OK, one more item on my purchase... I have to do the full disclosure... sorry I didn't put this in my original post earlier.

Before I purchased my 2009 this Jan 31st, I checked the CarFax and it did denote an accident and it noted "Hit a wild animal". So yes, this contributed to the lower price. How much though I can't say but when you look at those auction prices, you have to wonder that it was not much.

My car had 26,000 miles, ruby red, manual, natural brown leather and a host of eye-candy options that put the sale price just north of $110,000 - by the way, I did not know this at the time and the dealer had no clue what options were on it.

I contacted the local Porsche club and one of the members, a real motor head and long time instructor, (a great guy) went and test drove it.... When we talked he said it was incredibly clean and he could see no evidence of an accident. He then recommended I take it to a local speed shop which he coordinated. The local shop charged me $110 to put it up on the rack and dumped the computer. I talked to both their manager and the tech who looked at the car and he said "if this car was in an accident, we see no evidence of it". They even thought it had the original bumper. Now that I have the car, I can see no evidence of damage or painting... I am sure something was done, but it was top-notch. The gaps are perfect.

The techs dumped the computer and sent the results to me: 18 ignitions in Rev 1, and zeros in all the others.

The car came with original Michelins on the front in good shape, and new Continental DWS on the rear.. something I am very unhappy with.

So..... Some may say with a CarFax like that, the car is worthless... I do have friends who think that way. I don't, and see it that I got a deal. Again, the question is what was that CarFax worth in reduced value? Still, look at that Manheim data and remember I purchased this Minnesota, from a Non-Porsche dealer, at the end of January when they had cold and snow, and the dealer made comments that if I didn't buy it, it was heading to Manheim (true? I dunno).

Pics Here

Comments appreciated,
Bruce in Philly

 

Bruce, you got a good buy. Carfax/Autocheck are not fail proof. I had a pickup which was in an accident and repaired at a top notch body shop under an insurance claim. When I traded it in there was no record of an accident. Bottom line, accident or not, if repairs are made properly the car is good. Maybe a little adjustment for an accident. Some folks get over ambitious with records, etc. Enjoy the car. When you're done someone else will buy it. Period.

 

I bought my 997.2 in January of this year (I can't remember exactly when). As I was negotiating my heart out over it, my salesman told me that prices were very strong on all high-line used cars because of Sandy. Apparently there were a lot of cars in lower Manhattan, The Hamptons, etc. that were trashed from the storm. So all of these people were getting insurance checks and replacing their cars, driving up the prices and reducing the supply of used cars for the rest of us. Plus, there were fewer used cars (the ones that were trashed) getting traded in, I suppose.

So that could explain some of it. Also, as noted earlier, Spring is next Wednesday, and as the weather gets nicer, folks will be looking to buy sports cars.

Heck, I might even be tempted to flip mine for a small profit if my finances don't improve in a few months.