Went to look at 03 C4S, 41K, Champion wheels, suspension, nav, with brand new clutch. I purchased two porsches from them before with no problems. Car was listed 38,900. Since I was there I ask what they would give for my trade-in. My car, 00 C4 cab, full leather, heated seats, and in fairly good condition for a 10 year old car. At 108K I knew my miles were high, that's the reason I'm considering upgrading. Comes back at 13.5. I almost threw up a little in my mouth. I can only imagine what my car will come in after a couple more years. I'm seriously considering unloading my car and getting a later model, something that would hold value. Car has been wonderful, just itching for something new. Has anyone else been low balled this bad?

 

Can you really say you got low balled? The market for 100k+ 996s isn't very strong. What can they get for it? Low 20s maybe?

 

Sounds like they want a premium price for the C4S and give you very little for your car. Nice deal for them if you do it. The C4S should probably be $30-$35K and yours $18K. Offer your car and $15K and see if they will take it. You will save some on the tax if you trade it in.

 

DOH !

 

No, the wanted to give him $13.5 for his car. He'd have to come up with the $25k difference to buy theirs...

 

$13.5K for your car should not have surprised you or made you feel sick. You should have done your research before you visited the dealer. If you were serious about buying the other car then you should have done a selling job on your car to get the dealer to give you a better trade-in allowance provided your research found the dealer's asking price for the car you wanted reasonable, which I can almost guarantee you was not reasonable, but inflated.

To give you an idea of what you're car likely facing if you trade it in for the offer you received: Earlier this year traded in 06 GTO (39K miles and in very good condition) for $14.5K (negotiated this up from $13.5K) for a new 08 Cayman S (marked down from $62.6K to $50.6K). Made up diff in cash. A few weeks later I found the car on the local Chevy dealer's used car lot for $18999 *marked* down from $21999.

(I could have sold the car for more money privately but I was not interested in doing so, not having the free time to show the car and deal with I'm sure everybody in town that wanted to come over and thrash the car. One reason I sold the car is everytime I took it in for service the dealer techs would joyride or hotrod the car. Caught 2 of them doing this. Funny but when I made the deal for the Cayman and the salesman got in the GTO to move it around back into the secure lock up he couldn't resist getting on the car. And a few days later when I visited the dealership the owner of the dealership came up to me and commented on the GTO's power. He test drove it. The car just brings out the beast in people.)

Oh, Porsche salesman looked up the price of my GTO online -- same site I used -- and found the price lower by nearly $200. He questioned my number and I checked my notes and had the price I remembered written down. What happened was in the few weeks between the time I looked up the price and when he did looked up the price the GTO's value had dropped nearly $200.

A later car might be more desirable, but not from a holding its value point of view. The later car will depreciate and probably at a faster rate then your current car. Your car can't loose too much more value -- provided it stays accident and problem free -- while a newer car has much more room to drop in value.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

I know that's the way the game is played, buy low and sell high. I'm just amazed at how far and fast my car dropped in value. It's still an awsome machine

 

I talked to the original owners of my 40th. It was almost 90k new and they traded it in this september for 27k. Talk about ouch. 63k drop in 5-6 years.

 

Not just your car... everybody's car is affected.

 

Plus you got to remember that a car with high miles will not be sold at the dealership. (At least not my dealership)

They will give you wholesale and get rid of it somewhere else.

In general you would be better off going to CarMax than trading in at the stealership.

Although, they were about to offer me $35k for my Cayenne, and that's what I payed for it a year ago.

 

$18,000-$13,500=$4,500 profit not selling your car. Wow what a deal
Good luck winning the lottery or saving enough so that the cost doesn't matter.

 

It's actually quite the opposite... Your current car will be closer to holding it's value. It's probably worth $15k today and in another 5 years, it will only be worth a little less.

The C4S you're looking at, while it might be $35k today, in another 5 years, it'll be a $15k car.

If you really want a 996 that will come closest to "holding it's value" - get a GT3.

 

I don't think a 996 c4s will ever be below 20k, unless there is a story. It's more desirable on the used na 996 market than the 996 gt3 imo. It's often referred to as the best looking 996 ever made. Wish'd I had just kept mine, would have saved me a bunch of $$$.

 

For any car, crossing the 100k number is a big hit to value - both literal and perceived. For Porsches, which see lower usage than more mass-market vehicle, this goes double.

Very few dealerships will keep a car with those miles, as the cost of reconditioning is too high related to what they can get for it. Additionally, having a nice late-model Porsche on the lot with a price in the high teens can hurt the value of similar cars they are selling for tens of thousands more. Not only do potential customers see a cheaper alternative, they also see the reality of depreciation. The dealer probably made you a fair offer of what they thought they could get for the car on wholesale at a regional auction with a little profit for themselves thrown in. Hey, capitalism is capitalism after all.

 

There is a '00 with 32k miles with PSE that has been for sale here now for over 6 months and it still hasn't brought the $20k the owner wants for it. This car is exceptionally clean and has all records. It depends on where you are and the market there.

Tony