Some cars make total sense. They may be small and perfect for city driving or they may be big and practical to carry the family around. Others, however, like the Dodge Viper, not so much, at least not for your typical driver. It’s a vehicle that will be equal parts of awesomeness and pain.
Doug DeMuro is the owner of a 20-year-old Viper GTS and as you may expect, it isn’t the most reliable ride on four wheels. So, when DeMuro took it to used car retailer CarMax for an appraisal, things didn’t go very well.
When he purchased his bright blue Viper, he shelled out $37,000. However, CarMax offered him a figure of just $25,000, about the same as a new Toyota 86 with its measly 2.0-liter engine.
The Viper on the other hand, has a huge 8.0-liter V10 engine with 400 hp and can accelerate to 60 mph (96 km/h) in around 4 seconds. Evidently, CarMax doesn’t care much about performance or speciality rides, for that matter, especially ones that are over 10 years old. All they want is a car which they will be easily able to resell at an auction or to a private buyer for a profit.
The lesson here? If you own an older sports car, muscle car or supercar, chances are that CarMax will not offer you a good deal. You’ll be much better off selling it privately and enjoy the extra money you’ll get for it.