Pricing help

Hi all, A friend's dad has a 2001 996 C4 Cabriolet that he's looking to sell. Its a 6 speed in dark blue over gray. The car has 28k miles and comes with all service records. From what I know about this person, the car will be in great shape and quite clean. No pictures at this point. As far as I know, no IMS work has been done. what do you think is a fair price? thanks.

Quotes source post: 10566609

First "fair" has got nothing to do with price. Anyhow, one technique is to visit www.kbb.com or www.nada.com or similar sites and plug in the details about the car and see what prices come up. Use the average of all private sale in excellent condition prices or use the highest, or whatever price you think can be justified. Low miles. Excellent condition. A car that was "loved". One of a kind. A Cab no less. Etc.

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sigh, I'm well aware of kbb and NADA. This group has a much better idea of actual selling prices in private party transactions. thanks anyway for your post.

pic is attached. Car is in Denver fwiw.

I would think some where around the 28-32k mark but, that's just a guess.

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I was thinking the same, probably closer to the upper end given that it's manual.

25-28K is what I would say.

thats about what I figured. thanks gents.

Realistically I think in the current market its slightly lower, more like 23 - 26k. Especially if the IMS is not done.

QC, looks like a fine example of a cab. Especially if it has the 6 speed. Is it for you?

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You're happy with the guesses you got? Ok... I just ran the numbers through KBB and the car in excellent condition private party sale is valued at $40,260. (Trade in is given as $37,000. Heck even fair condition trade in value is $34,100.) Now what you are going to price the car at? $28K? Or something closer to $40K

If it has the hard top to match the car and everything is working as it should be then I say start at $33000 but be prepared to accept $30000. The IMS thing forget about it as most 996 have the originals anyway. The low milage is a plus for the car (That's unless you live on this page where it could be a minus for the car) . The C4 is a price booster over the (C2 as mine is) but I can't justify the price increase when selling a car. I see the original pumpkins which tells me that the car has not been modded which for me is a plus in saying it has been well cared for or at least not tampered with. I would be very interested in buying the car at the right price if I was in the market for buying. I would pay $27500 top whack. Hey but start high and see what happens. You can always come down but not go up . Where you start tells the prospective buyer where you will settle. About $3000 lower than your asking price. Every seller has a rock bottom selling price it just needs working on. I would say start at 35000 and if it doesn't sell drop it 3 grand and try again.

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nope, i have my pcar already. Kbb is hopeless. Listing that car at $40k would have my friends dad sitting on the listing for the next year, if not longer.

I'm a bit less optimistic on price than some of the above. Pluses: six speed, looks clean, service records. Neutral: Low miles... Not always a good thing in 996's! Minus: Pre-2002 facelift car. Seems like there is a bit of a glut of C4 Cabs, though most are tips. I think that car is: A no-sale (or at the very least, slow sale) at $28K. A quick sale at $21K. A good target final transaction price is more like $24K. And i bet a buy-bid from either of the Porsche dealers in Denver would be more like $16K...

Agree that most of the on-line price guides are extremely inaccurate for this type of vehicle...The only one I trust at all is clearbook. Just ran the car, pretty close to my guess, though even a bit less optimistic. Bumping the car to 'excellent' instead of 'good' raises the price a bit, but my guess is that a 12 year old Denver car has enough minor paint chips, maybe a tiny ding or two, and with no IMS history, might be hard to make a case for 'excellent'.

What kind of options does the car have? To me, 25-26k is top of the mark for pre-facelift cars. It would have be almost perfect condition, have the options I wanted, and come with the hardtop.

Well thanks for reminding us that 996 prices are sinking faster than the Titanic. I was actually starting to feel better after reading the Total 911 article. Thanks again for ruining it.

+996 for clearbook ... http://clearbook.truecar.com/ The other way of getting good pricing data is looking at ebay completed auctions. That said, pretty blue cab, low miles ... you might get $22k.

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Well, it is a new sales technique to devalue the car prior to the sale. That's the buyer's job. While I would not offer the car at $40K and I agree KBB is just one input for value -- another would be to search for similar cars across the USA and get a feel for what the prices being asked vs. condition -- I'd want more than a handful of RL guesses before I offered the car for $28K. I note in one graph while $26K is the market average there are some cars that sell for more, up to nearly $40K. Why not aim a bit higher than letting the car go at a fire sale price? The car has a lot going for it. For instance, not the 1st year of a new model, so none the 1st year issues. Classic body style. Cab. 6-speed. Outstanding color. A Cab is not a choice that a buyer makers to go unnoticed. In Lapis Blue.. wow! The car's a stunner. Excellent condition. Low miles. 6-speed. Well taken care of. No stories. I mean the car has a lot going for it. Let the buyers find a reason to offer less. Point them to other examples that compare less favorably to this car. I mean that shouldn't be too hard to do given the car's condition. In short become a car salesman for a while.

Mac, I agree and make sure any potential buyer is directed to forum for more 996 hysteria.

As a recent purchaser of a 996, I'd say price depends on location and how fast you need to sell it. Compare it to your local ads and then list it in the range you feel comfortable. Also, when you list the car make sure your thorough with your description and include lots of photos. Make it an easy decision for the buyer.

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Whoops didn't notice this is pre-facelift car, 25K would be about the top of the market.

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It seems more like 996 prices are flattening to me... Pretty stable over the last 6-9 months from what I've seen.

Agree with pfbz & Lord V - about a $22k car. List it at $23,975, assuming he actually wants to sell it.

I guess opinions are like...everybody has one! I have been looking for a car very similar to the one you mention for a while now (several months). I am looking for a slightly different color scheme, but the one your friend has looks very nice. I am not sure where the under $25k numbers are coming from. In my experience, asking prices for a car like this are closer to $30k. In fact, if you pull up Autotrader in the Colorado area, you will find another very nice example for a little under 30 with slightly lower mileage and same year (color black). Based on what I have seen across the country, this seems pretty fair. Would he come down more? Maybe, but probably not another $5k. Unless your friend is in a hurry, I would not give it away. I am certainly looking for a deal and willing to wait for the right one, but I fully expect to pay on the upper end of what people have been discussing here unless I just find a fire sale. One thing I have found interesting is that many of the reputable dealer prices have actually been more reasonable than the private party sellers. I suppose this is because pp's are simply looking prices up on KBB on the pcars they bought new 10+ years ago for $80-$100k and expecting to get what the book says. Question for the board at large. Have any of you actually had experience with trading one of these 996's in? Is a dealer really willing to give trade for what KBB or NADA says? If so, I suppose they would just adjust the price of their sale car upward? Not really sure about this one. Any thoughts on this would be interesting to me.

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I think the higher the value of the one on sale would dictate the part exchange value or your 996. For instance, If I was buying a car for $100000 then I would expect top whack on my 996 no matter what the book selling or retail is marked at. OR they could stick the $100000 car where the monkey sticks his nuts. In other words they would have to give me 40000 for my 1999 996. Now if I was looking to buy something at $50000 then I would want half that for my 996.. anything less than $20000 then they can stick that one where the other went. lol.

Someone mentioned the IMS issue. I have had multiple people contact me about my 996 and only ONE potential buyer knew of the IMS issue.

When I bought my 02 I had no clue about the IMS. I just spotted the ad on craig's list and the car was very close by. All I knew was that 911s were $$ when they were new, it did not look old and out dated, the top mechanism was very cool, and the car was a blast to drive. After I drove it, I wanted it. I'm sure there are other people out there like me that don't spend a ton of time doing research before the buy. I'm sure if the seller spends time to make it as clean as possible, gathers as much info as they can, and takes really great PICTURES a buyer will show up and give a good price. Sellers often take terrible cell phone pics of there car in an apartment parking lot, provide an effortless write-up, then assume the values have dropped when no one calls. Giving your car away is easy, but if you want what is is worth it may take some modest effort. It is a small job, but it does pay real cash. Good luck

Quotes source post: 10572027

No doubt there are plenty of overpriced 996's advertised on craigslist and autotrader... Those typically aren't the ones that are transacting though, and when you see those same cars week after week, the info it gives you is what those particular cars are not worth. I am always scanning craigslist, ebay, autotrader, etc. looking for something I can't resist. I keep seeing a nice looking MKII 996 turbo that keeps getting re-advertised at $52K. Does that tell us that MKII turbos are worth $52K? Nope, it tells us the opposite, that it's a no-sale at that price... It's probably a $43K -$45K car tops that he'd be lucky to get $39K from a dealer for.