A Nissan Z Proto Spec just sold at auction for $63,000. While that might be almost 10 large over its MSRP, it indicates that we might just be seeing the market cool off. And it’s only one piece of recent evidence suggesting that paying big markups on special cars is a losing proposition.
When the Z Proto Spec first arrived on the scene we saw a lot of greedy dealers do everything in their power to get every dime they could out of it. In October of last year, we told you about how one Nissan dealer told us that it had turned down an offer of $85,000 in hopes of getting even more for a car that the automaker itself says is worth $54,915. It was far from the only example we’ve seen of such a practice.
Today, a number of dealers across the country are still asking for far above and beyond MSRP for the Z. Those that aren’t willing to budge might be out to dry though because the free market just spoke up and said that a Z Proto Spec is worth about $63,000. That’s how much it just cost a new owner over on Bring A Trailer.
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To be clear, that’s still almost $10,000 over MSRP ($54,915) but it’s a far cry from $85,000. The specific car in question is technically used though it only has 330 miles on the odometer, a clean Carfax, and retains the peelable plastic on its accelerator pedal. It also comes with a little Hot Wheels Z Proto replica. Its somewhat low price reflects what seems to be a cooling off across the enthusiast market.
Just last week, another Z, this time not a Proto Spec, failed to meet the reserve on Cars and Bids despite the fact that it was bid up to $44,000 with an MSRP of $42,690. That suggests that the seller expected more and very likely paid more themselves.
Just days ago we told you about how two Corvette Z06s failed to meet reserve despite being bid up to sums that were tens of thousands of dollars over MSRP. It sure seems like all those who were so eager to pay anything to get their hands on a hot new car a few months ago might be in a bit of a bind right now.
