40K for the Jeep, Prado was $63K and then was still 4 speed auto, no traction control, no side airbags so the KJ was miles ahead on value.
Looking on Carsales now a 2006 Prado with 200,000 km is around $20K, compared to $4-5K for Jeeps as Glen said. So given the initial purchase price, going from $40K to $5K is much better than $63K to $20K!