jll1011

I agree. It is particularly hard when emotion gets in the way (for any type of deal). With cars, it is hard to keep the emotional side out since we are all passionate about our cars. I would like to see OP find a way to put this together. The car looks very nice.

VII7

As someone just said it's all about how patient you are, my father recently picked up a .1S with everything he wanted for what I think was a great price BUT he was looking for like 2 years (2012 full leather, SC, PDK, Premium+, parking, etc with 50k miles for $51k).
I (and most people) are not that patient so you pay a bit more but get your car sooner rather than later.
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SLC Tortfeasor

Well, this was not the exact spec I was looking for. Close though -- probably 95%. Close enough that a motivated seller could certainly have reeled me in if he wanted to. Even though I was pushing him to let it go for something under $80K, I would have been willing to pay $80K or even more. I was just trying to haggle, but this seller didn't really want to play the game with me. He just was not very responsive to emails and did not seem interested in having a dialogue trying to meet in the middle. So, we'll probably never know exactly how close we could have gotten to a deal, but I think it was very close.

But I'm not sad, because while I was waiting for him to get back to me, I reconsidered another car I had looked at earlier. Looking at it with fresh eyes, I realized that it's actually an even better fit than the car that I started this thread about. And, this new seller is actually responsive and motivated. I'm getting the PPI on this latest car at this very moment, and will probably move forward with that purchase unless significant non-negotiable problems arise during the PPI. And the price will probably end up being just over $80K.

So everyone wins: The motivated and responsive seller unloads his car. The unmotivated seller gets to keep hunting for a buyer more desperate than me. And for me, the drawn-out negotiation with the unmotivated seller resulted in me finding another car that fits me better for about the same price. Ahhh ... the free market in action. It's a beautiful thing!

I agree. I think that in the process of trying to get a "great deal," you'll probably end up with just a "deal" (as you put it), and that's okay. But you've got to do at least a little haggling to ensure you don't unnecessarily pay too much.

mb1

With all due respect, I think you're supporting my argument. The seller made you think that you were special and "in the right place at the right time". Same with the seller who convinced you that he wanted to "dump" the car. Call me a skeptic, but I don't buy it. I've fallen for it too. At least now I realize that the deal isn't so special, but I'm willing to make the purchase for that price anyways. I think human nature makes most of us vulnerable to this sales tactic.

VII7

Agree with you when dealing with dealers but PP does have high variation in price. Some individuals value getting the money quickly and so trade some dollars for a quick sell, others have all the time in the world and so will look for the "right" buyer. Most are somewhere in between.

hackheyward

After a two month search, I just pulled the trigger on a 2013 C4S manual. I had similar angst about overpaying. Couple of thoughts that may help: these cars are not depreciating. At least right now. Values have been flat for close to a year. The fact that you are considering a car with a manual indicates that you want a manual. People tend to be polarized on that issue. When I looked, it seemed that only about 10% of what’s on the market are manuals, even though you’d think it would be higher because manual production was apparently 25% to 30%. I found that many aggregator websites classify cars as 7speed manuals and they turn out to be PDKs. Stupid AI maybe? So I think what you have found will be hard to duplicate. Also, I’ve bought CPO Porsches and non-CPO Porsches. I’m not too impressed with what CPO actually means. A PPi from someone with true Porsche expertise is much more important. I’ve spent between $350 and $500 for them.