29 replies to this topic

[Kim]

So I have both 968s for sale. As expected, few calls and little interest.

But this one guy sent me an email asking the price. Hadn't seen the car yet. Just wanted my "lowest price". Being a cheerful sort of fellow I told him what I wanted. He said "$12K for something with 350,000 km?". My answer was simple - you bet. He didn't call again. Don't mind someone saying no - but look at the car first. The repairs to the engine alone that I did in Oct/Nov 2010 cost more than I am asking.

Another guy advised me that he had 3 924 engines available. I said OK. Maybe you can install 2 at once to have similar power. One in the front and a second one in the back. The third can be used for spare parts. 911s have a rear engine so I am sure it can be done. He was offended.

Another guy said it was between a 1990 or 1991 944 S2 cab and my 968 cab. He asked what the difference was. Told him from the inside not much that would be obvious other than the view from the seat looking out. When I mentioned the variocam and the lights he cut me off saying that he knew all that. I asked him why he had asked me. Note added later - perhaps unbelievably, of the 4 people who have asked about my cab, 3 of them currently own 944 S2 cabs! This seems almost like a statistical error. Two have been from the eastern US, and both seemed to be knowledgeable about 944s vs 968s, but the guy from up my way was the real gem.

Another guy needed the lowest price "right now" as he was going to buy a car "today". Mine is still for sale.

I hate selling cars. But I am still trying.

Edited by Kim, 16 April 2011 - 10:55 AM.

[Rap]

Patience grasshopper!

[94SilverCab]

I'm with you Kim, I hatre selling cars too...I usually drive thgem until they are no longer of any use to anyone.

Jay

[ds968]

Same here, I would never sell a car ; I drive them until they're ready to be picked up by the charity org to which I donate them.. I get a tax deduction and they in turn sell the car for parts getting money for it that ( hopefully ) goes to a decent cause : Win-Win ! Yeah, most buyers are a PITA

[jfrahm]

Too bad the tax deduction is not good anymore. Yes, when selling a car you get some scammers and a bunch of people who are trying to work you over on the price. Dealers of some sort, I imagine. They can lowball people all day for free on the internet and maybe they get lucky every now and then. You also get people who are just looking for conversation and dreamers who want your car but have no money. It'd be great if I had the time to give out hugs or financial advice to random people on the internet but I just don't.

I always stipulate that I will ignore scammers and lowball offers. Once I get the impression a buyer is not for real I ignore them and that is that. Don't fall into the trap of arguing or debating them. They have more time than you do and their time is worth a lot less.

I would be careful reacting to people who ask questions they already know the answers to. They may be trying to find out how much you know about the car, either to see if you know the value or perhaps to determine if you were informed enough to take decent care of it.

Unfortunately when selling a car you have to earn the difference between what you'd get selling it to a dealer and what it's "worth." I like to think you can do OK by putting a low-ish price on the car and stipulating that you want a quick and easy sale but that does not always work. Sometimes the low price scares buyers off and sometimes it just makes the dealers think you are desperate so you get even more action from them.

I think the typical way to sell a car is to price it stupid high and then dicker down to something reasonable but I can't be bothered with that.

-Joel.

[ds968]

no more tax deduction from donating cars ? granted it's been about 8 years since I gave the last one to charity, but are you saying they eliminated that entirely, or is it that you have to meet a certain "low" income level to be eligible for any credit ?

sorry, somewhat OT on this question, and the 968 would never be in that consideration, just thinking of the other cars we own..

[Lord_Galva]

Sorry you had a bad experiance trying to sell your car.
When I buy cars over the phone or in person I always negotiate the price.
I never say "whats your lowest price" that's just rude.
You are not a branch of Wal-Mart selling cars at rollback prices.
They didn't just call up Car-Max asking how much their non-negotiable price tag is.
Clearly you have something desiriable where the price is negotiable.
Personally I wish we could buy other items in that same manner.
How cool would it be if you could talk down some of those 968 parts?

At any rate, good luck selling and if you can't this month there is always next month.

[Cloud9...68]

Yeah, selling a car can be a downright goofy experience. I had one guy email me that he was "very very" interested in the car, and asked me a bunch of halfway-reasonable questions, but then asked if the numbers match. Uh, this isn't a '63 split window Corvette. Not a whole lot of within-brand engine swapping going on in the 968 world. And even if it were, it's not like that would really impact the value, except for maybe positively.

Realizing that the value of these cars pretty much evaporates once they get north of 100K miles, I decided to keep mine, and turn it into a mostly-dedicated track car (although I've since stumbled across an article that said this is something you should never, ever do!). Sheesh, can't seem to win either way.

[tamathumper]

Given it's been 20 years since these vehicles were introduced, I can find an article that says just about anything I want - and all of them conflict with each other in some way or another.

Do what you want with your vehicle, and enjoy the heck out of it - at the end of the day it's just a car. I didn't enjoy my first two Porsches as much as I enjoy this one because I valued it too highly, and I didn't dare to park it at the mall, or drive it in the rain, or take it to the track, or do any of the fun things I can do with this one. And my first one was a ratty old 924 with split vinyl seats!

[Cloud9...68]

"I can find an article that says just about anything I want - and all of them conflict with each other in some way or another."


That is so true. There's so much opinion, conjecture, and folklore surrounding any old, long-out-of-production foreign sports/GT car, and the 968 is no exception. You just have to do what makes you happy, and what works for your circumstances, I suppose.

[jfrahm]

no more tax deduction from donating cars ? granted it's been about 8 years since I gave the last one to charity, but are you saying they eliminated that entirely, or is it that you have to meet a certain "low" income level to be eligible for any credit ?

The charity now (eventually) gives you a receipt for whatever *they* sell the car/boat/etc. for and you are allowed to claim that amount. You cannot donate a car (in whatever condition, running or not) and then claim a high retail value on your taxes. This deduction was widely abused. I suppose people would donate non-running cars and claim high KBB value on their taxes, or do something similar with boats or possibly special interest cars where the value is difficult to determine.

Unfortunately most charities do not sell cars on for much, probably less than what you would get selling the car yourself, so you do not fare well. I thought about doing this once when I was selling a boat, which I felt was "worth" about 3x what I could realistically sell it for and thus I could have claimed enough off my taxes to make it as good a net result for me as selling the thing outright. Except for the audit risk I suppose. I sold it on CL so I never found out.

I did once buy a BMW 325 from a guy who got it from a charity to which it had been donated. I think he paid about $750 for it, and I bought it from him for $2200 and felt that was a very good price. He more or less just put a battery in it and got it running, while I pulled and cleaned the carpet and got rid of the dead mouse, replaced the trashed speakers and shifter cup bushing and did a few other things. Great car. I never should have sold it.

Also, if you even put item donations on your taxes these days, such as clothing or household goods, there is a much higher expectation of writing off the 'thrift store value' of the items rather than just a 'value.'

Tax day cheers (mine were done long ago.)
-Joel.

[rl968]

The hard part about selling these cars is that they just don't command much price. Not really sure why, they are great and relatively rare cars, just not very desirable for some reason. Anybody putting any work into them (like me), will likely never get their money back. Selling them north of 10-12k for higher mileage cars,even if they have been taken care of is not easy and even lower mileage cars (~50k), still only get maybe $14k, and that's with all receipts, etc., etc.

I suspect Boxsters are probably the nemesis of the 968, similarly priced, similar performance and debatedly a more fun and reliable car to drive, plus most are just 10 years old or less.

[Kim]

Who would have thought that simply awapping the position of a "6" and and "8" could cause so much problem.

[ds968]

One of my neighbors ( we're talking only about five or six houses down the street from ours..) has a 968 cab which he has kept in the garage, and has not driven at all for over six years now. He has no interest in socializing with other 968 owners or participating in the forum, etc.. keeps to himself pretty much, but I has a couple of chats with him over the years, nonetheless. That by itself is completely uninteresting, EXCEPT for the fact that he is a collector car dealer / reseller. On any given month, the two or three cars parked outside his garage are '50s or 60s Jags, Maseratis, an Avanti or an old Aston here and there, and they all turn over weeks later , making room for the next car. But not the 968. That one stays. He will not sell it. I asked him why he keeps a car he does not drive, particularly when the market value is as crappy as it is. He did not give a reason, other than to say, " not sure, I just think this is a keeper .. maybe some day, but definitely not selling it in the next ten or even twenty years ". Given what he does for a living, perhaps he knows something that eludes all of us

Edited by ds968, 17 April 2011 - 06:05 PM.

[tamathumper]

OK, from now on mine stays in the garage, and only gets driven on days that end in "y".

[ds968]

[Rap]

For a relative newbie this is an interesting question. Rare car, no increase in value. rl968 probably has a good point with the boxster. As an individual who falls in the age category denoted as a yuppy, yet not considering myself one, had I not found my 968 through a good friend and avid porsche owner, I might have gravitated toward a boxster. Now this garage them or drive them issue has given me pause. Living in the NE my driving season is limited. Living in the mountains more limited. So does one limit your driving time to keep the car in pristine condition or enjoy it by driving it? Being a have my cake and eat it too kind of guy, I am going to keep the car in pristine condition and drive it as much as I want!!! The heck with increase value because I did not buy it as an investment.
Bob

[Cloud9...68]

I think a big part of the problem is the (fairly justified) fear a lot of people have over the cost of repairs to a nearly 20-year-old Porsche, particularly when they get over 100K miles. As I've said in other posts, just paying someone to fix the common leaks in these cars could easily run over $7K, if you're the sort who can't live with leaks. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's just this perception that Japanese contemporaries (Nissan Z, Toyota Supra, even the RX7 once you get its known problems fixed) and the Corvette are somehow cheaper and less finicky to maintain than Porsches. This, and the fact that there was nothing about the 968 that really stood out against its contemporaries I'm afraid relegates it to a car of ever dwindling value. If I were in the market for one today, I'd look for one in decent cosmetic shape with over 100K miles, offer something like $5K, and fix all the mechanical stuff myself. As long as it takes to sell these cars (I tried for about six months before giving up, and turning it into a track car), there are probably sellers who would bite at this.

But who knows, maybe Dan's neighbor is right about the long term. But then you'd be stuck with a car you can't drive.

[bombfactory]

When I bought my car a year or so ago, after watching the 968 market for a few years, I figured they were at the bottom of their depreciation curve and values would either hold steady or start creeping up due to their relative rarity in this country. So far, not so much! I was thinking they might follow the pattern of the E30 M3, a car with similar build numbers and specs, but perhaps a bit more pedigree and enthusiast appeal. Ten years ago you could pick one up for ten grand, now a decent one goes for twenty and above. I guess time will tell for the 968.

-Austin

[tamathumper]

I dropped my friend off at the dealer to pick up his Boxster today and thought "what the heck, I'll get a quote to do the belts and water pump". I ask the guy behind the counter for said quote and he immediately says "That's a big job on that car, $2,500 ballpark. That's a rare bird, we only see one or two of those a year."

This tells me a couple of things. First, the dealer is *not* the place to go for service if they only see one or two 968's a year. Second, at least the dealer staff recognizes the rarity of our cars so there's hope that a similar mind-share will someday develop with commensurate value effects, if an affordable market in parts can be sustained.