Manheim - Good Starting Point?

I am in the market for a 996. Do you guys think that the mainheim numbers would be a good starting point for determining a fair price from a dealer? -Ryan

Do you have access to the manheim sale prices or manheim wholesale pricing info? If you do why not go to the auction Don't expect to buy the car you want from a dealer with that info. That info is for auctions You must have a dealer license to belong the Manheim

I do not have access to the info. I do know that there are some message boards online where you can ask people to post the info. I do not expect to pay a manheim price when buying a vehicle from a dealer. My point to to have a better idea as to the approx value on the wholesale market. From there you get a better idea if the asking price from a dealer is out of line.

Prices from Manhiem are not always what the car sales for. To get the best idea of what others are paying for the car on the open market. Use Ebay or another auctions site and bring up (cars sold). This will give you the best idea of what people are paying. IMO

Cool. Thanks for the insight.

I'm going to have to go with NO as well. I've got access to Manheim and looking at the raw bottom line numbers at auction is going to give a false perspective on the market. You still have to consider that after the sale price most places will have to pay for shipping and prep for the car, then depending on how long they sit on it there could be other fees associated with time of ownership of the vehicle as well. Also most of the cars going through Manheim, while nice cars, are for the most part going to be low option, run of the mill cars giving yet another false low perspective on the market. I went to the PA exotic sale a few times while I was looking for a 996 with my friend that goes every week. Never found a car that I was happy with buying as an enthusiest. Not that they were horrible cars or anything just not appointed like I was looking for. Andy

Evansaero, I wasn't able to get to "cars sold" on ebay. How did you do it?

When on ebay select "Completed listings" under search options on the right side of the listings. The listing that are in green are the ones that have sold the red color on the sale price means it did not get sold

Great Points

Thanks for that tip on ebay. Now I know the results of all the auctions I had watched. Looks like lots of cars don't sell.

Should I look at only completed transactions, or both?

I like to use both. The best part for using these numbers are when trying to make a deal with a dealer. They will always ask how you came up with your numbers. I love throwing numbers back with references. Good luck finding the right car

I find that Kelly Blue Book to be a good barometer here in California. If you like to pay to much for a car, than by all means buy it from a dealer. You probably will get some good will to take care of problems that might arise, and of course, if it is under warranty, than they will be more than happy to take care of you. If you want to buy a car at a reasonable price, than you need to buy from a private party. You should not pay more than Kelly Blue Book "Good" for a very clean car. You need to take into account any major options and offer less than one half of retail on those options. Example: 2002 Porsche C2, 30,000 miles, PSE, PSM, Sport Suspension, 18" Lt. Alloy Wheels, Multi-Disc Player, in near new condition. A basic car like this would sell for no more than about 46K on a good day. If the car has some exceptional options than you might add a little more. Good Luck, Tom L. 2002 C2

Example: 2002 Porsche C2, 30,000 miles, PSE, PSM, Sport Suspension, 18" Lt. Alloy Wheels, Multi-Disc Player, in near new condition. A basic car like this would sell for no more than about 46K on a good day. I buy my Porsches from Valley Motors in MD. The selling price for the hypothetical car that you describe would be around $48K at Valley and maybe $50K if it were CPO. Actually I find that many Porsche owners in my area have an unrealistic view as to what their cars are worth, and in many cases they ask more for their cars than do the Dealers. Dealer prices certainly do fluctuate rather dramatically because another Dealer near me, Len Stoler, would probably ask at least $55K for the same car and be unwilling to move the price down very much.