Why have 996's depreciated so badly?

and will the 997 do the same? My 996, if I manage to sell it, will have lost about 50% of what I paid 3 1/2 years ago. Thats the same depreciation you get with any new car. In fact for what I paid for my 911, I cold have bought any number of high performance cars new, or almost new and not had to incur the additional expense of maintaining a 7-10 year old car. (New Rads, Aircon regas, Headlamp washers, exhaust, etc.) So is this a trend we are going to see now with the newer watercooled cars? These cars were once well known for holding their value. Having watched the prices for the past 10 years I would have hoped to get maybe 4-5k more for my car than what I think I will have to take. Obviously this is down to several things, mass production being one. The housing crash being another. Should we now expect the similar levels of depreciation that befall other cars? Any thoughts?

50% after 3 years is pretty good IMO, particularly if you bought the car from new. My 997 achieved just over 50% of it's purchase cost after 4 years and to be honest I was quite happy with that considering it had 46,000 miles on it at the time of sale. In my experience, other new cars seem to be about the 35/40% value after 3 years and that's generally VW/Audi as that's all I have owned in the last 15 years. The reason the 996 has taken more of a hit is because of the introduction of the 997, not only because you would expect the older version to naturally reduce in price with its introduction, but the 997 is quite a bit better in terms of looks and finish. Other than the GT3/RS the 996 will unfortunately be one of those versions that people are happy to let fade away with time, rightly or wrongly and this, IMO is solely down to the way the car looks and has dated. Shame really.

50% in over 3 years is exceptional in the current market: There are very few cars that you could have bought new for the same money, at the same time, that would be worth 50% of what you paid after 3.5 years. However, 996's appear to have depreciated massively in comparison to the 993, in particular: Three main reasons for that - 1) they were made in much higher numbers, 2) (linked to 1) They are much easier to drive than the 993 and appeal to a much wider audience and relatively were more affordable and 3) They do not have the over-engineered enthusiast appeal of the hardcore 911 enthusiast. If you think that is high depreciation - go and have a look at used Bentleys :grin:

Hi,I disagree I bought my 996 turbo 12 mths ago for £28k and would get the same now if not more.So hasn,t depreciated at all.I think you bought at the wrong time.Just unlucky really.

I'm not too badly off either, Jack! (nice attitude)

Ah yes but what about the 'millenium bug' pricing structure. :floor: :hand: Good cars will always sell when you find the 'right person' and in some cases there may be only one person who wants your car at the price offered - others will expect more for less.

1) Far too many made. 2) Much easier to drive and cheaper to own that other Porsches or simila sports cars 3) Lack of "special" that the older cars had. 4) Progress of other fast cars (M3 M5 RS6 etc etc) 5) mechanical frailties But that doesnt stop them being great cars and providing you have a good one great value.

like ghamer, i got a 2001 996tt at around 28k - in the hope that at that price depreciation will be low.

I have had my Porsche for two years and if I sold it today I would probably get 10% more than I paid for it. It was a one owner car with full Porsche service history that was owned by a friend of a friend.He had just bought a new R8. I offered him 25% less than he was asking for it plus a years tax and new MOT and he said yes. Fantastic car and had no issues,serviced at OPC at reduced rates and less than £300 to insure. Very cheap motoring.

1. Produced in hughe numbers 2. Current crisis 3. Mrk 1 looks like a Boxster on the outside, mr2 on the inside 4. 997 looks so much better with all that in mind 50% is not that bad

Dream on! I bet, after two years, you have lost at least that much in depreciation. No way will you make money after two years. I remember a thread some time ago when a poster claimed the same, but excluded all sorts of costs in the calcs, such as the cost of labour because he did lots of maintenance himself.

Speaking to my mates and others who have bought high end - they stay away from Porsche as they say not the buying because of the mechanical failures which Porsche shrub their shoulders at? Seems to be the brand knowledge being attached nowadays... unfortunately :nooo:

Hi Tim. When you say 50% - are you referring to what you might have been offered by a garage/OPC for trade-in against another car? If so then I don't think you can really rely on the figures. I have a 2003 996 C2 concours car with 23k on the clock. My local OPC offered me £22K for the car recently against another used car. I wasn't really in the market to be honest and was only testing the water at the time but I know that I'd get nearer £30k for the car privately as it's totally mint and hasn't had anything changed or modified since it left Stuttgart. Prices have dropped but you will always do better privately and particularly if you just wait to find the person who is looking for the exact spec that you car has as opposed to someone who's just looking for any 996. As previously mentioned, other makes have had a worse time than Porsche. I recently saw an immaculate 2008 Bentley CGT on a garage forecourt for sale at £98,000. It had covered 4,500 miles and was £162,000 new. :sad:

When you start to look at depreciation that is when things start to get scary

and stay away from those 4x4's