What is going on with 986 and 996 prices?

[Meat Head]

A big factor is mileage. Many of the older cars have 80k-125k miles. A car that has the reputation of having very high repair costs will drop in value rapidly as the miles build. The only Boxsters I see (in my 150 mile area) for around $10k have 80k+ miles on them. The IMS scare has also been a factor but now that Porsche has released the actual fail rate numbers I think that will level out (at least for the earlier double bearing cars with less than 1% failure rate).

It is harder than many make it seem to find a very nice representation of a Boxster for $10k or under. If a person goes and looks at these $10k and under Boxsters you will find a large portion of them will have worn interiors, not garage kept, leaking oil, under maintained and sub par service records. I guess what is acceptable is all in the eye of the beholder.

I do think this is a great time to pick up a nice Boxster. Though prices are down, I think it is prudent for the purchaser to spend a little extra money to aquire a nice representation of the car. I could be wrong but I think you will see a rebound in prices on the quality, well maintained early Boxsters in the next few years.