Purchasing a Boxster
 

I'm looking at purchasing my first Porsche. Please share your thoughts on what a fair offer price would be for the following car from a private owner:

2004 Boxster 5 sp
Speed Yellow
Yellow seat stiching
PSM
Bose
17" Boxster S Wheels
Single CD
Heated Seats
Aluminum / Carbon Shift Knob Trim
6,600 miles
Owner is asking $31,000

The car is honestly in excellent condition.

Edmunds is showing $28,981
KBB is showing $27,225

Does anyone have access to Manheim to see what these cars are commanding in PA?

Thanks!

Use auto trader.com and see what the ask price is for this kind of car in your area.

Assume the seller will take a grand or two less.

Compare to Book values. Adjust for condition and options.

Auction values will add little to the picture since you can't buy at those values normally.

The number I generally use when buying or selling a private owner car is half way between retail and trade-in. That seems to be the sweet spot for making the sale. A private owner generally has to take less than a dealer because the PO has some disadvantages over a dealer: (1) a dealer takes trades, (2) a dealer can provide financing, (3) a dealer is in a high traffic area that is easy to get to, (4) a dealer has a reputation to uphold (hopefully). To overcome these disadvantages, the PO must entice customers with a lower price.

Dealers also play with the numbers when it comes to reporting sales. When I traded my 01S in for my LE, the actual price they gave me was $20.5K but the paperwork showed $27K. The $27K is what the various car price guides would use to help establish the value of the 01S. So car guide values can be a bit misleading. Plus there's a lag between the numbers they use and the actual market. With the continual southward spiral of the economy and the northward climb of gas prices, car guides are going to be a bit optimistic when it comes to luxury items like Boxsters because the data they use is not real time.

The car you're looking at sounds like a nice car - good options, etc. Just think the owner is off / behind on what the value is in today's market. You're getting in at a good time. It's definitely a buyers market, so take advantage of it. If the owner won't budge, keep looking. And keep this person's contact info. Maybe in another month he'll be more motivated to move it.

Good luck and hope you have a chance to join the Boxster community.

Find an S with a 3.2 in it. Many base Boxster owners wish they'd found one with that larger engine. There's just not enough grunt in the 0-60 times to satisfy city driving. In the twisties, it doesn't seem to matter as much.

Instead of an 04 Box, also look for 03 BoxS's is my recommendation... just a year older, some will have the same low mileage (garage queens abound), and you get that glass rear window that was introduced in 2003.

Bose and Litronics (xenons) are my two must-haves on these cars... and that rear glass window.

I have driven both, and the base Boxster is more than sufficient for my needs. Condition / Proper Maintainance are more important to me.

[QUOTE=husker boxster] It's definitely a buyers market, so take advantage of it./QUOTE]

That's what I figured, so we'll see how it goes.

Would you consider an offer of $26,000 an insult offer?

My thoughts were that the auction prices would give me a ballpark as to what a dealer might offer the current owner on a trade.

A co-worker recently purchased an 04 Arctic Silver from a dealer. The car had about 30K on it. I don't think it had PSM or Bose. His deal included a 2-year warranty. I think he paid $28,000.

Personally, I would prefer the car you are looking at to the one my co-worker bought. The yellow seat stitching looks sharp and maybe I'm just tired of seeing so many silver Boxsters. Compared to the car my co-worker bought, the pluses are: Much lower mileage, PSM, carbon trim and Bose. The minuses are: No warranty, and possibly the color. (I like Speed Yellow, but I heard that it can meet some resistance on resale. )

On that basis I think $26k is a little too low. If you offer $26k and he turns you down, what is your next step? Are you prepared to move on? There are a lot of Boxsters for sale right now, and if you are willing to keep looking having your offer of $26k rejected causes you no harm.

I made several low-ball offers on Boxsters before I bought mine. I chalked up the rejections to learning about the market.

Kevin -

Thanks for the reference vehicle. $28,000 from a dealer sounds like a pretty decent deal. I appreciate the minuses you listed, however I plan on keeping this car until I die (i'm 36, so hopefully quite a long time) and there is still 1 year left on the warranty (in service date was August of '05. If the seller doesn't accept my offer, I do have some room to move. But, if we can't reach a deal, I'm prepared to move on.

I parked next to a speed yellow S about two weeks ago. (I don't know whether it was an 03 or 04), and I couldn't help but feel a bit drab in Arctic Silver.

I checked the pricing data on my car when I made my purchase a little over two years ago. I checked 4 buying services (Edmunds, Kelley, NADA and Consumer Reports.) The lowest private party price was Edmunds. I paid about $300 less than that. At $26,000 you are offering almost $3000 less than Edmunds says the car is worth. Great if the seller will go for it.

In this area (HQ for Carmax) the floor price tends to be what Carmax will offer for the car. If your seller knows about Carmax (and there is one in your area) that may be your competition in today's softer market.

We'll see how it goes. I emailed my offer to the seller. Hopefully we'll come to an agreement. If not, there is an '03 S w / 25k miles on it that is next on my list.

:cheers:

FWIW, I personally think NADA and KBB are crap. If you list your car per their guidlines, it will sit for a long time unless you find a sucker.

I think if you go with edmunds TMV, that is a much more realisitic picture of what you should pay/sell. Examining ebay prices and various list prices might give you a flavor of the market as well. Also, I would never consider a car to be "outstanding" or perfect. IMO, base your costs of of "Clean" for a car in very good shape.

Suggest you also spend a lot of time here looking at how to evaluate the car, ie PPI and the like. Folks can save them a ton of headaches by how smart they evaluate the particular car.

Good luck.

NADA was a little high. KBB was actually a little less than Edmunds. I ended up offering $26,500 based on the Manheim Auction results that were so kindly given to me from another online fanatic.