H2

I think that now is a good opportunity to buy a 928 in extraordinary condition, and not so good to buy one that hasn't been kept up (Frankly, alll 928s look great in the advertising fotos and seller desriptions). The following observations are just mine and may not be reflective of your perceptions. If discussing 928 pricing trends irritates you, read no further. If this pi$$es you off, I apologize. I understand that your thoughts may be more accurate than mine. And I’d love to see evidence that refutes my perception. I WANT the reality to be different than what I think I'm seeing.

Good news: In today’s market one can buy a GREAT 928 at prices cheaper than ever. This is not good news for most sellers.

Bad news: In tomorrow’s market, 928s will be even more affordable to buy. This may be good news for discriminating buyers who own a 928 for enjoyment now and are waiting for their “dream 928” to come on the market. 928s are not investments but rather one of the best Porsches ever made….and not widely recognized for that. That's not all bad. The perceived value of a 928 is unquantifiable, as ownership of the 928 carries a level of pleasure that’s hard to find in other comparably priced cars. In any case, I suspect that the market largely dictates the financial reality.

If you’re in the buying mode, waiting for prices to stabilize may be risky. The challenge is to know when to purchase a really pristine-condition, relatively low-mile, well-maintained 928 before all the best examples are snapped up by other true 928 enthusiasts. These are the high performance-car enthusiasts whose upfront costs are not as important as the perceived personal value of owning and driving such a great car. Pleasure doesn’t carry a quantifiable price tag.

Really top notch 928s should continue to sell to discriminating buyers where the 928 benefits outweigh the costs. But it’s unlikely that you will be able to sell and recover near what you paid for the car. And this is not factoring in the (sometimes substantial) $$ you put into your 928 in getting it “right” after your purchase.

Selling/Buying any car is complex since the upside down seller Is usually reluctant to take a “hosing” and the buyer is usually looking for a "deal too good to pass up." List any car at a price that’s perceived to be a “steal” and it will sell quickly. Price at yesterday’s market and you’ll most likely continue to own and enjoy your car longer.

The values of all my water-pumpers are going down FAST and I'm way upside down on all of them. Ironically, the dollars lost to depreciation are less than equal to the dollars I'm throwing at the cars to make them excellent and keep them on the road. The word, "black hole" frequently comes to my wife's mind but, admittedly, I'm still in deep denial. As an example, I have about $18K into an ‘85S which is perceived by many to be a $6K car. Will I sell for $6K? No, not until I’m forced to (this is not unlike many of you).

But I was never good at math or predicting trends or spending money for gain. I tend to buy high and sell low. From a dollar standpoint, until the prices bottom out, it's becoming more difficult to justify a 928. On the other side, "you only live on this earth once," so pleasure yourself and drive one of the best cars ever made!

Reminds me of a friend who accompanied his hunting buddy to a "house of pleasure" in Kellogg Idaho and rather than sign up, my friend sat in the downstairs lounge and waited. The head madam approached him and asked, "We have some really nice girls, are you sure you don't want me to set you up?” My friend replied, "No, I don't need that, I'm married." To which the madam responded..."Honey, in that case, the few bucks you’d spend here is the best bargain you could ever get. Compare our annual costs to your marriage costs."

I'm married to my cars I guess. Divorce would come hard after all the improvements I’ve made. Some try to spread the myth that the prices are going to go back up pretty soon, that prices have bottomed, etc.. It's obvious that the prices haven't yet stabilized and (I predict) won't do so for a while..even for GTSes. It's pretty simple to track the sales of the last 12 months and see the trend. I tried tracking sales and gave up in frustration. On the other hand, if you find a car at today's prices that you don't mind “marrying until death do you part,” now's a good time to buy some absolutely great 928s.

In any case, for the money, you'd be hard put to find any car as beautiful, unique, luxurious and fast as the 20-some year old 928! ' Vettes may be cheaper, but they're not Porsche. Even though it may make practical sense, driving a ‘ vette is kinda like driving a Harley. Both are too common for me. I’d rather drive a car that people mistake for a Ferrari…and can outran most of the cars on the road. (Side nte: It’ll be interesting to follow the Harley-Davidson price trends over the next 10-20 years).

Some will be offended that I would even fathom to think that 928 prices haven’t yet stabilized. And, I once saw an ostrich actually stick it’s head into a hole. But wishing something were true doesn’t make it true.

That said, I will tell you that I still desire a GTS. But I’m so deep into the great P-cars that I have (absolutely no parking space left) that I'm tempted to do like Shane and others and “twin screw” one of them. For not a lot of money, you have a super-car that will keep up with probably anything in the country. Examples? Look at what the 928s did recently in open road runs in Nevada and the Pikes Peak climb….and, closer to home, my last “spirited run” in my daily driver S4.

Someone, please buy one of my P-cars so I can take advantage of the great deals that are “out there.” I think my cars are in better shape than most 928s. How much am I asking? Unfortunately, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford them. But buy a 928 of unknown pedigree and condition and you’re likely to spend much more on total cost of ownership than buying from a trusted, perfectionist Rennlist seller. There are a lot of 928s floating around on today’s market, and a few are in great shape and priced to move quickly. But the norm tends to be poorly maintained cars selling too high. You’ll see some 928s listed and re-listed quite a few times. It’s a great time to acquire the 928 of your dreams! Just be careful and don't forget the PPI.

I'm home in bed, full of meds, recuperating from having the doctor stick large objects up my butt and shoot holes into my prostrate gland. I don’t even want to know the market rate for that service. If the tests come out positive, you'll be seing some great deals listed.

H2

tdelarm

Harv-mister...EBAY has a 95 GTS listed for $37K...might be right for you.

RSKY BIZ

Hey Harvey,

You lay in your 'post-procedure' bed . . .NOT your 'death' bed!
The Shark Karma be with you, my friend!

Your prostate will heal... you will soon be wrenching again...
Wish I could grab a shark from ya, tho... honest!

OK.... hope all goes well for you...
Doc :

IcemanG17

The "value" of 928's is individual to each owner......to most of us they are worth far more than the "market" says they are & we don't care what it costs to keep them pristine.... With that said I still want a 5 speed S4+ track car & wouldn't mind a super clean GTS either....but of course higher up on my "dream" list are a Ferrari, kit cobra, Lotus Esprit V8TT...plus a few more.....so many cool cars, so little garage space & (most important) NO $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

MGW-Fla

I thought that was a painful read until I got to the "end" & then it really hurt!! Ouch!

docmirror

I think you're meds are affecting your head. You have cars putatively for sale, yet won't name any prices(save not 6k for the 85S). Then, a few lines later you want to buy a car, and a few lines after that, you warn that if your health doesn't improve, we'll see some real bargains.

This is well beyond my tautological command, and I'll have to try parsing the whole thing again. I also think you said that prices haven't stablized on the 928. Well, I'm not sure what your waiting for, but in an efficient market(ours), there is no such thing as a 'stabilization'. It seems you might be old enough to remember those prez's that did try to 'stabilize' things back in the '80s. It didn't work well. Who would have guessed that early 70s muscle cars from the US would command mid six digits? Expecting them to 'stabilize'?

Sorry to hear that you're upside down on all your cars. I'm just the opposite. I don't have pristine examples, nor do I want perfect cars. I want drivers, and that's what I have. I can sell any of my cars for more than my investment with a few months of patience. It's about buying with your head, and not with your glands.

Hope you feel better soon.

Vilhuer

You might be on the money for US market but in Europe things are little different. Try to find manual GTS under 20k euros. It used to be possible few years ago and there was even multible cars on the market at same time. Now it has become increasingly difficult task. There are several for sale at any given time but they are usually listed well above 20k. They stay on the market for long time though. But main point is that cheap ones are almost all gone and new supply has dried out. If this trend continues eventually 30k cars will sell and next ones that come to market will be priced even higher.

Same thing applies to early cars. It used to be possible to easily buy '78 from Germany for 3k. At the moment cheapest one for sale in Mobile.de which was made in seventies is 6900e. Few years ago there would have been at least dozen cars priced much lower than that. Number of old cars for sale is also much smaller than before. Many bad ones have been taken of the road in past few years and equally many good ones have been bought by enthusiasts and are not for sale. There aren't that many left on open market. Days of the cheap bargains are numbered in here.

If $ keeps on going down and ROW prices up soon your good US cars start to leak out of the country. Please keep them in good condition. We are coming to get them for cheap.

RicerSchnitzzle

Buy a brand new 911turbo, keep it two years, then sell....
Your $6K rocket that cost $18K will look a whole lot better all of the sudden. If you spend less a month on maintenance and repairs than the cost of a new porsche payment, you're in the black regardless of what depreciation or "ReturnOnInvestment" says.

Jim R.

Look at the 2003 911 Turbos on ebay. BIN prices ranging from low $60's to low /mid $70's. Out the door 4 years ago with taxes, probably $130 to $140,000 or so. $15,000+ a year in depreciation give or take. If I could afford it, maybe I wouldn't care......

But I'll be keeping my GT and enjoying every minute of it. Currently built to the way I want it, great looking, great sounding, comfortable, relatively rare, wicked fast, and paid for.

And no $15k/year depreciation here....

Jim

Jim bailey - 928 International

In the world of Porsche owners and the market which Porsche targets most of us are like the dogs milling around under the tables at King Arthurs banquets waiting for scraps and bones to fall on the floor. We might be sharing the "meal" but it was not cooked for our benefit...

F451

Can someone send me the Cliff Notes version?

Is there going to be a quiz on this?

Is this going to be on the final?

F451

LOL! Well said Jim. And so true for the majority of us here.

Crisis

Unfortunately, it's more than just the scraps & bones landing on some of us...

Oh well, I'll be in a better mood next year, when I hope some daylight starts to penetrate the black hole.

Tampa 928s

Every one forgets that a Honda cost 20K which would you rather own? Once you replace all the parts don't you have a new car again, at least thats the way I see it.

Marine Blue

There are very few cars out there that appreciate in value and I think this trend will not change. Newer cars aren't really designed to last very long and most are mass produced so supply will always be higher than demand.

Bottom line, find a car in the condition which meets your expectations, spend a little to make it perfect and enjoy!

I learned a long time ago that if you want to make money you either need a lot of it to invest in the right places or you need to work hard. Buyings cars doesn't equate to a paycheck (unless your a dealer) as much as we all wish it did.