This 10-Year-Old Toyota Corolla Doesn't Seem Worth $11,260 But What Do I Know
A reader who seems to have their head on straight emailed us a listing from an Ohio dealership asking $11,260 for a 2013 Toyota Corolla that, to my untrained eye, may not be worth $11,260, in normal circumstances at least. Unfortunately, we’re not living in normal circumstances.
In case you missed it:
Now, again, I’m not an expert but that is an interesting panel gap. That might have not been Toyota’s intended build, and instead the result of either a collision or vandalism, but who can say. That also looks like it could be the donut instead of the regular wheel and tire, though possibly it’s just that the hub cap is missing; neither situation is ideal.
Maybe if we zoom out things get better:
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Not really! As the damage is still pretty visible. The car’s description says, “Road Ready! Safety Checked!, Clean Carfax,” and at least one of those things must be true. The listing says the Corolla LE has 134,685 miles, which is not crazy for a Toyota but isn’t great either.
The listing also says that this car has a “retail price” of $12,895 but that Ricart is offering the “live market-based price” of $11,260 after applying a $1,635 discount for no obvious reason. These numbers are not completely made up at all.
For reference, I looked up a comparable Corolla on Kelley Blue Book and they estimated it would be worth around $7,000 at most, which is less than $11,260. To be clear, it’s not that Ricart is doing anything wrong here; they can charge whatever they want for their cars and because the market is in a weird place right now, it would appear that they are.
The rest of us, though, don’t have to pretend that it’s anything other than odd to see a car of this age, condition, and mileage asking five figures. I messaged Ricart to see if they can shed any more light on the matter and will update this post if I hear back.
h/t Matt
