Depreciation
 

You make very good points...I don't always have the patience I should but my good friend does. He was looking for a used '05 Infiniti FX that were going for $40K at the time. He searched for about 6 months and got exactly what he was looking for $31K. He is ready to sell and he'll probably get $30K.

WOuld yOu guys like my to make you a different porsche spinning logo???

Could be due to the fact that so much of the cost can be in options, and options don't necessarily price well in resale?

Just a theory based on the fact that I think a hard top sold as a $2500 option but only adds $500 to the value of a '98 boxster, which is a 80% drop vs about a 65% drop in the value of the base car.

Say the base car drops 30% in value, and the options value drops 50% in 2 years. If you've got a $40k base + $20k in options, you go from $60k to $38k. If you had a car (non Porsche) that was $60k with no real options (because it just comes with all the stuff) you only drop to $42k.

Sure if you are game. I actually never meant to use that on this site as it's PL's anyway. I thiefed it for my sig on other sites. ;)

a few ideas based on my research and experience
 

I just wanted to add that timing is everything when considering buying a preowned Porsche...Porsche's value decreases exponentially in the first few years, but seem to level off over time...consider my car: I bought my 2001 Boxster, base model with 41000 miles on it for $26,000 and the asking price was $30K. It had one major flaw (to me) which was a crinkled plastic window (indentations) but I figured I would eventually get a new top anyway...plus it was still under Porsche warranty, so when I bought it they did about $2800 worth of work for free... Also, Porsche's depreciation does tend to level off after the first 3 years...my car is still worth $20,000 at least, in it's good condition.
But getting back to the point, it's always best to buy a car on the last day of the month and one hour before closing...at this time, dealers are falling all over themselves to make the sale to increase their sales volume for the month...so if ever one is in the market for a Porsche, that is the time to buy. One other thing I noticed is that it's best to buy a slightly used Porsche from another dealer who have no great fondness for a car that is not their own, so they don't have a problem unloading it at a good price (unlike Porsche, who are clearly biased, in my opinion, because it is their car after all) :)

It could be worse, just think of those 996 owners that bought new thinking of selling and trading up to a 997...ouch. Porsche went "high volume" with the boxster and the 996 to make some $$$. They made a mint and were the most profitable car company for awhile. The joke is on the consumers. I'ts a Porsche with a hint of Toyota literally and figuretively. I can only imagine how pissed of the 996 seller is right now and the boxster seller to a slighty lesser extent.

The initial value of the car needs to be based on dealer invoice, not MSRP, hence the word "profit." Something to note is Porsche mark-ups ($6K-$8K) are considerably higher than even BMW ($3K-$4K).

Options add about 10-20% value for every dollar spent, so realistically no value unless it's a drastic performance upgrade.

If you want to validate this, go to a site like Kelley Blue Book. The dealer invoice for a 2006-07 987 is $39,222, so you can gaurantee a private sale value (i.e., true market value or TMV) for one with zero miles is $38-39K. I just tested it, and the KBB value is $38,520. The rest of the depreciation comes from use and age, taking into account upkeep costs and replacement parts.

I've got a 2004 non-S. A couple options in the pot, along with dealer mark-up made the MSRP $49K (I bought it used 9 months off the lot back in 2005 for $32K from a couple going through a divorce). Regardless, the invoice that year was $37,121 which was the true value brand-new. The current value for a brand new one is $31,130, so the car technically only depreciated 16%, which isn't bad by any standard.

Take it back to 1998 when the invoice was $35,895, the TMV for a brand new 1998 is $18,325, or a 49% drop. A 51% value for a 10-year-old car is, in my opinion, very high.

For anybody who ever thought their non-S boxster was ever worth more than $36K, it unfortunately never was. Every dollar you spent above that was to fatten Porsche's very deep pockets.

Andy

it seems worse because it is worse. Losing $30K in an investment is one thing, there are deductions you can take on that. There's no deducting $30K on car depreciation. If there is please tell!

Cars are not about investing, but there are ways to reduce your exposure, which are largely ignored. I know many wealthy financial advisers and not one of them has a new car or leases one for pleasure. Meanwhile they tell me their wealthy clients rarely buy used.