Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Toyota, USA
2001 Toyota Rav4 EV fetches a record $89,200 on eBay!
The Toyota Rav4 EV we brought to your attention the other day has sold on eBay with the auction winner making a final bid of $89,200. We have seen the Rav4 EV bring in over $50,000 on eBay before and they've even reached up to almost $70,000 but this may very well be a new record. Perhaps it was the extra goodies included in the deal such as the wall-mounted Magnecharger and the spare pair of new tires. Maybe it was the low mileage or the high price of gas (We are pretty sure it wasn't the factory-installed cassette tape player). Whatever the motivation, the new owner went up $100 mere seconds after the next highest bidder had upped the ante by $10,000 ending a very spirited bidding war.
Not much is known about the buyer except that, judging by their other recent purchases, they are into woodworking, possibly owns a Blackberry as well as a trailer and no longer needs a leather wallet. They also have good taste in wallpaper borders and apparently enjoy making purchases on eBay.
*Update: Sale has not gone through to this buyer. Will report final price when known.
[Source: eBay, Thanks to Rei for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peekoyle 11:57AM (5/26/2008)
Crazy, I bet you could convert to electric a used petrol powered Rav4 for less money?
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Mike Z 12:04PM (5/26/2008)
Talk about eco-vanity.
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litteuldav 12:23PM (5/26/2008)
There is a market for a 50 k$ sedan, already now and with 10 year old spec. Don't worry Tesla, the White Star will sell good :-)
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Yanquetino 12:42PM (5/26/2008)
Let's not draw any final conclusions yet. The owner of the vehicle has posted this statement on the RAV4-EV owners' listserve:
============================
Hi Folks -
In case people are curious -
Please do not report the final sale price as currently posted on eBay -
$89,200.00
A problem has arisen - The highest bidder sent me this message:
"I am sorry about the bid my husband placed on this item. He thought he
retraced it but I guess he didn't. He has a brain tumor and can't see real
well. Could you please offer this item to the next highest bidder? Thank you
for understanding."
Therefore - we are now offering the car to the next highest bidder(s) as
second chances.
Time will tell how this saga resolves itself. We'll be happy to provide an
update once it's settled.
That's what we get for selling on eBay!
Best to all.
============================
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stevefazek 1:05PM (5/26/2008)
Brain tumor my ass.
Common excuses by shit heads on ebay.
I crashed my car.
I lost my Job
I got full blown aids.
For large ticket items ebay should require a SSN. That way you can just tap that 80 grand on their credit reports.
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Mike Z 1:48PM (5/26/2008)
FYI, From what I've heard the Whitestar is looking to be in the $75k range, not $50k.
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GoodCheer 1:51PM (5/26/2008)
"Whatever the motivation, the new owner went up $100 mere seconds after the next highest bidder had upped the ante by $10,000"
Just to clarify how Ebay works, it does not matter when you bid, only how much you bid. We will never know how much "outtherejim" bid, we only know that it was more than $100 more than anyone else:
The last bid placed was by "m***a", with 1 second left in the auction, for $89,100.
The 2nd last bid was by "v***v", with 4 sec left, for $69,800.
"outtherejim" placed the 3rd last bid, with 6 sec left on the clock.
The 4th last bid was f***f, with 28 sec left, for $65,200.
I would not be the least bit surprised if both of the top two bidders backed down and the price ended up $20,000 lower, much closer to the previous record.
I apologize for being mostly off-topic, but as an Ebayer I do get annoyed when people bid again and again, higher and higher on the same thing. You don't need to do that people; just bid the most you are willing to pay. You only pay one increment more than the 2nd highest bidder.
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Nicholas 3:09PM (5/26/2008)
Damn it, when will people realize that there is a huge market for electric cars now a days!!
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Kevin Nugent 8:08PM (5/26/2008)
whoah that is total insanity !! Why would you pay so much for a crappy car?? , like its green and all but the rav 4 is almost out of existence, he coudl put on 20,000 more and get a Tesla roadster which is much more current up to date and will last you longer. Im sorry but that is juts plain stupid. How about a think city , apetra , pruis , but nooo lets go throw away 80 garnd for stupid rav 4 . THERE ARE MUCH MORE CLEANER VEHICLES THAN THAT FOR LESS MONEY OR THe SAME AMOUNT
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philmcneal 9:20PM (5/26/2008)
people just buy into the hype so easily, then again its ebay, the land of the wild, 'sale' prices.
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stevefazek 10:46PM (5/26/2008)
look at a Prius dealers here are asking 30 grand now for a base model. Idiots will buy it too. I mean i would only buy a prius if i was gonna drive it to the ground. Otherwise an yaris or a fit would be a better investment.
But actually i bet the prius could pay for it self quicker since i could just put in the ev switch and make it to my job in EV only mode. Drive back home in gas mode.
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Joe Lervold 10:56PM (5/26/2008)
Unfortunately this story is inaccurate. I know because I am the seller of this item. The $89k bidder claims to have tried to retract their bid. I have since agreed to sell the car for a considerably lower amount to the bidder next in line. I will report the sale price on the SFEVA yahoo list once the dust settles. It will still be the new record high sale price, I believe. Sorry I couldn’t remove or correct the ad while the dispute process was underway. Joe in SF.
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ebayer 3:40AM (5/27/2008)
Joe,
I'm sorry to say that's bull man. Ebay is a contract. That top bidder should pay 89,200. That's the same as going to a dealer and signing a contract for the price of the car only to retract it. There has to be a penalty and at least the top bidder should pay the 20,000 difference if it's going to be awarded to the second highest bidder. All the ebay stuff I've seen cannot retract a bid once you put it in so that comment made by the top bidder's supposed wife is a lie.
Besides even if you could, how do you decide to retract something that you had bid just a few seconds before the expiring of the auction?
I would've loved to bid for that car if it didn't go up so high but hey, if i'm not accountable for what I say I'll pay then I'd love to have put 100000.
I just hope the story will be all clarified in the yahoo list as you have mentioned. At least the ebay auction proves that EVs are in demand one way or another.
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BlackbirdHighway 6:14AM (5/27/2008)
Making a bid on ebay should be an obligation to pay that amount, but many states have laws that allow buyers to back out of car purchases. This is to protect consumers against high pressure car sales.
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steven 10:59AM (5/27/2008)
@8: There is a huge market for fraud and abuse you mean.
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hughie522 7:03PM (5/27/2008)
And it's not even owned by Alexandra Paul.
How could you even think of paying this much for a RAV4 EV that isn't owned by Alexandra Paul? I mean, it's Alexandra Paul!
"Who's Alexandra Paul?"
Oh never mind :P.
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mickabout 6:00PM (6/13/2008)
Hello. My husband and I are the new adoptive parents of this wonderful vehicle. We purchased it to add to our collection of electric vehicles, which currently include an OEM S-10EV, an OEM Ford Ranger EV, and we are currently on the purchase list of the upcoming Phoenix Motor Car.
"The last bid placed was by "m***a", with 1 second left in the auction, for $89,100".
That was me. Our feeling is that the vehicle was worth what we paid for it. Toyota ran those batteries for 300,000 miles and never had a hitch with them. at 47K miles (currently on the Rav4) we have many more years to enjoy it. We also feel it is a part of history. Our motivation was purely to aquire a part of that history. You cannot place a price on that....
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