LennyJ

I am shopping for a Private Party 997 4s coupe, and most of what I'm seeing is nice, but $10k or more over KBB value. Is the book wacky? If so, is there a better reference for realistic resale values?

It seems that KBB doesn't adjust the resale value enough for very low mileage cars, and that is what the prospective sellers say when I point out that their 911 is priced way above KBB. I would appreciate any feedback from your knowledge and experience. This will be my fifth Porsche, but my first non air-cooled, and my first purchase since my '87 Carrera, in 2004.

Thanks!!

Blu311

I'd say in general, KBB is quite accurate for Camry, Accord, Explorer, etc... the more common the car the more accurate KBB generally is.

For Porsches and 911s in particular, KBB is not too accurate. I followed 997 prices for about 2 years prior to buying and now about a year after. For all 3 years, KBB generally understates the value of what 997s actually sell for in my opinion. (I don't have sales data, I only know what the cars are listed for and what I was/wasn't able to negotiate, and what people post they bought a car for, so take all this with a grain of salt).

In the end, the value is what someone is willing to pay for it. So if someone is asking $10k over KBB, they are probably pretty confident they can get $5-10k more than KBB, and for a decently kept 997, I'd say that's about market price. The best way to get a feel for this is to track asking prices for what you want. I'll stop rambling... good luck in your search!

Alexandrius

Pricing is what people will pay. IMO; KBB is highly innacurate for what I see people buying 911s for, not just 997s.

LennyJ

I plan to keep the car for a while, but I don't want to lose an instant $10k because I didn't understand the market. I will track ads, and get a better feel for the market..

Thanks, and thanks in advance, for your input!
Lenny

AltVelo

Though the production numbers on the 997 are higher, I find the demand is high as well. A lot of beamer fans such as myself would love to won a Porsche. It's almost "the path to the 911" I've read over and over. It's not easy to find them spec'ed the way you want. From what I found, the ones packaged with the nice options seem to go pretty quickly. As noted, it's what people are willing to pay vs. statistical prices.. well within reason. Also, price point wise, the 997 is a lot of car for the money. For not much less or even same price range, you can get a E90 M3. Heck even a low mileage E46 M3 with a manual trans is 20k+.

In the end it goes back to demand and what's at this price point at why. With no more NA 911's, maybe it will be quite strong?

Fred2

Losing 10K is a given, even if you think you know what you are doing.

AltVelo

Oh right.. expect to loose money.. it's just a matter of how much and how fast.. don't expect it to appreciate.

wc11

To get a feel for the market when I bought, I checked the usual ....Auto traders on line, eBay, dealer sites etc etc.

david

997 production is higher than what?

997.2 production level is extremely low...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsch...American_sales

SoCal C2S

When I bought my 911 I was lucky to get it $5k under KBB. Nothing magical, it's just the Chevy dealer that took it in trade listed it as a base 911 with NAV.

Just from knowing what to look for (some of it obvious), I soon knew it was a fully loaded C2S. Then on the test drive I found out it does not have NAV (it just has the NAV button!), and they instantly dropped the price. All said and done and a squeaky clean PPI, a small victory for a buyer of a used car from a dealer!

shammerman

Interesting conversation. Where does Kelly Blue Book get their information from?

mbatarga

When shopping for my recently purchased 997, I used autotrader, tempest, craigslist and rennlist as options. After looking for a few weeks I got the general sense of what prices were running based on production year, mileage, options. I didn't bother looking at Kelly or other sources - edmunds, etc.

Fined

^^^^pretty much same as above. When shopping recently (before purchase) I just used various websites to see what cars were listed at. Never once even bothered to check blue book, black book, or otherwise for suggested values. It's pretty clear what cars are going for by looking at a few different sources that are actually selling cars.

sub150

997.2's have been sitting on Autotrader for months at optimistic prices IMO.

cringely

You can use KBB values as a negotiation tool. I was able to get the dealer to drop his asking price by 3k$. Every bit helps.