I need some advice on today's market. Three years ago I went on an international assigment for my company and so I sold my 04' 986S and having just landed back into the USA I am working on getting back into the Porsche family. The problem is that prices seem to be all over the board now a days.

I am looking for a 2006-2007 997S/4S and have been monitoring the prices for the past six months. As has been commented on in other threads the prices have more than just stabalized since the 991 release, they have increased which is not so good for me. The problem I have is I don't know what are artifically high prices and which ones are real. For example in the past 30 days I have seen:

1: a CPO 2007 C4S from a Porsche dealer list on Cars.com for $55k for a few weeks, then it disappeared. I did a search on the Porsche CPO last week and it came up there but for $48,500 and I called on it Monday and it was sold over the weekend.

2: a CPO 2005 CS from a Porsche dealer was listed initially for $50K on the major websites and then went into a price dive over 2 weeks and finally hit $43k list on Cars.com. It is no longer up so I assume it sold, and probably for a bit less than the list.

3: I watched a 2007 C4S from a non-porsche dealer list on Autotrader for $48k one week, then it raised up to $52k the next and then in week three it sold for who knows how much.

In the end there are solid cars listed anywhere from $45k for a 2006-C4S all the way up to $64k for a few 2007-C4S. Seeing that you can get a very nice 997.2 for less than $64K how much mark up should I expect from some of these dealers?

Because of my situation of just moving back I need to pull the trigger in the next 30 days so I don't have the luxury of time to find the right car. I only have three "must have's" and those are a Black or Blue exterior with Sand Beige interior, heated seats and manual tranny. I have found one car but it is listed for an amazingly high $56k. I am paying cash so my limit is under $50k and it is not flexible. I am about to start price discussions but don't know if I am shooting to low with an under $50k offer. From the patterns I have seen I am not but it is so hard to judge the right price levels today...also because KBB is completely wrong in all accounts.

Any advice on how to approach or what to expect? Also I have been searching nationwide on Cars.com, Autotrader, P-Car forum listings, Porsche.com and now Craigslist -nationwide searches. Am I missing any new sites that have come up in the past three years or so?

Thanks for the advice!

A4EP
2012 Range Rover Sport (Wife's reward for suffering in Europe for 3 years)
2009 BMW 3-Coupe (left in Europe)
2004 Boxster S (Sold to go to Europe)

 

Was your Wife Really suffering in Europe?

 

All I can say is good luck to you man.

 

I just went through the same exercise you are going through. I looked at many of the same sites for months. Sites you did not list that I looked at regularly were The Dupont Registry, Rennlist.com and 6speedonline.com. I saw some nice cars and fair deals on these sites occasionally. I do not know what kind of mileage is acceptable to you. I wound up buying a CPO 2007 997S well optioned with 16k miles and the factory aero package. The car still smelled and looked "new". It is as close to a concour car as you would expect to find with 16K miles. It literally had two minor 1-2 mm chips on the whole car which have since been repaired. Another plus contributing to it's condition is a clear bra was installed at original delivery (hence, virtually no chips...) and the car had zero track time. It was bought from a Porsche dealer. To get that car, I had to shell out mid 50's in cash. For the same model year less the aero package, CPO and with 30-45k miles you might do mid to high 40's with cash. Some I checked into at that mileage and price point were non-CPO cars that had been rode hard and put up wet. I looked at a quite a few here in FL like that. The above figures are based solely on my experience. Your search and prices may vary from my experience.

The bottom line is you get what you pay for. I agree that prices on the 997's seemed to have actually crept up recently. I liken it to when Rolex recently rolled out a new Submariner watch. The one I had was 5 years old and pre introduction of the new watch was worth maybe $3200-3400. When the new model rolled out with a much higher MSRP, (~$8500) all of a sudden my older version was then selling for $4500-5000. The new base 991 Carrera S is STARTING at ~$97,000. The 997 was quite a bit less. I am a Porsche nut and have been for years. The appearance of the 997 and 991 are somewhat similar to my eye. I know there is a big step up in performance in the 991, but to the "average" person, they could not discern the difference from an appearance standpoint.

Good luck in your search! It was a fun experience for me and I wound up with EXACTLY what I was looking for. I hope you do too!

Doug

 

There are so many 911's for sale around the country that you shouldn't have any issues finding one in the next 30 days if you "have to" buy within that time. So, are you in Hannover or the U.S.?

 

When it comes to second hand market, supply and demand. You will see a lot of 05-06-07, less 08s, less 09s and with 10s and 11s things get better,
Think of what happened with the economy.
Interestingly the difference between 10-11 s is small due to the new model roll out.
Anyway you should be able to find a nice one at your price range, however when you get too specific with color, options etc, you become captive and price negotiations get tough. Remember, the best deal you can make is one you can walk away from. My advice, rent a car from enterprise for a month or so and take your time looking for your 997. Better to "loose" 500-600 USD on 4-6 weeks car rental , then to buy a car and wish you bought "the other one"
Good Luck

 

All good points here. High 40s is doable. Porsche with CPO gets the highest margin because they can. Private party margin is typically the least. CPO is up front money and Vegas wasn't built on winners. My 05 C2S Launch Edition with 54K miles, new tires with 95% brake pad left is probably worth $38K - $39K private party. Add $3K for an '06 and that should be $42K for an '06. The dealer will ask $7K - $10K more because they can. You are in the ball park. But, I keep hearing that second hand car prices have crept up? Did they creep up similar to the levels back in '08 when gas prices were sky high? Those who bought Second hand premium cars in '08/'09 have not experienced much depreciation - timing is everything.

 

Agree..
In my case, the dealers were asking $12-15 more than private party for a CPO. I had a PPI done before buying and got the all clear.
Crossing my fingers that lady luck is on my side

 

I ran multiple cars through the PPi process. Relatively inexpensive. It's part of the process.

 

Simple answer is Yes. It is amazing what a lack of sun and loss of a career will do to someone.

 

Thank you very much for the info. The example you gave on yours gives me a good baseline to go off of. I found what looked like a great car, 2007 997 C4S with every option I was looking for sans the Sport Exhaust. The only issue was the price was sky high from what I have seen for other comparable ones with similar miles. I made a low offer to leave some wiggle room and got a response that there was no need for them to make a counter because we are too far apart. Guess I am on to the next one.

 

Back in the USA now which is why I have the time crunch on the purchase. Only have a rental car paid for in my relo for a certain number of months.

I hope I won't have a problem, but it seems my favored color combos are either listed above $55k or are in budget but are Tips.

 

I guess the only thing that is too specific is the Sand Beige or Natural Brown interior color. Looking for a black car is not an issue but most have the black interior. I had a silver/black 986S and then a white/black 3-coupe so I feel the need to switch the colors around and go for a dark outside and light inside now. Just seems the sand beige interior is not popular with too many manual transmissions.

 

Exactly! The figure estimates I have been working off of are about $6k between model years. So a $38k 2005 would be about $50 for a 2007. And what I am seeing is this figure with another $6k on top for all of the options I have found. But I see the cars dropping in the advertised price after x# of weeks and all end up right around $50k for a 2007. So I guess I will just continue to speak to all the dealers/owners and try to get them to come down $5-6K.

 

That is what I plan on as well, find the car, negotiate the price then run the PPI.

I have been trying to prescreen the cars via CarFax. For instance there is a very nice/clean car up in Wisconsin that I am interested in but then on the carfax it shows:

2 owners both for 2+ years - This is fine
No accidents - This is great!
Service history - constant service records of the rear wing/spoiler being replaced/repaired (pops up every 10k miles or so) and the computer module being repaire/replaced, removal of the engine and transmission (RMS I assume)

So while the car looks great, is from a Porsche dealer and while priced on the high end it would be a consideration, the service history steers me away, especially at that higher price.