A little about me and my habits first. I currently drive a fairly boring 2017 Ford Explorer that i only bought 1.5 years ago, but is worth more now than when I bought it. I drive very little, work from home, for reference, my explorer only has 42K miles on it. Id venture to guess i put about 10k a year, if that. My wife and I have decided to sell the Explorer pay off the last few K we owe on it and take 10K and buy something cash, put the rest in savings. Go no car payment for a while. My crazy idea is it may be time to look into that project vehicle ive always wanted. Goal would be that it would be my daily driver for 2 years, and then move to fun, project, camping mobile as long as i could keep it rolling.

I found an 03, rough but doable, D2 on cars and bids that seemed like it could be a great deal. Never pulled the trigger...looked a little too much project for me, but it was very tempting, especially at 4400 when i started following it. It sold today for around 7500.

Have seen a couple of others that were on the edge for me in regards to pursuing, but finally came across an 03 D2 on craigslist today. It looks immaculately clean inside and out in the pictures, has around 124K miles and the guy is asking 11,500 for it which seems very high to me. This is where my questions come in.

1. $11,500; am I wrong to think that is overpriced? I would start to get tempted at 9, and very tempted at 7-8. Am I being realistic? I mentioned the price to him in my first email and his response was that dealerships are selling them for substantially more in worse shape. Fair enough...i haven't seen them...but then again, im looking in a lower price bracket. I know the auction listings I've seen have been substantially less, even the sold ones.

2. I asked him about any major services done, especially since it is past 100k. His response was only thing he has done was oil changes, installed an awning, and coolant flush. He states it is in flawless condition. I'm skeptical at best. Part of me says, cool, great running car, good deal...other part of me says, how much is on the verge of breaking as soon as I transfer the title. Am I realistically skeptical here, or over thinking it?

Before I write back and tell him I am a very interested buyer at 9K, but I would want to have a thorough test drive, pay for an inspection, etc. I wanted to ask the experts what they thought. Is my price expectation accurate, and if that works out, what are some big red flags to look out for straight away? Is it even worth pursing with vague service history?

Thank you ahead of time and I look forward to the discussion.