Mike Murphy

Famine for some equals opportunity for others. If I knew I could get a 00 C4 Cab for $13k, I'd do it in a second.

Wellardmac

You've got to remember that the bulk of the depreciation is done now. You can keep the car longer and lose less money on it. Your car is in the prime of it's life, enjoy!

bcr4d

Thanks for the class fellows. After reading all the inputs, I love my car even more now and probably never get rid of it.

EastBay

I can easily see the over 100k mile 996s being $5k cars, parts cars and conversion cars in a few years. In a way it is mostly Porsche's fault by holding the cost of rebuilt engines so high. If a new engine was $6-8k instead of $12-14k the story would be different.

Even $13.5k for an over 100k mile car with the original engine is wildly overpriced and quite a gamble for a prospective owner.

bcr4d

I also think the 997's are following the same pattern. Saw a 06 997 on autotrader, dealer wanted 41.9 withe 41K miles. Listed price was 81K. That's 50%, in dollors term, 40K in 4 years.

Macster

Don't think this will occur. Last time I checked, a few months back, early MY non-running Boxsters were going for $3500+. Price had come down some from earlier this year from $4500. Runners go for more money, though even a runner has to look good (for its age/miles) and still have good and working subsystems like lights, top, A/C, heater, etc.

A running 100K 996 with no serious accident history, no major paint or body work, I believe will never drop to $5K price point.

Over time, normal attrition of the population of these cars helps to sustain the value of those that remain on the road.

A $13.5 100k+ car is a bit of a gamble -- any used car is a gamble to some extent -- but the price makes it a reasonable gamble. If the car's in good condition and looks nice a new engine's not that much money, if a new engine called for. (Course as a buyer I'd try to get that price down as much as possible to make the car even less a risk to me.)

But a new engine might not be called for.

A 100K mile that stills runs good suggests very strongly the car's been taken care of and has a rather good engine. The real risky cars are the garage/driveway queens that have very low miles and some years on them and no warranty. The seller wants top dollar and could get it for his car and yet the low miles represents a not insignificant risk.

Sincerely,

Macster.

rpm's S2

And this ladies and gentlemen is why it does not pay to buy Porsches brand new (uhh... not that I could afford to if I wanted to, in complete honesty).

I bought a '77 911 years ago for $10k and sold it two years later for 11. Bought an '89 944S2 for $8500, drove it for three years and 30k and sold it for... $8500. Bought my 968 for $16k, drove it for five years and 50k and sold it for $11.5 last fall. The 968's value was hurt by the recent Boxster value collapse. In time I think clean 968s will be worth more than Boxsters simply because of their rarity - and the glut of Boxsters.

Most Porsche models seem to have a sweet spot in value, the depreciation stops at a certain point. I suspect that this time I have bought a car a little before the sweet spot and it will depreciate over the next year or two. But if I keep the mileage reasonable (7-10k per year), and keep up with maintenance and appearance, I will stay ahead of the curve.

Shark Attack

I'm new to the 996 world. But not to the 928 world. (I'll get to the relation in a few paragraphs) I have been seriously looking for a 996/7 for a few months. Been hanging around, reading, paying attention. I had to make a very hard choice, I wanted to move to a 99?, but at the same time will have to leave my trusted and reliable 928 behind (a deal with the wife, Don’t ask). I pulled the trigger on a 104,000 mile 99/996 with a aero kit for 16900.00. Its so new to me, its not even here yet. It seems this IMS issue takes no prisoners, it can happen at any time at any miles with out any warning what so ever to many MO's. What's my logic?

I wasn’t about to spend over 20K for a car that has a known issue that destroys the engine at a minimum DIY cost of 8K to repair. It also seems many people agree the high mile cars are actually the better gamble to not have an issue. But even with all that said. The first thing that is going to get done to the car is the bearing retrofit from a non renn list sponser vendor. I'm a well equipt DYI'r, my cost will be less than $1000 and about 12 hours of time. And then I am still going to look for a service agreement.

So, willing to admit it or not, this issues it KILLING the resale value of our cars. All the way from 1998-2005. The only thing that is going to maybe keep the resale value up is the performance of the car. This is what attracted me to the car. But as you see, I still wasn’t willing to gamble over 20K. The fact that Porsche did not step up and make a reasonable priced repair for this issue is very sad and not helping the situation. This was very dirty play on PAG's part in my opinion.

Now its my opinion the car will head where the 928 did. It will end with a dropping value, an apparent bargain Porsche.. Rednecks will start to buy them, blowing the motors and not having the money to fix the bargain Porsche with the super-car repair price tag. They will sit in barns and back yards and rust away. The people that will own them will be the same type people that own the 928's: People that have a love for the car, not its value.

I started eyeballing 996/7's about 1.5 years ago. I couldn’t touch one for under 30K. Once in a great while I would see one at 29,999. Now it is common to find them everywhere for under 20K.. I hate to be the one to inform you. With out Porsche stepping in with help to make right on your engines... You're screwed. They are going to do nothing. I have seen nightmare after nightmare of people trying to get help. They have simply turned their back on you.

You guys with the low mile ones are riding something like the US real estate bubble. You are still pulling mid 20's for your car because the US has it pounded into our heads that a car purchase is all about low miles. That bubble is going to burst in the next few years. If you want out, Froggy better jump now. Because if its all about the $$ for you, You are on the RMS Titanic. If you are in it for the love of the car... You have a wonderful car with a few little quirks.

I think the people who offered you 13.5 for your car are very well informed. They see a retail value of 16-18K that in in a freefall and doing so noticably by the week.

Ahmet

A lot of aggression in some of these posts... I'm currently drawn towards rear engined cars, which gives me very few options. I presume I'm not the only one, perhaps there's a correlation with the fact that it's hard to find a running 911 of any genre/year for under $10k. Also, the 996 has outstanding resale compared to many cars, a 1999 BMW 7 series that cost about the same when new can be had for $5k today...

crcjr1963

I agree!

Shark Attack

After more thought on this whole situation. It is really up to the current owners to save the value of the cars. I think the best song to sing at this point is, instead of trying to hide the elephant in the room, You need to make the IMS a standard service issue. Every 50K the bearing should be replaced with the non-rennlist sponsors retro fit bearing kit. Much like the timming belt of a 928 should be done every 60K. The cost is reasonable not more than I would expect from a super car.

Its up to you, Keep trying to hide it or expose it and treat as "normal service"

redridge

keep the cab and enjoy..... let others buy the new Porsche, I for one will never buy new unless I intend to keep it and pass it on to my kids. But, thats just me.

RF5BPilot

- Part of the problem is that the car you were interested in wasn't that high in value. Some places have almost an iron-clad proportion in mind where they won't give you a more than a certain percentage of what you're buying, no matter what it is.

- Sometimes a low ball is simply a way of them saying, "We don't think we can sell your car fast, so we'd rather not have it....unless you're willing to just about give it to us." It's not just the value of your car, it's how fast they think they can roll it over.

I wouldn't assume that an offer from a single dealer on a used car represents an entire market.

That said, anyone who buys a recently produced car as an investment will likely have a rude awakening. With these cars, you're paying a lot for entertainment when you figure operational costs + depreciation. Often well over $10k per year. You could take a lot of trips or make a lot of genuine investments for $10k per year.

tntempest

So in five to ten years whoever can come to market with a Subaru WRX engine conversion, LS series conversion, or heck even an 993 engine coversion will make a mint. Since none of these cars will be worth the money to repair and engine or trans.

http://www.kennedyeng.com/vw_por.htm

abiazis

I recently traded my 2003 C4S with 80,000 very well maintained miles. When new it was $ 93K sticker. Car looked as new inside and out....new tires..........

Porsche dealer offered me $ 23,000 and Mercedes dealer offered me $ 35,000.

I went with a pre-owned Mercedes due to this better deal and also got $ 12,000 off on listed sale price on new purchase.

Porsche dealer would only come down $ 2,000 on new C4S.

I bought a pre-owned well maintained and low mile 2005 SL65 AMG at a great price and have NO regrets. Original list $ 191,000......bought for $ 64K with 3 year warranty...

Kept my 1995 993 which is depreciating but not as fast as 996.....

FYI...on market in Georgia, etc............good time to buy a high end car anywhere in the US.....be prepared to lose on one end with the trade-in and fight for deal on the other end.....really like the housing market.............