Keep it or trade/sell

Well, maybe a couple of quandaries: My significant other had her 5 series totaled a few weeks ago, and has been driving the '02 C4 Cab, which she loves, but has been making noises about maybe we should get a newer car. A couple of nights ago we were dropping the car off at the local Porsche dealership (Rockville Porsche) for a minor issue (swapping the cup holder with one whose springs actually work...couldn't for the life of me remove the existing one) and we thought we'd test drive a 991 7 speed for sh*ts and giggles. While I saw this coming, she was pretty excited about the car. They did a once over to come up with a trade in value which was $22k. This is a relatively new car to us, having bought it from a neighbor 7 or 8 months ago for 31K. It's in perfect shape with 50k miles, Fabspeed exhaust and x74 suspension added, hardtop, two sets of wheels. Question 1: $22k too low for a trade? I think we could sell it for more, but there's the time/hassle involved. Question 2: I know this is a personal choice, but 991 vs 996. Good move?

You might be able to haggle for a better trade value, or figure out what they might include in the sale to help offset the difference. Of course, you're looking at trade-in value vs. direct retail sale -- which is always shocking. The 991 is a great car. But, as with each generation, it is smoother, more refined -- and in that process -- loses character. But....smoother, more refined may be exactly what she wants. And to some extent, the longer you own the 991, the less the difference in trade-in matters. One of my concerns with the 991 is that the packaging seems to be so tight for the engine, there needs to be quite a bit of disassembly just to do relatively simple things (like the rear bumper has to come off to change the air filter). So....it's becoming a little more Ferrari-like in increasing some major service costs where (in the case of the Ferrari), it seems that you have to drop the engine/transaxle on a regular basis just for servicing. Nice car, though.

Question 1: It does seem low, I would first try posting it in the rennlist classifieds section for around 25k and see what kind of bites you get. I would think at that price it would go fairly quickly if everything was up to date on maintenance. Question 2: This has to be totally up to you and your wife. The 991 is an amazing car, would the dealership let you take the car for the day, so you can really get the true feel for it and then make your decision or at least a longer amount of time then a test drive ? Keep us posted on what you end up doing

22k seems good for trade in value 991 is a completely different car. Very modern, luxurious and electronic, I am not sure they could even be compared to one another.

The 991 is a great car, I think it's beautiful too. IMHO you over-paid at $31K. $22K sounds pretty good for a trade. i.e. go for it!

your wife's back up car is a convertible Porsche.... and she's still "making noises" as you say? When my buddy's wife wrecked their Bimmer, the back up was a minivan.

Welcome to my world...

I figured with the upgrades, hardtop, 2 sets of wheels I was close, but yes, probably paid too much...Great PPI though and it had been very well taken care of.

I say post up a FS in the vehicle marketplace for a couple weeks and see if you can get somewhere close to $28K or so; depending if you have just dropped a couple thou in maintenance or recent repairs. If you aren't up for sitting on this, consider the next option: If you can get another $5-6K off the 991, plus some tax breaks on the deal, then, IMO, you have made up some of the difference in the $22K trade-in on your 996. Obviously, had you purchased the 996 for $25K +/-, then you would probably be in the 991 already. make up some of the "loss" by having the dealer throw in some incentives on the 991. If dealer offers nada, then enjoy the 996 a little longer....

Don't forget that $22K is really $23,320 when is comes to calculating the sales tax on a new car with a trade-in. It is also their first offer. Everything is negotiable. I love the lines of the 991 and plan to trade my 996 for one in a couple years. I prefer to let nice fellas like yourself gently care for the new ones while they eat all that yummy depreciation for me! Good luck! Edit:P.S.-check out Silver Spring too. They are, in my experience, far more willing to negotiate than Rockville.

PM this member. Maybe he would be interested in taking your car up to Canada. Your 02 is a facelift with a 3.6L instead of a 3.4L and only 50K miles which would be attractive. Not to mention that the USD is worth less than CAD right now. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ed-advice.html

$22k sounds pretty reasonable to me based on what I see them go for. I'd give you the best salesman to use there (bought both the 996 and 958 from him), but he is in the process of retiring The sales manager seems to be a pretty good guy though. We've been Rockville customers since 99 even though HBL is our closest dealer. They've been good to us that whole time and that was a big consideration for buying the Cayenne. As far as the 991 goes, after 11.5 years of saying she would never part with the 996 she saw a C4S on a few trips while ordering my P!g and she has hinted how much she'd like that Until I am not the only one driving her car regularly she can keep hinting all she wants though

Hah, $22k between 996 and 991 which means moving up two generations of 911. That's bloody good value. I wish I could only spend $22k to upgrade to a 991. It's more like $200k to upgrade in New Zealand.

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Reading comprehension fail. That's what they are offering on his trade.

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Give the guy a break, he's from the land down under.

If you do trade, I would not give them the wheels - resell them for a bit of a profit if you can't use 'em. Hard-top? Could try selling it too - but they don't go as quick. Moving up to a car with a warranty is kinda nice too! Now, moving from a 993 - 991 THAT might be more of a difficult decision (for me at least). If I had the $$ (and the wife's go-ahead), I'd go with the 991.

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That WAS me giving him a break.

Umm.. you know he means they'll give him $22k for his 996 towards a 991. He still has to come up with the other $70 or 80K, some which is I guess from the insuranc eof the totaled 5 Series.

pm sent

According to the peanut gallery $22k is AMAZING! Supposedly an 02 should be going for like $17k all day long Seriously though... With the 996 market the way it is and the way internet FUD has destroyed it, no way I'd waste time with private sale in your shoes. Haggle the dealer up a bit from your current $22k (maybe get an extra $1k out of them), haggle the new 991 down a bit, and then apply the trade towards the tax on that monster and call it a day. If you try to private sale the first 100 "offers" you get are very likely to be people telling you that you are INSANE to ask the $22k that a dealer already offered you. You will then need to go through multiple PPIs, explain every chip, leather crease and rattle, and explain why you are selling the car so soon after buying. Meanwhile clock is ticking on the dealer offer and the dealer transaction is literally effortless. Not worth it. As for 996 vs 991, that's purely subjective. VERY hard to argue with a brand new 911 though

I don't think $22k is amazing. I think he should be able to do better in a private sale, but I think it is a pretty good offer from a dealer trade in. As you point out though, there can be a lot of headaches trying to sell it privately though.

$22k is only 1/2 the equation. Take the offer but hammer the dealer down on the price and options on the 991.

Don't do it.

Put a couple of photos of the 996 up on this thread. It may go faster than ever you would imagine at more $$$$$$$ than the trade in.

I read somewhere that "the key to happiness is to want what you already have". Keep youir 996 - as others have mentioned, buy a 991 after someone else eats the depreciation. Just my opinion and what I decided to do after fighting the temptation, and getting over the rationalization that I could shed the two 996's and pony up the difference for that very tempting 991 I keep checking out in the dealers showroom. Truth is though that I am happy with the 996's, they are paid for, and they have years of life left in them. And they are more valuable to me than the dollars I would get for them. Just my point of view.

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put a FS ad on ebay, clist, and http://dorkiphus.net/porsche/forumdisplay.php?f=47 , ask $27k..

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You gotta quote the peanut gallery correctly. We only bash MK1 car values.

offer it for sale on the forum for $25k and you can make a few bucks more but hassle free trade-in is what you pay for if you decide to go for the dealer.

$22k is reasonable for a C2 coupe, but your C4 cab should demand more IMO - get some pics posted to show how good she looks. You'll need to assess what your time is worth and the effort to get another $5-6k via private sale. Most important, I trust your wife is safe and uninjured from her wreck - you seem to have a winner there!

I agree with "Silotwo". Wait till the price plums down and then buy it from that rich guy that ate depreciation or if your wife wants something more modern get her a 997.

Check you pm and call me if you are interested in selling.

I was at Rockville to pick up my P!g from service today. They had a nice 13 C4S sitting out front. $22k still wouldn't have brought it under $100k I know its been 12 years since we bought ours new, but a ~30k increase just seems crazy. Or maybe its just that I can't stomach spending that much on a car again

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I vote for the 991.

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...a lot of factors in this, one of which is the depreciation of the American dollar, I think. It makes a difference when buying a German car. I'm just finishing up a two-week vacation in south Florida and I notice that prices generally seem to have crept up in the last few years. Not the bargains that there used to be.

Oh I know all the reasons it has crept up, it was just a bit shocking to see it "in stone" like that when I haven't really paid much attention to the price of a new 911 since we bought ours.

sorry for no updates or replies to PM's. I was on a trip, and came back with the flu. I'll catch up on PM's tomorrow, but I did tell the dealership they'd have to play with the numbers. Standby.

I would think a 2002, C4 Cabriolet w/ 50k miles would go for significantly more (trade-in) than 22k, and obviously much more retail. Asking retail on MKI 996's (mileage not obscene, no issues) is generally around or above 20k anymore, if that puts anything into perspective. I would use Autotrader asking prices as a guide, and if you have Manheim access you can check auction (i.e. the equivalent of "wholesale") prices there.

Sounds like a fair offer. Sure, you could sell it yourself and get a few more dollars, but it is winter now, it is a cab, and it can be frustrating dealing with OCD Porsche buyers. I sold my 996 C2 cab myself - put an ad in Autotrader and on eBay, sold it to a local guy two days later. I could have gotten $2K more if I really tried, but sometimes it's just not worth the hassle and who knows, maybe I wouldn't have been able to sell it? The economy was in the crapper at the time (not that it's a whole lot better now). Glad the wife is OK. Good luck with the flu. I'm getting over "flu lite" right now and it was no fun. But every time I get sick it reminds me that we are mere mortals, so you might as well go for the gusto while you still can.

Maybe I'm an odd duck here, but the question of whether should keep a 996 or trade it in on a brand new 991 has much less to do with whether the 996 is worth $22k or $25k and an awful lot more to do with whether you're prepared to hand over your 996 and the better part of a hundred thousand dollars to a dealer for a 991. So, my answers are: 1) Yes, if you're in a financial position to purchase a brand new 991, I'd say that $22k is a reasonable trade-in offer for an '04 996, assuming you're not looking at paying sticker on a 991. 2) The 991 is definitely a better car than a 996, but like I said, that's not a useful question because I don't believe that the 991 is a better car than a 996 and $80k in my pocket. Personally, I think I could make seven figures a year and I'd probably still let someone else take the enormous depreciation on a hundred thousand dollar car and just buy it used, but if guys willing to buy brand new Porsches didn't exist, I wouldn't be able to drive one.

Oh, I forgot to say what I'd actually do, and that's to go find a clean 997. You can probably get into a 997.2 for $60k or less these days.