Please Help: Advice on Purchasing
 

After surveying this forum for several months as a hopeful Boxster owner, I've decided to take the plunge and visit a dealer.

I'm interested in a used 2005, or if need be, new 2005. I've looked at prices online and realize that lots of options are available for these cars (which creates a wide price range).

Can anyone give me advice on negotiating price? How low can you go from the MSR price?

Any tips on buying new or very late model Boxsters? (I'm specifically interested in the 2005 because i understand there's more interior room, and the 2003 mdel i sat in was very uncomfortable for me at 6').

I searched the forum for buying tips but didn't find anything. Several months ago i found a very informative "How to negotiate and buy a boxster" article but didn't bookmark it and now can't find it.

I've learned a great deal on this forum and want to thank all of you. I look forward to your expert advice. Thanks again!

TVC15:

You should be able to get $6K off a new 2006 Boxster S order. I did. My car will be delivered in March/April 2006. You need to be willing to go out of state for a better deal. I live in Chicago, and fould an aggressive dealer in Ohio. As for 2005 Boxster and Boxster S I have seen discounts as high as $8.5K. Good luck.

I'm hardly an expert (I just bought my first Porsche, a 2000 Boxster S, 48 hours ago!) but I decided to for once do some research on buying cars before I drove by a dealer with my wife and go OHHH lets get that one!!!

I know I've been screwed in the past but I felt better after doing a lot of research on the web, starting with :

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/

Theres a LOT to read there and many references to other sites to figure out what cars are worth, how to negotiate, not dealing with MSRP and making an offer based on what options you get, etc. Not sure how much applies to the more luxury oriented market but I found it all a good read.

As for the seat, I drove probably 10 cars before I settled on the perfect one and in that time learned so much about operating all the equipment... it took 5 cars to figure out the seats!! I'm 6 foot too and found the car really cramped at first but I finally got the manual seats to go all the way down and it was so much better... are you sure you have the older models all adjusted right? Just a thought.

Good luck

BMussatti--
 

which dealer in OH was that?

Given the choice, I'd go with an '06 too. Since the '05 is an 80% new model, the '06 will have several "bug fixes" incorporated after reports from the '05 being on the road under general public abuse.

TVC15. Im a buyer for a fleet company. 80% of what I purchase are for executives in large corporations. From what I know, they are desperately trying to get rid of all the 05's to make room for the 06's that are coming. That relates to large amounts of savings for the consumer. I bought a 05' boxster for the company and received 2% mark up. The normal consumer should be able to get 4% w/o a sweat. I would've advised to get the vehicle before the end of last month and to shoot for 3% mark up. You can get an idea of what the invoice price is from Edmunds. Not sure if Porsche dealership will actually show the invoice sheet. Best of luck to ya.

Thanks guys, for the responses so far.

Trogdor, thanks for the link to Car Buying Tips--it's great!

It's amazing how complicated new car buying is. (My current car, a '71 MBZ 280SL, I bought used).

Maybe i should consider going through my local Auto Club (AAA) which offers a no-haggle fleet purchase service. Anyone tried this?

Keep the suggestions coming!

I had a good e-mail correspondence with Tim Brookhart at White-Allen in Dayton. Back in July, I was getting very frustrated with the delays in delivering my car ordered in March. I started to look around and sent e-mail requests on a number of cars. Tim had a nice one that stickered at $64.2K and in three successive e-mails, he brought the price down to $57.3K. He said someone would pick me up at the airport and I could then have a great 700-mile ride home. I didn't negotiate seriously because I still had a contract to take the ordered car through the end of July (which I did on 7/22). I had a better rapport with Tim than my actual salesman here on Long Island. I've never met the guy, but if he's anything like his e-mails, I'd contact him. He really sounded like someone willing to deal.

I'm pretty flexible on options and colors. If I knew then what I know now, I would have waited until the summer and scored a much better deal on an '05. I honestly never expected to see so many still in stock. When you read one favorable review after the other, you expect a car to be harder to get. I guess not everyone has the bucks these days. One salesman said it's due to the fact that the lease rates aren't as good as they used to be.

Good luck in your search and bargain hard!

This may be the site you are referring to:
forums1.roadfly.com/porshce/forums/boxster
subject - my first porsche:2005 boxster (987) and thank you. author Nacho.

Can you tell me how you locate these deals? Did you call all the dealerships?

I am looking at 4 boxsters, 3 are '05 models and one is an '06.

The first MSRP on '05 is 50,185, they want 46,185. That gives them 6668 profit! Want a 48 month lease price of $760.

The next MSRP on '05 is a demo with 2500 miles 50,050, they want 43, 550. That gives them 4103 profit! They want a 48 month lease price of $685.

The third MSRP on '05 is 53795, they want 47,800. That gives them 7800 profit! They want a 48 month lease price of $750.

The last is an '06 with MSRP of 52,260, they want 50,260. That gives them 9688 profit! They want a lease price on a 48 month of $793.

I'm looking for the lowest monthly cost possible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I sold cars years ago, and the best no-haggle deals were always offered to brokers or those who were buying on behalf of a third party.

I recommend you contact a new car leasing broker in your area, tell them exactly what you want and how much you'll pay per month for the boxster, and let them go to work for you. They make their money on cash kickbacks from the dealerships and leasing companies with whom they work.

It looks like you want to lease, right? Know this: any downpayment or trade in goes straight into the pocket of the dealership as profit. When I leased years ago, it was all about the monthly payment and mileage allowance. I never put a penny down in downpayment and if you have good credit, you shouldn't either.

And one more thing about leasing payments: What they offer you is their first offer, not their best offer by any means. You should be telling them they are out of their minds if they think you'll pay that much per month, and you will be finding another dealership/lender/broker who offers the same thing for less per month. Hold your ground and watch them come off the price of that car to lower your lease payments!

When it comes to leasing, the price of the car is insignificant. The monthly payment is everything!

Thanks, Randall. I wouldn't have thought of using a broker. How do you find a reliable lease broker?

Just for the entertainment of the forum members, one of the dealerships is claiming that Edmunds is innacurate and understating invoice by $4200.

If you're open to the idea of leasing, you may want to consider Leasetrader.com. (no affiliation)

They currently only have 986s available but would imagine they'll be some 987s popping up pretty soon.

If the dealer won't show you the real invoice to prove it, it's clear they have something to hide. With the access the consumer has to information these days over the internet, I simply wouldn't trust any dealer who won't show the actual invoice on the car.

Hi,

Dealer Invoice in no way is an indication of how much the Dealer actually paid for the car.

You need to find out if there are any other Dealer Incentives. Dealer Incentives are Factory-to-Dealer incentives that reduce the Dealer's true cost to buy the vehicle from the Factory. These can include Factory Hold-backs (money charged initially to the Dealer and Held Back and returned to the Dealer for any sold cars at a later time, usually quarterly. Advertising Incentives (these are monies sent to the Dealers from the Manufacturers to reimburse advertising costs - These effectively lower the cost/unit to the Dealer for selling the cars, effectively increasing their profits (or effectively lowering the price the Dealer pays for a car). Some Incentives are for Dealer competitions - These incentives can touch off competition among Dealers to move slower-selling stock. Each of these means that the Dealer can actually sell you the car for as much as 20% off invoice and still make a profit.

Now is the worst time of the year to buy a car. The new models are out and there are plenty of buyers. Why do you think new models are introduced in October? Because this is a time where people typically don't have other seasonal expenses such as Summer Vacations, Christmas expenses and such - it's the time of year when people in general have the most disposable income.

The 2 best times of year to buy a car are the 2 weeks before Christmas (because people aren't buying cars, they're buying Xmas gifts) and Aug.-Sep. as Dealers make room for the new models.

If I were you, I'd wait another 60-65 days and you'll be able to drive a harder bargain. But, YOU will have to drive the Bargain - don't expect the Dealer to just hand the car over.

One method I have used successfully, repeatedly, over the years is to research the car I want, get my finances in order, and then contact 5 dealers up to 200 mi. away. I let each know whom I have contacted and offer the invoice price of the car and options minus 20%. I tell them I will buy from the 1st Dealer to respond. To date, I have never had a deal refused or ever had a positive reply take less than 48 Hrs.
Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

Having a hard time, too, with the lack of info on Porsche invoices. Drove 6% off retail on a new 06 987 S.

Sales manager (also) swears Edmunds is wrong with their claim of 14% m/up on base price. I have read 12% in Wall St Journal. Dealer swears it's 10% markup. My car is light on options at $3000 additional.

I feel like I got a decent deal, as I also held firm $1000 higher on my trade than current Manheim auction prices.

I have purchased 15-plus cars, so I'm no stranger to the negotiation process, but I'd love to know the real deal. No holdback on Porsches, although intellichoice has the factoid wrong so you know you can't trust all data on the web.

At 10% they made $3K on the car minus some for the trade enhancement, plus their profit on the financing. At 14%, my deal was average at best, as they made $5K

I was told by a salesman that the markup is 12.5 percent.

Several forum members have reported getting deals slightly over or even below invoice, and there's no reason not to believe them. I didn't realize 'til this thread the ways that dealerships can make money beyond markup over invoice.

I think that is pretty accurate. Probably somewhere from 12-15%. Without any incentives.