Friend is selling me his '99 Deville. Its in pretty good shape but the back sags real low and he says it needs shocks. Said it was gonna cost like $1200 to fix and they dont want to sink the money into it. Can anyone tell me what the problem there is and how hard it is to fix at home?. He's bringing the car to me tomorrow, he lives about 150 miles from me. I dont believe the car has been well maintained, its got 89k miles and seems to run fine. Needs a good detailing as he is a bit of a slob. It is a rust free Florida car. I'm paying $3500 for it. Good deal or no?. Thanks.

Sounds like a pretty good deal. I have a '98 that needs rear struts. The dealer quoted $880. for them installed. There are two different set-ups. I have the cheap one. The other set-up is something like $2500 or maybe more. If it's a base Deville, you probably have the cheaper one. I want to do mine when the IRS gives me my money back. A good detailing on an old car really makes a difference. 89k is relatively low mileage, mine has 107K. Good Luck with your new car!

It might be nothing more than a chaffed air line running from the ELC (Electronic Load Leveler) compressor to the shocks, thus leaking the air needed to pump them up. Check that system out.

It should have had the coolant changed in '04. If not, it is overdue and should be done emmediately.

Price sounds good. I just sold a '97 with 107K for $6000.

New rear base air shocks from gm at rockauto.com are $150 each and my local repair shop put them in for $150 total. Not sure thats you're problem sounds more like a line problem as ranger stated

$3500 you should jump all over that, that car can easily sell for 10-12k

$3500 you should jump all over that, that car can easily sell for 10-12kDid not take possession of it today however I drove it and checked it out thoroughly.

The bad: Its a '98 not a '99. He says carmax offered him $4200 so I'd have to pay that. Does not ride that good due to the rear suspension, the hood latch is busted as is the trim right below the front grill, weather stripping in the drivers side rear qurater window is coming off, weather stripping / insulation on drivers side front door looks like its shrinking and not on their right and it has a slight knock at startup. Its also filthy inside and out. Oh and the front headlights are really foggy and there are many light scratches/door dings. Really looks ragged, a diamond in the rough?........

The good: Runs great aside from a little faint knocking at startup. Paint looks real shiny under the multiple layers of dirt and I believe it will buff out nice. Aside from being real dirty the interior looks like it will clean up good, no rips/tears/cracking of leather. All electronics function good and A/C is ice cold. It has 86k miles not 89k. No leaks at all.

Joking around with him, I said damn you are a slob, this thing is filthy. He says its an 8 year old car and not a new one like my S320 Mercedes (He didn't know how old my car was). I said to him that my Mercedes is a year older than his Caddy and only has 19k miles less. I said its simply a matter of taking care of your stuff and he was at a loss for words. But I was only joking around with him and realize the price is pretty good. I told him I'd I wanted to price out the repairs it needed and that I would get back to him on Monday. Do you guys think its a good deal based on my description or keep looking for another car? Thanks again.

You've gotten good advice so far - here's my cut.

I had a 99 Deville for about 4 years, mileage from 34K to 100K. Your prospective 98 is not much different.

Great car. Fast, smooth, quiet, fairly economical to run.

The knock on startup is probably the famed 'cold carbon rap' - a few good WOT treatments will clear that right up.

The trim and weatherstripping issues are a no-brainer. Easy and cheap fixes.

The hood latch should be an easy R&R too.

If the engine pulls strong, exhibits no tendancy to run HOT (over 220) when warm, no clouds of blue or white smoke out the butt end, and there are no major fluid leaks, I'd say jump on it.

Clean it up and you'll have a very nice car for very little money.

You've gotten good advice so far - here's my cut.

I had a 99 Deville for about 4 years, mileage from 34K to 100K. Your prospective 98 is not much different.

Great car. Fast, smooth, quiet, fairly economical to run.

The knock on startup is probably the famed 'cold carbon rap' - a few good WOT treatments will clear that right up.

The trim and weatherstripping issues are a no-brainer. Easy and cheap fixes.

The hood latch should be an easy R&R too.

If the engine pulls strong, exhibits no tendancy to run HOT (over 220) when warm, no clouds of blue or white smoke out the butt end, and there are no major fluid leaks, I'd say jump on it.

Clean it up and you'll have a very nice car for very little money.
Thanks Jim. I'm taking your advice to heart and will go and get the car on Monday. If it turns out to be a POS I'm coming after you though............lol, just kidding. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks. The car made the 150 mile trip to my house without overheating.........good sign. I really believe its got the wrong owners but at the same time I know it has not really been beaten on. Its my friends wife's car and although she and him both are not the cleanest people in the world I can tell they did what was needed to the car and nothing more. Brakes were completely done about a year ago, its got a fresh set of tires and so forth. They kept it running right, just not clean. No smoke, no leaks......... I think I can make this car nice once again with minimal effort. Thanks for the feedback.

Ok, got the car a couple days late. Its Wednesday. Man, this thing is officially the nastiest looking car I have ever seen. Even worse than I first noticed. More you look at it the dirtier you realize it is. I'll get to cleaning it in the next few days and will put up before/after pics. After I go completely through it I'm sure I'll have many questions regarding repairs and so forth. Anyway thanks for all the help guys!

Have fun man! :thumbsup:

What are the colors and stuff, what does it have for options?

Have fun man! :thumbsup:

What are the colors and stuff, what does it have for options?Its a dark grey metallic w/grey interior. I dont know what these came with standard but its pretty loaded. Does not have a sunroof and I dont know if this was an available option. Its got leather and a disc changer all the power stuff, etc. Its not a concourse model............like I said, I dont know what came standard/optional when new. Needs a good cleaning, thats for damn sure!.

Its a dark grey metallic w/grey interior. I dont know what these came with standard but its pretty loaded. Does not have a sunroof and I dont know if this was an available option. Its got leather and a disc changer all the power stuff, etc. Its not a concourse model............like I said, I dont know what came standard/optional when new. Needs a good cleaning, thats for damn sure!.

For what it is worth..... If CarMax offered $4200 for the car, it is worth $4200 as it is in your area, and that is the value before you run it through the car wash.

Please don't misunderstand me though.... The car will have a much higher RETAIL value, especially after a couple weekends of TLC and spit shine. CarMax will quote no more than wholesale just to be sure they will get their money out of the car at auction, in the event it may be too costly to put on the retail lot.

For what it is worth..... If CarMax offered $4200 for the car, it is worth $4200 as it is in your area, and that is the value before you run it through the car wash.

Please don't misunderstand me though.... The car will have a much higher RETAIL value, especially after a couple weekends of TLC and spit shine. CarMax will quote no more than wholesale just to be sure they will get their money out of the car at auction, in the event it may be too costly to put on the retail lot.
Well at this point it seems like a pretty good deal. I've searched locally and there are maybe 75 or so of this year available with prices as high as 12k for a lower mileage car and as low as $6000 for one with substantially more miles. I live in FL, these Caddies are everywhere. Up till 50k miles this car belonged to Disney according to the paperwork my friend supplied, hopefully they maintained it right up to that point. I remember noting how mint the car was when he initially purchased it at the time. He was a salesman at a Ford dealer 3 years ago when he got it on a truck trade. Shortly thereafter he moved back to NY and last year he moved back to FL, now he's going back to NY..........a complicated guy he is. The 36k miles him and his wife put on the car were almost all highway miles, they made a lot of trips back and forth between NY and FL cause they have family here. Car seems to run like a champ and I'm sure it wasn't the "deal of the century" but it wasn't a bad one either.

Its a dark grey metallic w/grey interior. I dont know what these came with standard but its pretty loaded. Does not have a sunroof and I dont know if this was an available option. Its got leather and a disc changer all the power stuff, etc. Its not a concourse model............like I said, I dont know what came standard/optional when new. Needs a good cleaning, thats for damn sure!.


Sounds like you have the "Moonstone Metallic" - same as mine was. Very nice when shined up.

The base Deville has the column shifter - the Concours and D'Elegance had floor shifters, IIRC.

I've attached a few thumbs of my old '99 - if your color matches, its the Moonstone.

Sounds like you have the "Moonstone Metallic" - same as mine was. Very nice when shined up.

The base Deville has the column shifter - the Concours and D'Elegance had floor shifters, IIRC.

I've attached a few thumbs of my old '99 - if your color matches, its the Moonstone.same color. Actually the metallic finish looks great cleaned up. I'll post pics of mine when I get the chance.