Price drops significantly after 100k?

Hi, Is it just me or does most 996s drop in price once they reached 100k? Curious to why? Is it a number that scares people?

Every car this happens too.

The Porsche gods love us and want us to buy more 996's?

100k used to pretty much be considered the life of a motor, many years ago. That number is just so ingrained, even though it is no longer relevant. But really, there are so many other factors that should be considered. Even so, 100 forms a mental roadblock for many, and does have impact on pricing.

Back in the early 70s, engine life was assumed to be around 80k before you began to have issues, such as burning oil due to piston ring wear or valve guide wear. Carburetors might need rebuilds. Gaskets would start to leak. Cars located in the rust belt would rust, etc. Getting 100k out of a car was pretty good and was considered near the end of its practical life. Odometers typically only went to 99,999. At this point, the car "rolled over". It was as though the manufacturers admitted they were only good for 100k.

Yep, very real thing. I've kind of accepted I'll be selling mine after it clocks over 100k, and ready to take that hit. Oh well! My car has been good to me and I've taken way too good of care of it for what it is, so someone will get a great deal when I'm done with it.

I count on it. I haven't bought a car with less than that magic mark, in..... almost forever...

It's all in the psychology of people in that they attribute human qualities to automobiles. Just like we imagine a car has eyes (pair of headlights) and a mouth (radiator vent), we also give it normal human age qualities. Think about it.

Yes, the magical numbers are 36k (usually when I buy my vehicles as lease returns) and 100k when the decision has to be made to keep or sell. Domestic cars, like my wife's DDs (Yukon, Suburban, Escalade) we've kept from 36k to about 95k but my last few DDs (BMW 5series and currently an X5) are we'll into their mid 100's.

I bought a 1980 911SC with 180,000 miles on it in 2004, drove it for 10 years, rebuilt the 915, replaced head studs, did a top end job, rebuilt the shocks, and sold it for $12K. That same car now would fetch $25K or more. The buyer took it to Germany so it's gone. So 100K miles is a magic mark except for when the car is proven to be worth even more after that like all the air cooled Porsches are now. No telling if or when the 996 will obtain that status.

I bought mine 2 years ago at ~80k. I spent some time and money improving it (up holster, gearbox rebuild, suspension fixes etc). Turns out I have a lot of kids and never have time to drive it, it's now over 100k and seems hard to sell. Well, well, maybe I will keep it forever or the buyer will get a super deal. Haven't listed it yet...

I am on one of the euro sites, British, probably 2 out of 3 of the buyers threads start with “I found a great one with only 120,000 miles on it.” They must laugh at our fear of 60,000+ miles.

Most important than the number on the odometer is the maintenance and how the car has been taken care. To give a proof of that... think that, for you guys, 100k... miles is the number that changes everything... for us, it is 100K... kilometers... what changes de prices... so... more psychological thing than other thing

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I remember those sort of numbers from old Wheeler Dealer episodes where Edd would say "Barely broken in!". I miss that guy, thankfully he shows up on Drivetribe now and then. Ant is the Cardi B of automotive presenters, can't watch anymore...

100K miles is when the first life of the car is over. Cars usually have 2 lives. Up to 100K, and 100K+ Up to 100K miles, that is when the car is often 6-10 years old, usually needs a lot of work. Tires, brakes, tie rods, general maintenance like spark plugs, air filter, etc. It's when your car needs so much work, many question whether to sell it and get a new car. Many cars are considered to have seen their useful life. Other cars are more sought after where they still command a decent value. I took my 1-owner 2001 325ci to the dealership for the air bag recall. It had 102K miles on it and mostly garage kept. I came out with a courtesy inspection that added up to $5500! My gf and I had a big laugh about it, but we discussed how most people would've gotten rid of the car. With a car at this age tends to mean it will have worn interiors and random issues where things don't work or don't work like they used to. AC is one MAJOR thing that is questionable at this age, and very important to most shoppers.

I bought the 996 with 80K miles and planned that it would go over 100K because I tend to keep them. No big deal. Bought my '80 911SC with 155K miles and the engine finally failed at 295K miles. Bought the '93 968 with 122K miles, and was going strong at over 200K miles. The 996 is much higher design and build quality than those cars, so 996s will certainly tolerate such high miles (as usual, assuming maintenance is fully completed).

I think its definitely a psychological thing or at least partly. When I first started getting into cars 15 years ago the thought of having my car go over 100k miles scared me. Probably a fear that something would break or the car would be "old" then. Now I don't really care, I had a Jeep that I sold recently that had 210k miles, I have an old Ranger that has 120k. My wife's Altima had 165k when we sold it and ran just fine. She has an Audi A3 now and we plan to run that to 150k+

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I actually started a thread a few days ago asking if there's anything special to be done for cars over 100k as that does seem to cause a noticeable dip in price. Trying to decide if I want to consider those in my search or not. We drove a Honda Odyssey to 225k before giving it to my parents, who gave it to my nephew. He's still driving it, no idea how many miles. My Subie has 135k and going strong. We typically don't consider selling the car due to mileage. It's just if we need something else in a different class. Kids come, grow, and go so vehicle needs change. But, none of those were high performance vehicles. And that's my pause on a 996 over 100k. Just how much more can I get out of it with regular maintenance before a rebuild becomes necessary?

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There are some costly items that might need to be replaced by milage , however it could be at 50k or 150k: - Wear pads (costly on 3.4) - Coils if original - Transmission Pinion bearing - Coolant tank (costly on 3.4)

Just getting broken-in...

Not all cars, I bought a 69 Mustang 2+2 fastback (60K) in 1974 from a Chevy dealer used car lot for $1600,(nothing special, just a good looking Acapulco Blue) my wife drove it daily for 12 years 100k more miles (160k total, and sold it for $3200.( still original engine, trans, no rebuilds). Some cars just don't loose money, unless you throw stupid money at them, have bad luck, or let them rust away.. The problem is you don't know which cars that will be !!! lol

To me purchasing cars right around 100k usually have some of the best bang for the buck. As long as its been maintained I have no problems with the "high miles"

One of my 914s has 185k. Still looks and runs like new.

Just hit 100k this morning... looks like resale value just dropped 😜 100k arrived this morning

Nice!

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Yep. The Euro�s don�t have the 100k fear. To them it�s just a number. Which it is.

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I agree. High mileage isn't a deal breaker if the car has a known maintenance history. The M5 is over 300k but I would drive it across the country tomorrow without any extra concern.

I had never bought a car under 100k and they were always good to me. Now I worry about every little thing in my 60k 996. I bought a B6 S4 Avant in 2010 with 135k and it still runs great and is incredibly smooth as a 200k car. I did do the obligatory timing service at 175k. Other than that it�s been fairly trouble free. Cars with lots of early highway miles just seem like better cars. My mothballed w123 300td had 367k when we put it in storage. But those are exceptional.

Bought my '02 C2 almost 8 years ago with 100,300 miles. More miles than I wanted at the time but I had been looking for awhile and this car was a DD for a doctor. Garaged at home and under the parking deck at the hospital. I wanted one driven regularly and this had a lot of recent work done (Clutch, tires, brakes) plus all records, so I bought it. Just turned 180,000 (original engine) and has been a fabulous car. The usual repairs but nothing really expensive. Car has far exceeded my expectations. Bonus was the price. At least 5 thousand less than the 70,000 mile or so cars I had been looking at, and for the first two years I hardly dropped any money into it, because a lot of upcoming maintenance for the 70k cars had already been done. 100k is definitely a psychological barrier for some people, but not me. Overall condition and maintenance records are much more important to me.

My 2002 Targa currently sits at 97k. I suppose if it were for sale right now at just under 100k it would garner more interest mostly because when browsing for a 911 a lot of eyeballs just blast right past it whenever they see 3 digits. Fact is a well sorted 100k car with records detailing all service is almost always going to provide a better value than that 65k one with no service history and a laundry list of issues. Yet most buyers will gravitate to the 65k example because we are obsessed with mileage. Kind of like you'd assume a 35 year old male would be in much better shape than a 50 year old one but it's all about how he's treated himself over his lifetime.

It's an American affinity for round numbers. A baseball player with 2,999 hits had a good career. One with 3,000 hits had a great career.

Exactly what I try to convince people. Buy the well sorted one even if the miles are a bit high.

My 996 had 86k miles when I bought it back in 2009. I have put another 100k on it. Higher miles don't scare me if the car appears to be well taken care of. It is a mental block when you are buying something at over 100k. But at this point I have more than squeezed my money's worth out of this car so whatever happens I'm basically ahead of the game now.

One thing that the 100k tends to bring to mind are the larger service items that tend to be around 100k (but in truth can be anywhere from 75k-125k or more - things like water pumps, alternators, starters, etc). My car for example had a pretty significant "engine-out" service at 94K that ran the previous owner around $8K-$9K in parts and labor. It started with just replacing a vario-cam actuator and timing chain IIRC, but it was one of those things that led to a very big WYAT service. Of course the plus side is that if you find a well kept 100k car it can represent a huge value as long as there is no deferred maintenance. I bought mine at 107k 2 1/2 years ago and now at 130k it has been extremely reliable with just regular oil changes and maintenance.

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Targa in Bridgewater? Nice!