What's it Worth?
 

I'm thinking it may be time to sell my Boxster and I don't really know what it's worth. Anybody have any ideas? Specs are as follows:

1998 Boxster
25,000 miles
5 Speed Manual Transmission
LN Engineering Nickies Cases bored out, with 911 Crankshaft to bring it to 2.9L
J&E Pistons
LN Engineering Billet Rods
LN Engineering IMS Upgrade
LN Engineering Low Temp Thermostat
LN Engineering Billet Chain Tensioner

and probably some other good stuff I've since forgotten.

The car is in Excellent Condition as well.

$11,500 to $12,500 should be a good target

I would say 16k range with the low miles and quality upgrades.

Yeah definitely around 16k, if not more.

Most values are local
 

but if I were looking at that car I'd see an engine that needed work, some work done with the right parts, but non-standard and thus a potential maintenance headache. And the rest of the engine...water pump, AOS, oil and anti-freeze tanks, etc are 12 years old. Plus it is late in the summer and you are in a cold climate.

I'd not be asking more than $12k for the car if you want to sell it. For $16k I'd expect an 03-04S.

I would say that it depends on your location.

If you live in Canada, or North Dakota or Vermont or Michigan, the price of the Boxster should be around $16,000.

If you live in a warmer area, I think you can sell it for up to $18,000.

There is another Boxster in my area with 25,000 miles going for $25,000. But it is about 5 years newer than yours.

Mike below is right. The best time to sell it would be Spring. I got my Boxster very cheap thousands under book value because I bought it from a cold state in the middle of winter.

Kelly Blue Book pricing is $12,800 in Excellent condition; $12,250 in Good condition.

The engine upgrades are a mixed bag - might add value or might not - entirely dependent on the particular buyer. Some buyers will like the idea of an upgraded & higher performance engine and some will think its an indication of problems and not want anything to do with it (or won't be willing to pay any more for it).

"Right" buyer: $14,000
"Typical" buyer: $11,500

Another take on pricing: http://www.excellence-mag.com/resources/buyers-guide/1035392063

I would say that the year is definitely not in your favor, even with the low miles. Typically, you shouldn't expect modifications to add any value to the car except to a limited few (perhaps the very people reading this board...).

In the end, it's worth what someone will pay for it...

Adding a Danger Keychain to the deal would bring it up at least 6 or 7k .

Yeah, thats about right - the Danger Keychain will halve the market price just because the owner associated with JD... :p

The poor thing was only driven 25k miles...that's one lonely car. You had all this LN stuff done to it, if it wasn't for tracking then it sounds like an awesome car. If not in a hurry hold out for what you think it's worth, nothing worse then selling a car and feeling like you gave it away, especially if you don't 'have' to sell. I did this several times in my life and it only felt ok when someone that truly appreciated the extra care the car got bought it.

Yes, the previous owner used it very rarely. I bought it with a slipped cylinder sleeve, then proceeded to do all the upgrades. Since the rebuild, I've put almost 4,000 miles on it, and thats just since April. I like the keychain idea....if they're worth that much, I should put them on both sets of keys and double my money :)

I'll take some of whatever you're smoking.

Those are the ones who won't be buying it.

Have it dyno'd and make sure it runs well and can pass emissions and you'll easily get $16,000. Especially if it's in good shape otherwise as you say. I'd be asking $18,000 and let the buyer know he/she is getting a good deal.

Options get no premium, most upgrades are worth nothing when you sell, but a 2.9 that makes 230hp to the wheels is an easy $16k.

In my area right now (toronto and s. ont) these 99's are listed

100,000 mi 11,000
80,000 13,000
48,000 18,000
85,000 18,000
60,000 15,500


hope this helps

Quote:

"some will think its an indication of problems and not want anything to do with it (or won't be willing to pay any more for it). "

Originally Posted by thstone


Oh no, other people will still buy the car, they just won't pay anything additional for the engine mods.

I think it's worth 14-16K

If you take 25K miles as a common trait:
Boxster 2.5L is around 8-10K
00-02 2.7L 10-13K
00-02S 3.2L is about 13-18K (closer to 18)

If your car is in pristine condition, it has only 25K miles and has a power of an S, it's worth slightly less then an S.
Add to it buletproof engine (or closer then stock to it) and the fact that (as per Jake's Raby post) when they improve the engne they make sure it has adequate cooling, clutch.. etc.. I think 14K-16K is easy

Sasha
PS: how much Flat6 upgrade cost you? if it's not a secret

Well, it's not really a Flat 6 Upgrade exactly in that it doesn't have any of the secret improvements that Jake does to the engines he builds. Oh, and there is no "they" - I built the engine ground up myself (I do this kind of stuff for a living). I bought the car with a slipped sleeve as I said, with the engine in pieces, and did every upgrade I could find as I built it. Every system I could improve got Improved, and (knock on wood), I haven't had so much as an error code in the DME in 4,000 miles. To answer the question, the whole job cost me around $13,000 or so - not counting my labor of course. The only work farmed out was machine work. I think you guys are right about the dyno results, though. I've been meaning to do it to get a benchmark, but haven't got around to it. I'd like to know how my engine stacks up - in terms of power, of course.

To answer whether it's been tracked, no. The car is showroom otherwise.

It'll take a car enthusiast to understand what you did and pay the price that you want as you've definitely spent lots of time and money on it.

It definitely deserves an owner who will take great care of it.

As others have said, not the best time to sell right now as most buyers look to buy a convertible in spring time.

The non-professional engine re-build is not likely to command any price premium to a typical Boxster buyer.

With that being said, here is my suggestion if you want to sell the car for the most possible:

The extremely low miles are a huge selling point. I'd target various Porsche forums and Porsche car clubs using the low miles to get potential buyers interested and to justify a higher than Blue Book price; then I'd use the engine work (which a knowledgeable buyer will appreciate) to close the deal (and further justifying the higher than Blue Book price).

He'll get $16k, no doubt

I thought Mike may be way off too and since we live very close to each other I checked around...obviously not as nice a quattrogeek car, but it is an 'S' and is a 2003. I know when I got my car last Nov I didn't see anything this cheap! Dang. Huge range of prices in the 2003 and 2004s around here.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=p&car_id=302039284&dealer_id=66392839&c ar_year=2003&systime=&doors=&model=BOXSTE&search_l ang=en&start_year=2003&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&h ighlightFirstMakeModel=&search_type=used&distance= 200&min_price=&rdm=1313546702872&drive=&marketZipE rror=false&advanced=&fuel=&keywords_display=&sowne rid=65919933&lastBeginningStartYear=1981&end_year= 2004&showZipError=y&make2=&certified=&engine=&dma= CHARLOTTE_CON&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearc hform&body_code=0&transmission=&default_sort=price DESC&max_mileage=&color=&address=28107&sort_type=p riceDESC&max_price=&make=POR&seller_type=b&num_rec ords=25&cardist=112&standard=false&rdpage=thumb

There's also one listed for $23750. And a base for $27900. Wide range.

It certainly seems there is a wide range of values, the general consensus seems to be around the $16,000 mark. I think the customer for this car is ultimately someone who wants essentially all of the reliability and performance upgrades LN has to offer without the hassle (or cost) of having it all done. If book on this is 11k or so, I think the upgrades ought to be worth 9k or so, since you can't even buy the parts for that, but I could be wrong.....

In response to the emissions question, it passed no problem. I'm definitely going to dyno it before I sell it.