Ello Patrick! How is his hunt going for a box? Has he called about that other one on the east coast (the one that he didn't like the color of?)
Due to the way it's written, it seems a rather harsh critique, so I'll respond to each segment individually:
[i]Lack of service history [i]
Unfortunately, not too much I'm going to be able to do about this one.
Typical older Boxster maintenance issues
I feel this is sort of implied with the 1997
"Interesting" audio install
Meh, it's rear speakers installed into the worthless leather pouch, can be undone with $20 (for a used worthless leather pouch) and unclipping the audio connector to them and the amplifier.
Most importantly, cosmetic condition. Unfortunately, every body panel on your car has some kind of damage to it, whether it be a chip, small rust spot, scratch, scrape, or ding. Front bumper is in very poor condition. Headlamps have burn/melt marks on them and are badly pitted. Either whoever buys your car accepts it as such and isn't bothered, or they have to spray the whole car and upgrade things like lights, etc. Interior is in OK condition.
I really don't think there's anything uncharacteristic of a 10 year old, 100k+ car. Most of the dings (with the exception of two) are the typical door-ding variety that measure less than 1/4" thick and 1" long, or minor pits/hits from rocks on the road. I'm not sure how a car is going to be actually driven for 100k and not aquire them, honestly. The headlights are definitely discolored though, as shown in the pictures. Aaron did mention the bumper, too, I'm honestly not sure what more he expecting of a car with a description of "due to a previous poor paint job, the front bumper is pitted and peeling"
Essentially, it is a car with a somewhat questionable past, that is not in the best of condition as it sits currently.
As I talked about above, most of Aarons' concerns were of the minor rock chips and stuff (that I'd consider normal for a 10 year old, 100k car), but he was talking about taking it on the track shortly... that kinda confused me.
As far as the questionable past, I don't know how to extract history from nothing, so I only have the history as far back as I've owned the car. I work with what I have
Essentially, your car would be a perfect candidate for a 3.4 swap, if it was in cleaner condition. To get the car up to better condition would be an easy $5k, and spending $5k more on a "better" car is a better use of money, by almost all accounts.
I could be wrong, but after seeing your car, I think you will find it difficult to find a buyer.
Just my $.02
Patrick
I actually think the perfect candidate for the car is one of two people: Someone who wants a nice condition car that they can actually drive without worrying about it incessantly, or someone who is looking for a cheap track-sled to beat up and not worry about rock chips. This car is not meant to compete against the $15-16k cars on the market right now, if simply due to age and mileage alone. If I really thought it was worth the $14-15k that the other boxsters on cars.com are going for, I would have priced it there and held firm.
Obviously, my target audience is not a car collector or someone who is going to want a perfectly mint show-piece. Unfortunately for them, I don't think that they're going to find that in the sub-$12,000 range for a Porsche.
I wish Aaron luck with his hunt, but unless he gets lucky this winter sometime, I don't think he's going to find his dream mint-condition car for less than 12k
Tell him I said Hi, though.
Thanks for the input, Patrick!
~Aaron
Edited due to annoying size caused by using the quote function