Hi, I am looking to upgrade from my 95 968 to a 987 boxster S and looking for some insights on current pricing/value.

I have found one in the color combo I like with 70k miles, with some nice options. Heated sport seats, bose, xenon, etc. They are asking 24k. Clean carfax, no paint work, supposedly needs nothing, etc. I am not apposed to the mileage since this will be a Daily Driver for me.

I am looking for opinions on what the car is worth, and what I should offer. It is at a small used car dealer that specializes in european cars. NADA/Edmunds/KBB prices are all over the place, along with pricing at cars.com / autotrader. None of the cars on eBay are getting even close to the buy it now, nor are getting to their reserve.

I know now is the wrong time to sell a car like this (lucky for me the buyer). Like everyone, I do not want to overpay, but I also do not want to lowball enough to offend (taking a counter offer on his end off the table). The offer will be contingent on passing a 3rd party PPI. Also the car is not local, it would be a fly in and drive back sort of deal.

All opinions / thought appreciated. Thanks!

 

$24k seems like a fair price. Offer the seller $23k, and use the last $1k to do an IMS upgrade. You should have a fun DD for many years! Good luck!

 

personally I'd get the PPI before I made any offer. That's not on the low side as far as mileage.

Once I crossed 70K miles I quickly needed about $10K in needed repairs and major maintenance.
And many of those repairs would not have been caught unless the PPI was timed welll. Many of my repairs surfaced abruptly, others like the front control arms weren't immediately apparent, some taking things apart would have been needed to pinpoint the exact remedy. Doubt a PPI would provide that concrete an answer. My take is that a list of things that have been preemptively repaired would be just as useful. If that list is short...beware. The 986/996 have some well known weak spots that won't last forever.
By the way, my car was always garage kept and only driven weekends up to that point.
A big factor is what sort of weather that mileage was racked up in. 70K in the northeast is not the same as 70K in SoCal.

 

Wow, what kind of repairs/maintenance did it need then?

 

^Clutch/LN IMS/RMS/Flywheel, shocks, ca's, alternator, starter, AOS, coolant tank, catalytic converters, MAF, rear window needed fixing, refinishinishing/straightening wheels and of course time for new rubber (RE-11) $1,100 <--that one was worth every nickel though.

all of these are pretty common repairs for a Boxster at around 70-80K miles.
ZERO unexpected repairs before 70K miles though.

 

You worry too much about the seller. Don't. He'll look after himself.

There's an argument to be made for not coming in with too low an offer, making a ridiculously low offer, but my half serious half joking observation is if the car salesman doesn't grab his chest like he's having a heart attack when he hears my offer I started out too high...

(Actually to be clear I like to be sure the sales manager hears the offer. So often a salesman will *not* relay your offer to the sales manager because if you've done your homework you offer eliminates some or all of the commission the salesman stands to collect if the car sells for anywhere near your offer price. The salesman can only say "no". And he will at the drop of a hat. The sales manager otoh has a bigger picture in mind and that is moving cars. He won't get all weak in the knees and give the car away but he will listen to, consider and even accept an offer the salesman wouldn't take with a gun to his head.)

Use the lowest numbers from any of the used car price sites you listed. Not your job to reconcile the differences.

My starting point is to get an idea of what the car's trade in value is. This is close to and probably above what the seller like this dealership has in the car. How much over this is paid for the car is between the seller and the buyer.

Generally there is a 20% or more mark up in a used car.

You are at a disadvantage doing a long distance deal. You do all the preliminary work, fly in and guess what? The price has gone up. A mistake was made. We have another buyer interested. My dog ate the ad. Now you've made the trip for nothing unless you buy the car and pay the higher price. Otherwise you eat the cost of not only the flight there but home again and the PPI.

I like to whenever possible use long distance cars to drive a better deal on a nearby and in as good or better condition car.

My saying is shop globally, buy locally.

 

Hi,

This is my first post, so here goes. I upgraded my 2004 Boxster (986) to a 2005 Boxster S (987) Midnight Blue Metallic 6 speed manual, just in the past 30 days. I bought it long distance from Florida, as I am in NY. It also had Bi-Xenons, Bose, Chrono Package, 18 inch Carrera Alloys, Windbreaker and Auto Climate, etc, etc. Mileage was 38,722. I paid $23,500 although I had to pay to ship it up north. Buying long distance is definitely a pain in the a**, and no way as easy as buying locally.

I would definitely offer lower due to the mileage is almost twice of mine.
He wants to sell the car, so he is not going to be so insulted as to not counter.
Depending what his activity is, and what $ amount he has in it will determine what he'll let it go for. I'd offer him $21K and let him counter. You'll meet somewhere in the middle. Just my .02.

On the other hand, it is a weird car market. I just sold a 1993 Alfa Romeo Veloce Spider Convertible for $2,000 more than I paid for it 2 years earlier with 30 inches of snow on the ground. Go figure.

 

Welcome to RL. I can't believe you sold a vert in the middle of snowmageddon hahaa, completely awesome.

 

Thanks. I was going to wait until Spring but I figured what did I have to lose by trying, so I posted it on one of the Alfa forum classified. I could not believe the responses I received. I needed the $$ because I wanted to pay off the Boxster S.

By the way, is that your car in the Avatar of your post? Very Nice.
Still trying to figure this all out. How do I add my own personalized Avatar to that size and resolution?

Steve

 

People always focus on price. OP enquired about value, so my opinion is that 2005 Box "S" is going to lose more value this year than any other Box! Due to the new 981 Box, 05 is only 987 without 3.4L engine & it's the oldest Box with the non-retrofitable IMSB unless you luck into a early car that has the old style IMSB.

 

I have to respectfully disagree. The '05 will give you the most bang for the buck, especially an early 2005. It is true that until the IMSB was eliminated altogether, the early 2005s give you the next body style up from the 986 with additional power. True, later Boxsters give more power, but I was coming from a base 986, so my '05 987 feels like a rocket. Will it take a hit. Probably so, but who cares. Hopefully you buy it low none the less expecting the hit, like everything else as model years change. Just jry to get an early '05 for $20K or under. Not hard to do, but hard to beat. OK, if you want to be scared to drive a Porsche because of the IMSB issues, one should maybe buy something else. I still believe that the issue, although existent and catastrophic, will not be an issue for the most greater majority of Porsche owners out there. I send my oil out for analysis, and change it often and drive it as it should be driven. Just my .02 cents.

 

nobody likes to gamble with their own money when they could simply buy a Boxster that is retrofit friendly.
A retrofitted 986 S (sans bearings via the IMS Solution) sounds to me like the best bargain of all.

 

OR a retrofitted EARLY 987.
I agree with you, however if someone is looking for the styling of the newer 987, then they must buy a very early 987, which still offers a retrofit friendly solution. Having a dealer look at the VIN will define the production date. Either way they are a blast to drive.

 

Actually, I believe the '06 987S also had the 3.2, so as not to compete with the roll out of the Cayman with the 3.4. '07 saw the Boxster S get the 3.4.

I've had my 19k miles '05 987S since new. It's been flawless. And more fun since I added the Evo Motorsports intake, GIAC chip, and AWE exhaust.

 

Hi,

I have a 987 Boxster S and just got it recently with about 39,000 miles. I noticed a 1/2 dollar size oil leak on the garage floor. Called an Indy mechanic who said probably an RMS leak but said as long as he in there suggested an IMS upgrade by LN Engineering. For that matter I might as well replace the clutch too and pay for the parts only.

So my question is have you noticed any small amount of leakage and does the possibility of the IMS bearing failing make you worry any as I do. Maybe I am just paranoid, but once they drop the tranny and get inside, everything else is really preventative parts replacement. As you know if the IMS goes, the engine goes with it.