[John Y]

How did you get Manheim data? I always understood you had to be a dealer to participate in their auctions and get their data, and when I went to the website to look at sales #s it asked me to sign up and then asked me for some sort of auction id that dealers have?

I am in this for the long haul, and you're certainly right that there are plenty of cars out there, and I'm not in a particular rush, beyond the general desire to get back into one. I sent out offers by e-mail this morning on two cars - both base - an 06 and an 07, both with low miles; the former CPO at a Porsche dealer, the latter at a franchise dealer for another brand, with what I figure is about 16 months of factory warranty remaining - an adequate substitute for CPO, to me. I was, IMO, pretty aggressive in terms of the discounting in my offers compared to ask (on both I was in the mid to upper 20s - 50% depreciation based on their original MSRP.) We'll see what happens...I am going back for a second look at the 05 S today, and seeing a different 06 base CPO tomorrow, also with ultra-low miles. I will be as aggressive with that one.

You are also right that prices are all over the map - the dealer I e-mailed this morning has his ask on the 06 base CPO at $31,900 - a hair below KBB. The car I will see tomorrow is virtually identical - colors, year, CPO status, and options, mileage is only 1K apart. The second car (on 17s and not 18s) has his ask at 36,995! Extraordinary, especially considering the car came in while there were still green leaves on the trees last year. Perhaps they will be realistic in person.

Another thing worth mentioning on the 05 S is that it has only been with that dealer 30 days, so I suppose that says something about relative motivation to sell.

EDIT: That was easy! The 07 under factory warranty sold (ask was $30,995) and the Porsche dealer with the 06 car won't budge off of $31.9K - surprising! The say there aren't a lot of 06s out there (which we know is untrue) and that they are seeing dealers paying close to retail #s at auction for them. Puffery aside, they know what they paid and they must have an idea of what they can get for it.

It's a good thing I enjoy the process...