jnx

I am visiting from the 993/997 forums. I need the advice from the experts here. A friend is looking at a 2002 Boxster S with 10k miles, Xenon, PSM, Bose, 6 speed, and supple leather. What would you guys put the value at? $$ Thanks for any response.

Marc Gelefsky

JNX,

The market is really soft, is this a CPO car? Private sale or dealer?
Just sold my 01 S silmilar options for around $24K with 45K miles, no warranty.
Another board Member just picked up a CPO 02 S for around 22K, I think thee miles were in the mid 30's.

jnx

Thanks for the input. It is a private sale, not CPO.

SKM

$23-26K depending on colors & condition (original paint, service history, tires, RMS, etc.).

Macster

miles. One thought comes to mind has car been a heavily tracked car?

Another thing that comes to mind, even if it hasn't been tracked, but instead just not used much (heck hardly at all!), is some of the serious problems that that model year (and those before and after it) like rear main seal, intermediate shaft o-ring/bolts (both result in oil leaks that require tranny out to address) and even more serious problems that saw more than a few cars experience catastrophic engine failure have not yet had time to appear.

And they could appear after your friend buys the car.

The car is no longer under warranty so if a rear main seal or intermediate shaft o-ring/bolt leak develops one is looking at nearly $2000 out of pocket to fix. And when the rear main seal is being replaced a check is usually made of the location of the rear main seal diameter of the crankshaft relative to the engine case and the rear main seal seat.

This was so common Porsche developed a tool for mechanics to use to check for this misalignment condition (in fact, developed several versions of the tool).

More than a few engines when checked were found to be out of spec and subsequently the engine had to be replaced, because the rear main seal will never remain oil tight for long and possibily with the crankshaft out of position even more serious mechanical problems could arise even if one was able to live with a leaking rear main seal.

And if an engine failure occurs, one can be looking at $10,000 or more to have a new factory sourced engine installed in place of the failed one.

Consequently, my offer for this car would be low to mitigate the risk that '02 model year and low miles comes with.

Now, if the rear main seal and intermediate shaft have been addressed under warranty and there's paper work showing that was done (and best if both were done at the same time) that eliminates some of the risk, but not all. The out of position crankshaft condition may not have been checked for or it may not have had time to appear given so few miles on the car.

I would not really consider offering a premium for the car's low miles. Given the problems these cars can fall prey to that would have likely surfaced had the car been used more (say 6000 to 9000 miles per year) and have been addressed under warranty or the car accumulating enough miles that the chances the problems would occur are much reduced the car brings with it no little risk.

And as soon as your friend starts driving the car and adding miles any low miles premium he paid will evaporate very quickly.

'course, your friend may and in fact almost certainly will lose the car to someone who's perhaps unaware of the risks a used Boxster with exceptionally low miles on it has and will see the car as desirable, enough so to out bid your friend for the car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

jnx

Thanks for the response. I agree with everything you said. Most everyone seems to put a great deal of importance in low mileage cars when in fact it (low miles) seems to bring on more issues.

Macster

per year. (More because these cars can and are used as daily drivers and as such can accumulate more than 9000 miles a year.)

There would be nothing wrong, imho, with a one or two year old car with 6000 to 9000 (or even fewer than 6000) miles on it. While these are too few miles for possibly any serious problems to appear, there is still some warranty, so in driving it if anything untoward appeared the warranty would protect you.

However, one doesn't want to buy this car and then let it sit around accumulating very few miles until the warranty expires due to elapsed time.

Nor -- as I touched upon in an earlier reply -- do you want to pay much of a premium for this car and its low miles. The problem is you pay a premium and then as soon as your start driving the car the miles accumulate and the low miles premium quickly evaporates. You as the current owner then absorb the considerable depreciation from the accumulating miles.

If you don't drive the car then after a while the car just becomes just an old car with low miles while in your possession.

True it still has low miles, but then you have to find someone -- if you sell the car privately -- that is willing to assume the same risk you did when you bought the car with low miles. Only this time more time has passed and age not wear starts to play a bigger role in a car's decline. And if one then starts driving the car, racking up more normal (higher) miles to age add wear/tear.

Sincerely,

Macster.