Porsche Dealer Prices on CPO Cars - flexible?

Using Porsche.com's pre-owned search, there are a lot of CPO MY01-02 coupes at various Porsche dealers. Every price I see is pretty high. Do dealers come down $5k on these cars? A 2002 coupe offered at $48k becomes way more attractive at $43k, etc, etc. I have never bought a Porsche from an actual Porsche dealer (most dealers don't know what a 944 is!), so I don't know how their pricing works. Thanks.

Absolutely! I actually just thought about adding another P-Car (Cayenne Turbo) and there was plenty of wiggle-room. Just think of the price they offer as a price for that car with options (and consider a CPO an option). Then negotiate from there. What's the worst that could happen? They don't get a sale if you don't agree to a price for the ENTIRE package.

I hear ya. My budget will be $40k, give or take. If I test drive and fall in love with a car priced at $46k, I can offer $40k without the dealer giving me a "take your 944 and leave" attitude? PS--Do prices go UP in the spring, or down because the cars are closer to another year older?

go for it. you will be surprised. like any non-mass market retailers, p dealers rely on repeat, loyal customers-- especially with p-cars where it's not uncommon for owners to trade up ever 2 years or so. so, especially if you're a new customer and they think you may be long term, i think they're even more willing to accommodate. in contrast, you can't negotiate too well at bmw dealers b/c they know if you're not buying it, there'll be 10 others in later that day who will. same reason why i prefer to shop at lower-volume dealers in metro areas.

Yes and no. It depends on the car, to a large extent. If you find a green one with a yellow interior, offer the guy $40 and see if he takes it. Not $40k, $40 It really depends, though. Offer to come back in a week if you want to test the waters. It depends on how good the person you're dealing with is The dealer likely has room to come down $5-6k or so, but probably not much more. It all depends, though. Cheers, Justin

Absolutely NOT. You will have more wiggle room right now since they don't have much foot traffic but they will NOT be raising the prices in the spring. And if they do give you the "take you 994 and go" attitidue then why in the hell would you want to do business with them anyway. If they tell you NO on your price offer, tell them "here's my cell number, I will be buying something by Sunday evening, so call me if you change your mind" and then go. Chances are they will call you on Sunday with a "great deal". Tell them you found something else but you'd be happy to swing by and see what they have to offer. You never know.

in my personal experience, i'd say p dealers are pleasantly free of attitude. in fact, my recent purchase was the most pleasant car-buying experience i've ever had. convinced me more why i don't like bmw dealers. but i think you will be pleasantly surprised how easy negotiation may be.

This is all assuming I can find the car I want at a local dealer. I bought my first 944 in Boston, current one in Virginia - flew up/down, drove back both times. I would so rather find a car close to home this time!

Andy, you're looking for opinions, here's mine after buying 16 cars so far and having a neighbor friend that is a dealer. CPO's cars or any internet advertised car will not have the kind of room in it to come down such as you mentioned. Not gonna happen. 5k is a lot of clams. Having said that (my opinion again) lets move to the considerable debate on how much the "CPO" designation/warranty cost that dealer. It did cost them something because it is a valuable warranty and someone has to cover those potential claims (that would be Porsche). You will hear numbers like 2k cost to the dealer to CPO. Ya, right. But they will raise the selling price of a CPO'd car maybe as much as 2k and clearly there is room there to negotiate. There is obviously room on the basic cost of the car too if you kind of pull 2k out of the advertised price and ball park what they would sell it for w/o the CPO. My bet is that a car advertised for 48k, if that figure is in line with comps, would possibly sell for 45k, +/- Just my 2 cents on the deal you can do but I do know this based upon my last two car deals- you can get a very strong deal on something else the dealer may sell to sweeten the pot enough for you to be happy. For instance, on my 911 the price wasn't exactly were I wanted to be, but close. I asked for a full 3M clear bra kit installed for 1/2 what I knew they were selling it for, probably at their cost, give or take. Same type of deal on another vehicle I got this year only I got some body kit parts I wanted at dealer cost. Hey it's a freebie for them really but a true cost savings for you. I asked for these deals when it seemed we had ground down the selling price as low as they were willing to go. So offer 5k less, work the deal down to the lowest # you can get and then have something in your hip pocket to pull out to make it sweet for you. Get clear bra cheap, add a CPO for 1k, something. Good luck.

My brother in law was a GM for MANY high end dealers, Lexus, etc...he gave me the scoop....Here is the deal...depends on where they got the car and how much they paid for it. They under pay for trades, and try and sell it for the most...For a PERFECT car in trade the pay wholesale fair price....ths alone leaves a ton of room to deal in because they turn around and charge retail excellent for the car. Then add the cost of warranty which is $1500. Is there $5K room in there? YES....will they sell it to you for $5K less? Depends...how long has the car been there?....is it month end? is it a desireable color, optioned car? If its been there for longer than 30 days, its costing them more and more money so they may be motivated to deal....End of month, they wanna do deals so the books look better....if its a car they think will sell well, the color,options, etc...they may sit on it for a while because they are confident someone else will pay 48K...So my advice...be ready to buy....you will not get a REAL price unless you talk turkey and if the deal is right be ready to jump on it. Ask to see what they paid for the car....if they paid $44K and then did $3K worth of work to get the car to pass CPO certification, then you will not get it for $43K....FWIW I got my 99 C4 Cab 2 years ago for $44K WITH a CPO....blue book on the car was $52K...its fully loaded...full leather, etc...This particular car was a trade (they obviously raped someone on the trade) so there was room to deal....It also took a weeks worth of calls and visits to the dealer....I also was dealing on a 02 C2 coupe at a different dealer...we were $500 apart on the price...what it really came down to was the car had an ugly aftermarket spoiler bolted to the rear deck...I said take it off and repaint the rear spoiler...they said they would arrange to have it done at cost....$500....The car was 63K and we were at 61K I really wanted to be at 59K but it was a low mileage car already with rims...so I was gonna do it....they called me to come work out the $500 difference...before I could get there they sold it for 63K....so I bought the C4 Cab at 44K saved nearly 20K and was happy to mod it to death....lol...CPO deals are out there...my advice, dont get hung up on one car, be prepared to walk away if the deal is not right and look at many different dealers...with used inventory it just depends on who traded in what to where.....

I see what you both mean, and thanks. I am guessing that for a Porsche dealer (or any dealer), they make more money on used cars than they do selling new ones. They pay wholesale for a traded in '02 996 C2, then turn around and slap on a $10k premium. They come down $5k, and still make $5k. That's how the used car market works. Unless the dealer paid a ton for the car to get the seller to buy a top of the line car at the end of the month, etc, there should be wiggle room. But, I do only have $40k to spend. So I am fully prepared to walk away! I figure by spring, there should be plenty of silver/black '01 C2's out there for sale (maybe even reasonable '02's)--right?

I use to give out a lot of specific advice on negotiating during an automotive purchase (was in the business years and years ago), but now I just boil it down to a single phrase: Be patient. At the end of the day that's all you have to remember. Rushing into a car, rushing the negotiations because you're afraid of losing the specific car will all cost you more money in the end. Used cars come and go, think you'll never find another perfect used car again? Think again, there's another soon enough.

When I bought my car (CPO from a Porsche dealer), I offered $5k below asking. They sold it to me for $4k below asking and agreed to refinish a rim with curb rash (make sure you get a "due bill" if the dealer agrees to do something). I did leave the dealership after they turned down my first offer, but I left them my number and they called me the next day. As others have said, be patient and don't let your emotion take over your purchase if your goal is to get the best price possible. There are a lot of 996s out there and they can't make a huge profit on all of them.

I just bought a well-optioned 99 C2 Cab CPO from Porsche of Colorado Springs (I'm in the DC area) with 49k miles. On the Porsche CPO search site it was listed at $40k, on cars.com it was $34,995 (a good price I thought), and I offered $33, got it for $33,180 + $399 processing (plus shipping to me of course). Jeff S

Wow, that's more like it! That's $7k off the listed price! More importantly, that is fair market value for a 99. And with a CPO, you are covered (2 years?)! Did you buy it without even seeing it?

That's the best car buying advice you'll ever get. If you are patient, you will find a great car at the prices you see online without traveling 1,000 miles. Being patient affords you the time to buy that lease return from the owner at wholesale prices.

Yeah, I agree, especially since I am not dealing with 944's - which are much harder to find in decent shape. They made plenty of 996's - in silver. So I have to wait, and since most of the C2's come with black leather, 3 spoke, Turbo Look rims--I will find one eventually!

Thats what I am saying...if there is room to deal on the car, you can get a good deal....at or below market value....

i must say, everyone's giving really good advice here. i will concur that patience is key. in fact, before you even visit dealers, i'd do as much research as possible to see what model and options you must have (e.g., face-lift, pse, sports suspension, ssk, nav, full leather, psm, 3-spoke thicker steering wheel, specific wheels, body kit, etc, etc) because you WILL invariably wish you had them after you buy the car. Unless you wanna a p-car for pure status, it will be impossible to resist the urge to modify your car and make it even more perfect. sometimes it's more reasonable and cost-efficient to spend a bit more for the exact equipped car than later adding on mods. lasty, as others have said, don't rush in out of concern you'll lose the car, there will be others. good luck!