Price Check on Aisle '06
 

I've run across a new left over '06 S. The dealer has knocked a few bucks off the sticker but won't be able to sell it at that price because an '08 LE S is only a few bucks more. I have a couple of questions for the esteemed forum members:

1. Does anyone know what invoice would be on an '06 S or know where to find it? I'd like to have this info before I start talking to them.

2. The warranty clock is ticking. Depending on when it was manufactured, there may only be 2 yrs left on the warranty. Is it possible for the dealer to CPO a new car?

3. If so, is the cost $1000-$1200?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Husker, I don't know invoice prices but I would expect you to be able to get 16-18% off MSRP. I would not expect you to get more than 20% off. Getting between 18-20% off will depend mainly on how good of a negotiator you are and a combination how desperate the dealership is to move the old inventory.

Why is the warranty clock ticking? The wrranty should start once the car is sold, not manufactured.

I would expect a CPO to cost north of $2,000.

First of all, the '06 S is a beautiful ride, drove a few with a rather large smile on my face. No matter what, someone has to pay for the depreciation of an '06 left on the lot, that someone, hopefully, is not you! My suggestion would be to buy/lease the '08 LE S! Better residual value on an '08 purchased right now gets much worse (like 8 points a year) every year you go backwards.

One of the '06 S's I drove with 236 miles on it was stickered for 58K, the dealer was willing to let it go for low to mid 40's. I left before a final number was hammered out, out of my price range.

The warranty is ticking because Porsche often exercises a policy of assigning an in-service date to leftover cars. On that 06S the likely in-service date is 7/31/2006.

In my experience, the absolute best place to get invoice prices is through Chrome Data Systems - that's their main business and they update them regularly. Unfortunately you'll have to pay to get them.

But if you want the invoice price for free, you can look it up on Edmunds.com. Beware they don't update their data as often as I think they should, so their invoice prices are more of an estimate..... a very good estimate, but not the best out there.

As a first offer, I was quoted $2000 for a CPO on a 2006S with 7k miles. Since I didn't buy that car I didn't try to negotiate it lower, so I don't know how reasonable $1000 - $1200 is.

You can currently buy an 07 leftover for less than invoice (I can speak with some authority on this, because I just did.... not bragging, just saying that it can be done). So, unless they're offering the 06 for substantially LESS then invoice, I'd keep looking.

And don't let the dealer give you any BS about caving in and giving you the full warranty. The In-Service date is Porsche's deal and the dealer has no say in the matter. The dealer CAN add CPO, but the original warranty CANNOT be changed.

husker, what option codes are on that 06S?

Before options, here what I have:
MSRP - 55,495 -- Invoice -48,510

For a 2 year old car that dealer should be falling all over you. I don't know too many people who would pay good money for a 2 year old convertible in December. What are the winters like there? Maybe you should wait until the snow is flying fast & furious. Go in and don't settle on anything less than invoice AND a CPO. I would think the dealer would be happy to get a car that has been sitting on in his inventory so long a new home. If I am not mistaken the invoice you see is not the final one the dealer pays. There usually are discounts for sales incentives, volume and a "hold back" of a few thousand dollars.

There are plenty of dealers and plenty of these cars around.

Cpo?
 

Sorry if this is painfully obvious to most on this site, but what is CPO?

Thanks for the great info. Keep it coming.

baseball-
I haven't talked to them yet about specific options or codes, but it is hard loaded. The ads I've seen for it don't get into specifics but the sticker is $68K, which for '06 had to include just about everything. From pics I can see nav, sports chrono, Bose, Carrera S 19s, etc. The ads say it has PSM and heated seats.

der Geist-
This one is not sitting in a snow belt dealership but is in a depressed area of the country. I would think with Christmas approaching, they would not be doing a lot of business. I've been watching this one for a couple of months and didn't want to upgrade until next spring, but might see if I can pull the trigger a little sooner if they are willing to deal.

ozspearo-
It's very late (early?), so the exact ancronym for CPO escapes me, but Porsche will certify certain used Porsches. This means they pass a mechanical inspection, are low mileage, and have never been in an accident. The price of a CPO is higher than a non-CPO car, but you know it's good. The main bonus of CPO is Porsche extends the warranty 2 yrs and up to 100K mi. It's not bumper-to-bumper but covers the items we worry about on this forum. In order to CPO a car, the dealership pays Porsche some amt of money and that's the reason for my question. CPO cars are generally $2-3K more retail, but that's not what the dealership pays Porsche.

Right, so it's just a Porsche certified used car warranty? I've seen other manufacturers offering them. I guess they didn't have a fancy acronym for them though. :)

Here is Porsche's program:

http://www.porsche.com/usa/pre-owned-vehicles/approved/

"Certified Pre-Owned"

It's been awhile since I did my homework on this, but there's the MSRP, athe dealer invoice price, and the actual cost to the dealer of getting the car. I believe this is not the same as the dealer invoice price.

When I bought my last new car, I got the actual cost (including the options) that the dealer paid for it through Consumer Reports. You can do that on-line. I showed it to the salesman and asked him what he thought a reasonable profit would be for the dealership for a quick sale. My thinking is it's better to negotiate up from what they paid than down from what they're asking.

Finally, since the warranty clock started ticking in '06, you'll want to throw that into the mix. Obviously with that, the car is worth less now than when they originally bought it. My tactic would be to negotiate a price up from what they paid for a reasonable profit, then bring up the reduced warranty and ask them to compensate for that with CPO coverage on their own dime.

You're in a very good negotiating position here, especially with the end of the year coming up.

I have never in all my years seen a dealer NOT want to sell a car until now. It's no wonder they have 2 left over 06 987s in their inventory.

I saw this car on AutoTrader about 1.5 mo ago. Sent them an email via AT to see if they still had it. No response.

Over Thanksgiving w/e I saw it was still listed on their website. Sent them an email via their website a week ago Mon. No response.

Call them last Wed. Asked the salesman about options, build date, Katrina issues (the car is in NO), etc. He called me back with the info. Then asked if I'd seen it on the internet. I said yes. He gave me his direct dial number and hung up. No "what can I do to get you into this car" jive or asking about trades, etc.

A good sales person would call back in a day or two, but he didn't so Sat AM I called the Sales Mgr and left a msg. No response. Called again in the PM and left another msg.

A different salesman called me. We had at least 5 phone converstions between him talking to the Used Car Mgr. The salesman and I came to a number on what it would cost to trade my 01, but the UCM wanted to low-ball me because he couldn't commit to a price w/o seeing my car. He wanted me to come down and let him look at my car. According to NADA, trade-in on my car is $20200. That's what I was willing to take for it, so I didn't think I was being outragous. The UCM said $16K. I suggested they call the Service Mgr at Woodhouse Porsche here in Omaha and get a description from him on the cond of my car. They said they'd call him on Mon and get back to me Mon evening. Sent the salesman a pic of my car.

Called the SM at Woodhouse yesterday morning to give him a heads-up on the call. He was happy to talk to them. Got home last night, no call. Called the SM this morning and he said he never got a call either. Got home tonight and there was an email from the salesman who said the car has been sold. We'll see, they told me that once on Sat. Got a feeling they just want to blow me off. I'll keep an eye on their website.

I bought my Box over the phone from Boardwalk in Plano, Tx. We had a deal made in 3 calls and that included my trade. Woodhouse moves lots of inventory via the internet. These fools in NO don't have a clue. If they only want to sell their cars w/in a 100 mi radius, they shouldn't advertise on the WWW.

Sorry for the long post, just needed to vent a little. How stupid are people when you want to hand them a wad of $$$ and they don't want to take it?

Husker,

Sorry to hear about all your troubles...

It amazes me that some of these places stay in business when they treat potential ( and current ) customers so poorly :confused:

Nick

I don't understand why Porsche NA puts up with dealerships that tarnish their brand.

Husker, that you had a good experience with Boardwalk is no surprise. Here in Dallas we're lucky to have Park Place and Boardwalk; both have been nothing less than excellent. I didn't buy my car from either yet am treated the same as someone who just spent 100k.

Husker, I wish I could say your experience was the exception, but in my experience it's not.

When I bought my car, I dealt with over a dozen (close to 20) dealers in the Northeast. I have never met so many people who didn't want to put ANY effort whatsoever into taking my hard-earned cash. In at least 6 cases, a simple return phone call would have sealed the deal.

I guess some sales operations feel it's best to play hard to get.

I wonder if these salespeople are the same ones that always complain about sales being down???

The 3 closest dealers to me here in Florida were very cordial in dealing with me and were very prompt via email. I decided to go with Brumos, which has a good reputation in the Porsche community, not to mention price.

Back on topic - they are going to get stuck with that '06 and either they are playing games with you or are very stupid - offer them what you want to pay and if they say no ask them for their "best" price...walk away if it is not acceptable but give them your # in case they change their mind.

I am not condoning the poor practices that some (many) of the Porsche dealerships exhibit to potential and current customers, but the bottom line is that Porsche is a limited production car and the dealerships do work with a specific limited allocation.

So, I think some of them just figure the car will sell at some point and the buyer will be willing to pay close to MSRP.

If the dealership is only going to get 30-40 (pick a number) cars per year, they are going to try to sell them at the highest possible prices with a limited amount of effort. Sad, yes, and maybe true. I don’t know. Just my hunch.

I would bet a very high percentage of new car Porsche buyers do very little or no price negotiations with the dealership. They just pay MSRP.

I think your thoughts are dead-on. Porsches are not like Chevys - when was the last time you saw rebates on Porsches?

When I first approached dealers about ordering my 2008 987 S I was told MSRP and when I asked if I could get a discount I was told 3% (2% on 911s). I suspect that many people (not me though) would stop there and take that % off.

Volume is low but then again, last years (or the year before that) model should not command the same price as a new car, especially when the warranty clock has started ticking.

This is always the best way to approach new cars in my opinion. Start from the dealer's cost and ask then what is the least profit they will accept. Then you have a negotiating tool to visit or call other dealers with.

F.E. Dealer A is Willing to accept $800 (this example of $800 is a reasonable amount for euro cars but maybe not for Porsche) over their cost. Then go to dealer B and tell them that "dealer A will take $800 over, can you do better than that?" It is amazing what you will find, some dealers will give you a ridiculous amount and say "that is what we do, take it or leave it" while others are flexible and actually want to make the deal happen. Either way this research gives you a negotiating tool that can be worth thousands.

I agree with the "good position" statement also.

Also if considering a trade do not even mention it until you get their bottom-dollar cash price. That is the only way you can know what they are actually giving you for your car. So many people walk away feeling like they got a lot for their trade when they actually have no clue that they have been suckered big time.