H2

Let's say that you have a good 928 already but there's another one that you'd rather have if you could pull it off. What would it take for you to "pull the trigger" now, before selling your current car? What I'm getting at is this; there are some great cars coming onto the market but they're not selling well in these tight budget times. In spite of your current situation, what would it take to tempt you to buy another 928 right now anyway? (and without selling your current car first)?

We've seen some good 928s are "out there" are not selling for one reason or another. If these people wish to have a relatively quick sale, they may need to rethink their pricing strategy, the current market, and psychology. As an aside, when someone on this forum wishes to sell a car, many say "I'd buy your great 928 but I need to sell the one I have first, etc. And they also often say, "Wow, what a deal!" even if it really isn't. Most don't have any intention of buying, want to make others feel good, and may wish to try and help "keep the market stable" by fanticizing higher prices than they'd actually pay for the car themseves. If they really wanted the car bad enough, they'd find the money. Perhaps the trick to selling a car in tough time is to tempt the buyer into wanting your car very much...via a deal that can't be passed up. Here are a few strategies (you can add others):

1) Price your car at a premium price and hold out for an indefinite period of time and wait/hope/pray for someone to come along who has the money in hand and springs for it giving you the top dollar you wanted. For these buyers, money is not the issue...they just really want your particular car. Perhaps an example of this might be "Kermit" which sold recently?

2) Price your car at or slightly below the values posted in Excellence and hope for a relatively quick sale (It happens...just not as often as we might think)

3) Price your car considerably below the values posted in Excellence and be assured of a pretty quick sale?

4) Price your car at a "steal" price and be assured of a very quick sale?

I'm sure there are other sales strategies too.

The vague point that I'm suggesting is that any 928 will sell quickly if priced "attractively." Attractively is the operant word here. The market is "attractiive" for a first time buyer looking to buy and get into the 928 game (and they don't know about the upfront costs to bring a 928 up to full trust reliability). The market may not be quite as attractive for those who might be tempted to buy a second 928 (the standards are higher and the price point more important).

Above market is OK for cars that are extraordinary in some way and the seller is in no particular hurry to sell. Below market (and an obvious "bargain") will push borderline buyers to beg, borrow or somehow find the money to get the car, even before they can sell their current 928.

It's human nature for sellers to hold out and try to get top dollar (particularly since many (most?) of us are upside down on our cars due to dropping prices and it's difficult for most to sell a car for much less than they paid. All of my P cars have sold or are worth about half what I paid for them and that doesn't count the several thousand $$ I put into each one to "get them right" in the first year after I purchased them.

In view of all this and other factors, it''s also human naure to want to get a screaming bargain on a car, particularly since the values tend to go down on most purchases, rather than appeciate. Getting a really good deal on ones' second 928 may be more important than on the first?

What I'm driving at is this and I will use myself for an example. I currenlty have two P-cars and would love to have another that is a near pristine, a low miile GT or an air bag S4 that's better than 95% of those out there. The operant word here is near pristine, few flaws, mechanically perfect, yada, yada. I don't have to have one...I just want one. What will it take for me to break down and buy one?

Due to space problems, it'd be difficult to buy unless I sold one of my other cars first...not likely due to some of the reasons mentioned above. Nevertheless, there is a point at which I'd throw all these reasons to the wind and I'd go to the bank (even in these hard times) and get the money for the car I really want if it were priced at a screaming deal price. BUT...I wouldn't do this unless the screaming deal component were to push me over the edge. My money will continue to draw interest in the bank as it is and I still have good cars to drive.
Plus, 928 values probably haven't bottomed out yet anyway and next year I might be able to get what I want at half-what they're going for today? Don't scoff...there's a good chance of this.

Lessee...I'm getting mired down now so let me finish this off with a statement that will wrankle some feathers.

Most 928s that I see priced here are either at primo, at market, or a little below market. If the're way below market, there's usually a reason (POS, big repair expense looming, etc.). Sometimes, however, a car will be in wonderful condition and priced way below market. Low Miler and a few others try to jump on these and flip them. Many of us sit and wait and hope for a great bargain like those and when that happens, we can find the money and buy the car whether we can justify it or not with our spouse, bank account, scant garage space, and so on.

I guess one message is...if you really want to sell your car quickly so you can buy another car that you'd more prefer, you may need to just bite the bullet and sell low....now. Or take a chance that the 928 market will turn around (Do you think so?) With Boxsters, Cayennes, and 996s selling so cheap?...and still dropping? Don't hold your breath.

In closing this note, if you do decide to sell and you have a low mile GT, pristine S4 with air bags, or an almost concours 86.5....and you have a deal that any sane person couldn't pass up....let me have first crack at it!!!

I apologize if this didn't end the way you thought it would but I would be interested in any comments or thoughts that this may have knocked loose in your mind (other than calling me bad names). Perhaps someone else can write a rosy picture about the 928 sales scene?

H2 (And yes...I'm having a slow night, fighting off a cold, full of Nyquil, in bed, my wife's asleep, I'm wide awake...and I'm passing time dreaming of my next 928! Humor me with a screamin' deal!)

S4ordie

That was a very long post just to say...

I'd just start another thread that says "Looking to buy pristine low mile GT, any year, or S4 90-91, for super deal" then explain why.

danglerb

Many here have in the last couple years added to their stable beyond any needs just due to great cars and prices. If I thought I could wangle it, I would have bought another Euro S a few months ago. The resulting level of domestic accommodation would have been painful, the price was fine, lack of a good place to park it, and presence of a sunroof allowed me to resist.

Pretty sure that I finally know what I like, and what a special and rare car that would be, so I think despite any trouble I might have, I would buy it at a fair price at the drop of a hat and do whatever I needed to to clear the decks on the home front, which would include getting rid of both cars and toys.

*********

When people tell me they have to sell, I tell them to put it on ebay. I would also list it on Craigslist, autotrader, and cars.com. No reserve on ebay, fair market value as first bid the first time its listed, plan on maybe four 7 day listings dropping the price a bit, but allowing time for people to see the listing.

********

When money can buy happiness, and you have the money, you're a fool not to take advantage of such a rare event.

sendarius

What would it take for me to buy another 928?

Xlot would be with me on this one: Repeal of the insane law in Oz that effectively prohibits the private import of cars built after 01/01/1989.

Get rid of that and I would be in the market RIGHT NOW for a '90s RHD GT or GTS.

daveo90s4

Sendarius - exactly!! Always wanted a 968 Club Sport. - None made before that stupid cut off date so cannot import and all it does is keep the 2nd hand price of those cars already in Oz at artificially high prices - apparently to protect the domestic motor industry. Ditto for 928 GTSs too of course. Protectionist and absurd.

Dave

Sailmed

What would it take? That is a easy answer!
I'd simply trade this 52' sailboat for a aircraft carrier, then not only could I keep the old fleet, I could add more!

dprantl

Yeah, but when it came time to service the nuclear reactor, you would have bank account problems

On topic, I was in this situation 2 years ago. I was thinking about adding forced-induction to my '86, then the S/C GT came along and it was just perfect timing.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft

H2

That's a great idea....I need to save up a few thousand more and I may try that.

A local guy just got into BIG trouble. He ran a couple of college kids over with his car and claimed "Caffeine Psychosis." I wonder if my wife would buy that as a reasonable rationale for buying yet another 928? Hmmmm.... wonder how many Red Bulls it would take to uncontrollably buy a pristine GTS? I wonder what it feels like to have ones ********* removed with a dull spoon (the wife's ultimate threat). Decisions, decisions...

H2

Jim Chambers

Some thoughts: I think the market is at bottom or near. If a person truly wants to sell soon, price has to be very low. In the last year I have sold both a house and a '06 911. Lost some on the house (purchased in '06), but bought a much better one for near the same dollars. Also lost a lot on the 911. It was purchased in spring '08 at the top of the market. Sold last summer at a big loss. Buyer got the kind of deal H2 is looking for. I wanted to sell. Asked myself, will value go up if I keep the car for another year or two? My answer was no, it might level off, but not go up (this is less true of older collectible cars which will rebound over time). As a seller who wanted to sell I was forced to accept reality and give the buyer a great deal. Bought a nice Boxster for 1/2 the money which is a better car for me than the 911. Don't regret it, but prefer to forget it!

dr bob

I've watched a few apparently excellent cars change hands ove the last year or so. Icemang17's car that went to Stephen Porter is a fine example. It's a car that I would have bought in a heartbeat --if I needed another 928-. Ditto that nice 86.5 5-speed that was moved from nearby Burbank a week ago. But I really don't need another 928.

The one I have is in excellent condition, mostly due to constant religious care. Buying another one means I get to start another maintenance baseline effort, then maybe another bank account to keep it as nice as the one I have now. To what end? Which one would turn into a garage ***** and which one would get the DD duty? Tough decisions.

While I might offer my car here if I needed to sell, I wouldn't depend on current owners to buy it from me at a great (for me) price. Folks here eat their own young when it comes to cars offered. Nothing quite like seeing a car offered to get the water all frothed up with people anxious to explain all the reasons why they wouldn't buy it. Price, compared to what some folks think the market is like, seems to be the most sensitive issue. Some unfortunate owner decides he's had enough and 'dumps' a car in desperation or exasperation, and suddenly all other cars need to sell for that price or less. Sorry to break the news, but there are nicer cars out there, and most are sold to 928 newbies. As are the less desirable examples and 'project' cars, the ones that seem to set the 'market price'.

Remember 'Low Miler', who bought and spiffed up some nice cars? He got trashed by folks here for selling them and actually making money in the process. What a novel idea, remarketing cars at a profit... He was boo'd and finally banned for making a profit and telling about it here. (!!!)


My next car is much more likely to be a more modern performance sedan than another 928. As 'practical' as the 928 is for me, I dread leaving it in parking lots, sitting at a traffic light here where much of the new-to-America population doesn't know what red lights or stop signs mean. A big Benz, Lexus or BMW would fit right into the neighborhood.

Chuck Z

Don't give Excellence to much cred here for being accurate....... well, unless you're a buyer!


Buyer?

Buyer!

....Explains a lot right here!

Can't blame you for dreaming....... uh, trying!

Good luck!

James Bailey

If you buy a second one but plan to sell the first one .....bear in mind that all the reasons why you got a good deal on the new one probably also apply to the old one ! In the end you may find that the spread between the prices may not have changed all that much.....they are BOTH worth less. Besides cars are really really bad as investments. They are liabilities rather than assets.

Chuck Z

A possible exception to this rule could be the 928 H2 is looking for? Was for me..... more than a couple times over the years!

docmirror

Or: "I deserve a screaming deal on a pristine GT, but the rest of you should pay high retail."

lrpman

Since I have bought (2) in 2 weeks actually 1 1/2 is more like it.
I will pull the trigger on a GT, probably as early as this Friday if the PO will drop the price another $500.00 it will be bought.
The 928 market is MORE stable than the Jaguar market.
My advise is get while the getting is good.