Oh dear falling car prices - its worse than I thought

My son in law who is in the car trade has just sent me an email in which a dealer is offering to other dealers a 2007 997 C4S with 13k on the clock for £41,500. He wants to know if I want it - initially I said of course but I will need to sell mine first. That's when the pain hit!!! I have had my car a year and I paid 2k more for a 4 year old car this time last year. On selling my 2004 C4s Cab he is advising that I should look around the 32k mark for a private sale. Ouch !!!! 11k in 12 months !!!!!

Its definitely not good if your selling. At least if your replacing with another then you will get more for your money.

...that's right. It's a bitter pill to swallow - but imagine you had to sell it just to get the cash and it was sitting on you drive costing you hundreds of pounds a month! At least you're changing up (or thinking about it) - which I should imagine is a pretty rare thing these days! I'm more or less in the same boat as you except I have a 2003 996 (don't ask) - she's only done 21K miles but some of the offers that I've had for it defy belief. Thankfully I don't have to change and am only sniffing about but I must admit that some of the private 997 prices are tempting at the moment. But do you wait or just take the hit....? [8|]

Its a very difficult one. Personally if you dont need the cash then perhaps better to hold tight, but I would have no idea of how long you'd have to wait to see a recovery. MAybe change out your existing car for a rarer model (at its new discounted price) which will undoubtedly make some pennies in the long. Not good really.....

Blimey, a friend of mine bought a 997 C4S cab tip 5k on the clock in April for £75k, so acording to this he's basically lost ~£30k in 8 months?

Its amazing. I really didnt think the 997 would depreciate that quickly.

I guess what you have to remember is the price to change. If your car's dropped £11k in 12 months that's bad, but if the car you want to buy has dropped by £11k then you're no worse off. If it's dropped by more than £11k then you're actually benefitting from the crash. The problem is only relevant for people who NEED to sell, and aren't replacing the car. Especially if they've got finance on it and will have to add cash to pay the loan off when they're only selling because they're skint. The OP quotes £10k to upgrade to the newer car, what was the price difference a year ago?

...and if you look at it from a percentage perspective then you're potentially even better off! (ie. A 20% fall in the price of cars is going to hurt a £60k car owner more than a £30K one!!)

It's not bad if you're upgrading. My 2000 996 has probably dropped 8K in the last year. But the car I would get next (996TT, 996 GT3 or 997 C2S) have dropped around 20K. So, I've actually 'gained' £12K. Hence, I'm now looking at what to buy for £12K with the money I've 'saved' OK, that last bit was tongue-in-cheek, but the rest is true.

this is exactly what I was saying earlier....

Cheers chaps, this is why I value this Forum so much, you get so many different perspectives to consider Nah, I am going to stick with what I have got. As tempting as it sounds it would apper he is being offered similar deals on a regular basis, And I would like the 997 Turbo next time around so I might just sweat it out until they come closer and he gets offered one. That's if his buisness survives of course!!!!!!!!!! RB

Im pretty sure 996 GT3s haven't dropped from their range of 38k-55k last year down to 18k-35k now and turbos haven't dropped from say ~£38k (the cheapest last year) to £18k over the last year. GT3RS have remained solid and GT2s haven't faired too badly either.

oh bu663r ... plan foiled.

And of course theres another consideration...... What happens when Porsche put up the price of the new cars???? They are built and priced originally in Euro. At some point the new cars are going to go stratospheric! 30 plus percent increase?????? It actually may be the time to put your hand deeply into your pocket now! In my business everything is bought in in Dollars and we will eventually have to put the price up hugely. Just at the moment we're running on stock thats been there a while, but eventually that'll go. The most worrying thing is we're not busy now! with a 30% hike.... Aaargh! Merry Christmas!

I'm not sure they will. Porsche prices are very market specific (look at the US prices and feel sick!) - they price for what a local market will bear and generally stick to it. If they want to push up UK prices (because demand is high) they will use the pound/euro as an excuse - but right now I can't see them looking for an excuse!

I can't see they will raise prices by 30% either. £100k+ for C2/4S, £130+ for Turbo? My (very) uneducated guess it that they will stay pretty much where they are in the current climate. Can but hope anyway...[ ]

I was probably playing devils advocate a little there by suggesting 30%, but I would genuinely suggest that they will rise considerably. The world is now a global market with access to prices for other countries just by looking on the net. Remember when there was a big thing about importing cars from the continent? The cars were so much cheaper there than here. We just ordered our car in RHD paid our money and went to collect. We did a booze cruise on the way back and Bob's was your mothers brother (so to speak). I'm sure you can order a left hand drive here. Massive brands like car companies don't like that, and its very easy to ship anything anywhere nowadays. My previous car was a left hooker which was fairly rare and that went to Belgium. Phone call on the Friday, the guy arrived by plane on the Wednesday, sent the money with a phone call and drove it home. I have to say I could be completely wrong, but I can't see Porsche or any other brand wanting disparity in the European market place. All that said I haven't got a clue how that will effect the second hand cars of the UK. Parts will be dearer though! And I'm pretty sure that a 2009 model will be a rare car, so the price should hold up shouldn't it? What are your thoughts?

But the problem remains that Dealers simply don't want a P/Ex in these times, just a sale so you get offered even less than your worst estimate for your car and nothing off the one you want to buy. So the values are tempting but actually being able to do a decent reasonable deal is difficult.

My money bags cousin living in Qatar only yesterday asked me to find him a 2007 997, he's seen my 996 and is jealous! He wanted a Carrera S but at this price I'm sure that he would not mind a 4S. Who's the dealer and is it still for sale? You can email me directly on [email removed]

Buy to enjoy but don't count on a sudden rise in second hand values. We won't see a recovery in the global economy until 2010 or 2011. Massive oversupply of what is an expensive mass produced car (=modern Porsche) with no easy credit to finance purchases means bargains for cash buyers for the forseeable future. Not rocket science.

A realistic guide to what a car is "worth" is the prices being obtained via the major auction sites - Porsche have a fairly regular spot at BCA Blackbushe, one car entered for 22 Dec was a Cayman - speaking to the principal of a major dealer, he will only offer the auction price for a traded in vehicle, he is selling "loads" of used vehicles, but hardly any new one's - the manufacturer that he represents has asked him why this is!! The auction values are nearly identical with those which appear in Glasses Guide. As previously said - it is only the "cost to change" which is important unless you are a distressed seller and with any justice they will be hedge fund managers etc.

Well I'm not feeling so smug either. The PX value given by one dealer for my immaculate 2000 MY 996 C2 with 37k miles was a miserable £12,000; I would rather set fire to it than trade it at that price: time to just put on the miles and use it, use it use it! Let's face it you can't even get a decent 964 for that price whilst all the good 3.2's appear these days to be attracting "collectible" status prices tags

That does seem particularly harse even in these hard times. Paragon have got this MY99 http://www.paragon.gb.com/sales/vehicle-details.asp?ID=679484 Bit older than yours, Ian, so even with a mark up £12k has to be a joke? Was that an OPC or A.N Other?

What were you trying to P/Ex against or was that a cash sale?

It's simply supply and demand. I paid £58k in June 2007 for my late '03 996 turbo - just had trade bid of £30k - £28k lost in 19 months??? I'm keeping until 1st quarter of 2010 when I will be happy with £25k private sale. Still - to keep in perspective my local BMW dealer is trying to sell me a 18 month old loaded 335i for £23k that was £44k new. And that's a main dealer who asks top money.

It was a potential PX with a Fiat dealer to purchase my daughter her first car; whilst a low-ball just look at Parker's for equally depressing values.

Yes that's bad. I thought at that price it would be for a sale to a dealer. [ ]

It's all relative. I had thoughts in the past of trading my C4 Cab for a GT3 Mk2, although part of me considered the Cab to be a keeper. In the current climate, the trade-in is not worth it quite frankly so unless someone wants to make me an offer somewhere above market rate, it remains a keeper. No bad thing to be honest. The bad news is that I'm now starting to think how I'm going to be able to run it alongside a GT3 Mk2. It's an itch I will have to scratch at some point and I'm not giving the Cab away so it appears I'm at the beginning of a collection of Porsches - a collection of one for the next few years but a collection nevertheless.[ ]

IMHO now is the time to really appreciate your 'old' car and forget upgrading until all the markets, financial and motoring, sort themselves out. Then, I suppose, we will see increased prices and a return to no discounts for anything and arrogant motor manufacturers and salesmen [no fingers being pointed at this time] - much as before. Roll on many safe and happy miles in 2009; with the top down if the weather improves.

I surprised your employer gives you enough free time to enjoy one Porsche let alone two or more, John![ ] I know what you mean about itches though. Not in the same price bracket as GT3 but I keep hankering for another, like a 944/968 etc but have to overcome the " what do you need another one for" syndrome. However, there is a nice looking 944S nearby which I just might happen to look at soon........[ ]

I have decided to keep my current car and buy a nearly new Disco 3. There are some top deals to be had px and even better with no trade in as in my case. Some you win and some you loose [ ]

absolutely!! chum of mine bought a nearly new disco 3 2 1/2 yrs ago for £35k-just eventually offloaded it for £11k after 35k miles total!!!great value for the next guy