Hello All,

Ok dumb question (I haven't posted for a long time). I am a first time buyer who has been looking on and off for 2 years now, almost bought one last fall but it didn't pass the cold engine leak down test.

So I am looking again, and I am just amazed at the major discrepancy between Blue Book (from multiple sources) and asking price. I see at least a $6-$8K (at least, sometimes much more) gap between Blue Book and Asking. Granted you never see what the final sale price is, but it is just amazing the difference. Why such a difference? Isn't Blue Book supposed to represent fair market value? Isn't market value what a car will sell for? With Porsches it doesn't seem like anything is selling anywhere close to Blue Book. I am to the point of saying why even look up Blue Book, it is becoming worthless to use in negotiating a car.

Thanks for listen to me rant.

Any thoughts?

 

in my opinion, i believe value for these cars reflect on their condition. People pay more for a car that has been well taken care of. The demand for a well taken care of car is very high, especially for cars such as Porsches.

 

You shohuld try looking for Porches in PR!! They usually sell for much more. The thing is (I believe) that people add the emotion factor to the selling price (which is usually much more than logical) forgeting that after all they are machines subject to depreciation. I had a dealer trying to sell me a 1996 993 for 72k, the car without any improvements, only a well kept service record and looking new. A private seller asked me a ridiculous price for a cabriolet just because the 2004 model sells in PR for 148K. Finally I find and bought a 1995 993 cabriolet tiptronic, no service record but looking good for $45K (with 32,000 "miles", it looked like a good buy). Only that I had to change the top ($1100 including labor), rear wheel bearings and lower valve covers ($1,800 w/ labor). One year had passed and those were the only repairs needed (plus the mandatory tune up), I had been using it daily (Monday to Friday plus weekends trips) with LOTS of fun. Planning on a SOLO II later.

 

Porsche's are not Hondas. We have discussed this topic many times and I will say this again and again. Throw all these books to the trash can! 993's are specialty cars , desirable timeless and they do not make them anymore. The prices will be what the market want to pay not what the blue book will say. Dealers on the other hand they love it because they can get a clueless seller to trade them in their car for no money only for them to "recondition" the car and make a ton of money.
Ebay is a better gauge as you can see the "asking prices" and sometimes what actually people pay for..
even that though is not reliable because it all depends on the condition... Pristine cars will command high dollars always and poor cars which need a lot of work will be cheaper.
Again its a matter of supply and demand... Look at the 968's or the late model 928's... They are stuck in high prices with some even increasing in price, certainly far far away from what the blue book says.. These guides are good for cars made in huge volumes not for speciality cars like ours with limited production...
Just find the car you really want , make an offer for it and see what happens. Don't look at the blue book... when it comes time to sell I'm sure the last thing you are going to look at is the blue book...

 

Kelley Blue Book is pretty much a waste of time. I find that it can be as much as $10,000 lower than actual selling prices. Mileage, condition and location play a big roll in pricing a 993. If you find a car you are interested in, post it here and Rennlisters will give you good advise on value. Good luck with your search!

 

A few factors I can think of:

(1) Blue Book, or any other data source, accumulate their data up to a certain time frame. Say if the Blue Book you are looking at was published on 6-1-04, then their data cut-off might be 4-30-04. Thus there could be some time-related adjustments. In addition, common sense says that as time goes on, car value should drop, thus today's prices should be lower than BB values. That might not be the case for 993s, or other high end sports cars. Since there are relatively few of these cars, their value is very sensitive to supply/demand. As the job picture improves, the number of Porsche buyers could easily out-pace the sellers, thus move up the 'ASKING' price a whole bunch.

(2) BB lists a statistical value. I think the numbers of 993 sales is quite low. In addition, the sales data is further parceled out by year, C2/C4, regular vs S bodies, etc. There simply is insufficient data to give a good sample. I bet you the KBB value for Camrys and Accords would be quite close to the real street price.

(3) This is the good old summer time, the best time to sell a sports car. So the recent 'list' prices you see could well be the most optimistic prices for the year.

Final thought. Value is always in the eye of a beholder. It is easier to gage in a 'commodity' type of cars (Taurus, Camry, Accord, etc.). However, most Porsches are emotional purchases. It will be very frustrating if you approach that in a cold, calculating way. I think most 'killer' deals are strokes of luck, and the buyers need to be flexible on their specifications. Few Porsches buyers who know exactly what they wanted will stumble onto their perfect car at a bargain-basement price. When I found my perfect car. I did not haggle on the price, just closed the deal.

Just my two cents. Best of luck on your hunt.

CP

 

Hi All

I just bought my 993, and got it for $3K under KBB retail... The car was an ultra clean 2 owner car. I had a PPI done at New Orleans' local Posche independant (Greff Motors), and it passed with flying colours. Never been in an accident... I credit my great deal to the city I live in... There isn't a big market for these cars in Louisiana... The sales people at the Porsche dealer told me that there were plenty of interested folks in the 993, but the Speed Yellow colour turned them off... I love the colour, but it is a personal thing... It's all about supply and demand... There is definately more supply in Miami and LA, but the demand is also greater. KBB is a function of zip code.

Just my two cents... but it worked for me!

Larry

 

Book value of an asset is an accounting value...KBB is used by banks and such to set loan value. Market value is just that, market value.

 

Thanks everyone. I wonder also if Kelly just uses a straight annual depreciation percentage so that a car will always continue to drop in value, when in fact a Porsche will level out???

The dilemma I face currently is, I found a very cherry 95, Stock, basic 911 coupe with very few options. But it has ridiculously low miles, it has hardly been driven. I like it but of course I would want to make a lot of changes to set the car up right. For around the same price I can find one with 30-40K miles and has some goodies: 18 inch wheels, LSD, springs, etc, etc……

I just need to decide which I would rather have. Oh well, this supposed to be fun right???? :-)


Thanks again for your input!

 

Actually...928 are dropping in price, they go for about 10 cents on the dollar of what they cost new, really sad when you think about it

 

When I bought mine it was love at first sight. I paid what the dealer was asking for it and did not worry about it for a second. I LOVE the car and would have paid even more. If you are looking for an investment talk to your broker.