Boxster Valuation

[Guest]

As some of you will know I have an imported Boxster from Cyprus (Please no derogatory comments) and I am looking at a Boxster S.

Now of course I am speaking to Porsche Bristol as my first port of call, but my question to you is your views on a valuation. The reason I ask this, is I have considered alternatives, perhaps more suited to my job and I have had some interesting offers as a trade in.

The Spec is

Boxster 2.7
Registered 01/10/04 (54 Plate)
4,800 miles
Lapis Blue
Part Grey Leather
17" Boxster S wheels
Wind Deflector
Climate Control

Th best trade in offer I had was £30K against a new Boxster S (But again an import car this time to order not a stock vehicle)

The middle ground from 2 other german prestige dealers was £27K

The worst offer (Even the Sales Manager at the OPC coughed at this one) from a Land Rover dealer (where I am an existing customer) is £20K - shortly followed by me saying "Take my name off the list for the Range Rover Sport" Apparantly 4 of his bidders didnt want any more Boxsters and 2 offered him £20K

Now I know Porsche Bristol will have to farm it out to the trade, but I was given the impression that the micky would not be taken.

 

[Dapster]

Paragon have this up for sale on Autotrader.co.uk.

2003 PORSCHE Boxster 2.7 (Facelift) Lapis blue, Graphite grey leather Sport seats, blue power hood, CD player, air conditioning, Sound pack, wind deflector, 17 Boxster S II wheels, 6,000 miles, fsh, (52) £33995

Marginally better spec, I assume UK supplied and MY03 though milage is similar. I recon 30 grand from a dealer for your car sounds ok, especially if you are buying the next one from them - it'll save a lot of hassle. However if you can wait 6 weeks when the spring sunshine starts, you will probably have no problem selling it for 32k privately.

 

[oliver]

Personally, I would buy the new 987 from an OPC, and sell the present car privately. However, if you have never sold a prestige car privately before then do take advice - there are numerous pitfalls.

 

[Guest]

Give PARAGON a call they may buy from you expect their margin to be around 4k so they may give around the 30k mark seems realistic.

 

[Guest]

Oliver, yes that is what worries me. We have never sold a car before privately and the idea scares us witless. A an official UK supplied Boxster is our preference (as it was last time - sadly it was a no no for various reasons).

 

[oliver]

Catherine,

If you post the question, "How Best to Sell Privately (and avoid the pitfalls)?" I'm sure you will get lots of helpful advice.

 

[JCB..]

If you post the question, "How Best to Sell Privately (and avoid the pitfalls)?" I'm sure you will get lots of helpful advice.

Oliver

As you seem to be in the know why don't you enlighten us?

Why should selling a Boxster be any different to selling any other vehicle privately?

JCB..

 

[oliver]

There are potential problems with selling any high value vehicle privately, not exclusive to Porsches.

This is why few people do it and most go down the part/ex route with a dealer and grumble about the trade in value.

But it can be done:

Nicely worded ad in the right publications, car presented in really good order throughout, with all service documentation etc, a sensible price and a few prudent security precautions, and no uninsured test drives.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: oliver

There are potential problems with selling any high value vehicle privately, not exclusive to Porsches.

This is why few people do it and most go down the part/ex route with a dealer and grumble about the trade in value.

But it can be done:

Nicely worded ad in the right publications, car presented in really good order throughout, with all service documentation etc, a sensible price and a few prudent security precautions, and no uninsured test drives.

Plus www.pistonheads.com is not a bad source and its a freebie, also my favourite avenue is ringing around those "Wanted Ads" by franchised dealers, amongst the many I have always managed to find a genuine used car buyer looking for exactly what I had at the time (Porsche Wise Experience To Date) [8D]

 

[Dapster]

I would suggest that the biggest pitfall for the private seller these days is the likelyhood of being scammed by some weasal who will either give you a genuine bankers draft and then cancel it once he's got your car, or do the old "overpayment" routine where you send the balance back and the bankers draft is fake. Either way, check with your bank and establish exactly where their duty of care lies, and what you can do to protect yourself.

Having said that, you have to be desperately unlucky to fall for that - the vast majority of buyers are off course genuine.

 

[jac in a box]

Faced a similar problem 6 months ago...get a poor deal on p/ex or try a private sale.

At the end of the day I thought I'd having nothing to lose by at least attempting to sell privately (except the car!)

Filled with dread at the prospect of "test pilots" arriving simply to waste my time...however I followed the route suggested earlier; well worded and genuine advert, made it clear test drives where not available unless they could provide proof of insurance. Car sold by 10am on the day it was advertised.

Refused payment by bankers draft only accepted payment by CHAPS or cash...dead easy or dead lucky? Not sure, but it's an everything to gain and nothing to lose (with common sense precautions)

Jackie

 

[Guest]

Well the situation so far is that I cancelled the test drive as I was advised they could offer £25/26K and I wasn't going to waste the OPC's time as I won't be taking that sort of hit. Interestingly that didn't suprise the Sales Manager in the slightest, even before I said no he was suggesting that to take that sort of a hit for on a car he described as "beautiful" 24 hours beforehand would not be something he would do.

So for the time being the current car is staying until we decide what to do. I have been told that for an identical C16 car the book value is £28K (don't know how true that is), so loosing another £2K for it being an import does sound reasonable. Which then beggers the question how/why the supplying dealer (who I am more than satisfied with) is prepared to offer me £30K in writing against a Boxster S or a Cayenne 3.2 (Very suitable to my job)

 

[David Hooper]

Catherine, maybe that the valuation of a UK car is very near to £30k and thats for an 04. I don't know what the other guide says as I don't use it - probably less as they tend to relate to auction values a lot more. There is a lot of info on the net through different buying sites.

The offer of £30K for your old imported car is not a bad shout, but is the new import car the same price as a new UK car? If it is then it is not a saving. Although difficult to do sometimes it's perhaps better not to think what your car is worth and instead look at the price to change.

ie, if the new import car, with same spec as UK is £40k so 10K to change. If the new UK car is £40k then perhaps £13k to change. BUT the new import car should be at least £2k to £3k cheaper than a UK car so actually not really a saving. If the import car was £3k less I would imagine the P/ex price would be the same and therefore your price to change the same.

Also the "guide" is exactly that - a guide. If I was to buy everything I was offered at guide price I'd be out of business in a month - and that applies to paying above guide price sometimes.

Good advice from everybody re selling private. It is worth ringing around the dealers as one of them may just have had a very good week and suddenly be low on stock or have a customer who doesn't want the colours they have but yours would do the business.

Also you are looking to move your car at the worst time of year and there is a LOT of Boxsters around at the moment.
I am currently the only bidder on an 01Y 3.2S Tiptronic with 30k on the clock with nice bits at £21k where allegedly its worth nearer to £24.5k. Its from a large Finance Co warranted with history. They want £22.5k for it so I'm going to have another look tomorrow.On the day there was a choice of 6 Porsche including 4 Boxsters. A couple of years ago you would not see any at auction at all.

They are undergoing a bit of a price realignment at the moment and it may be worth hanging on a bit to sell yours private in the spring especially as the milage is lovely and trade and public will be looking for cars where today everybody has enough stock and its cold !!!

Hope you get what you want.(Cayenne? fab bit of kit but - oooohhh the fuel the fuel !!!)
Cheers
DPH

PS. Everybody, what sort of MPG could we expect from the tiptronic and yes the 968 would have to go!!

 

[Guest]

Hi David,

Yes it is a bit of a mine field and I am unsure what to do. The Boxster got zymol'd today and it looks absolutely fab.

It' is interesting what you say about price re-alignment, because the supplying dealer has said that my car is now worth £28K not the £30K a week ago. He claimed he was re-aligning prices as quote "no one is buying used at the moment". Admitedly I got it re-aligned back up to £29,250. In support of his reason for re-alignment he told me to take a look at his used cars. Normally they deal in 2 - 10 years old, with anything less than 2 years only being new sales. He said if I looked at his used cars he has 4 UK cars less than 2 years old that OPC's sold to him at a good price because they didn't want to stock them. He said it wasn't unique to Porsche and at the moment anyone who turns up with a BMW on his forcourt is in for a nasty shock because he can't shift those on.

So for the time being I am hanging onto Boxster No 1, until I do get to drive a new one and as you say hopefully that will be nearer spring, the biggest concern I have is how the value is dropping perilously close to the balloon value that Capital Bank set for it 4 years down the line (and that was with them knowing it was an import) The Cayenne idea has been blown away.

 

[David Hooper]

Catherine, is the balloon value guaranteed? i.e. you are not responsible for the final payment at the end of the term and can either hand the car back and have no more to pay or pay the final figure and keep it. If the ballon is down to you then from an advisory point of view I suggest you do something sooner rather than later.

Also look carefully at your agreement under what we used to call halve's and thirds.
Looking at my agreement for my A6 I think it's now under "Termination:your rights" and "Repossion:your rights" If you read it you'll see what I mean. It would mean you hanging on to your current car for another year to get to the half way scenario but you may be better off that way than being in big negative equity when you trade in.

The guaranteed value final value plan is a very good idea for high value car's that are subject to price fluctuations because of adverse conditions in the business economy, new model launches and in these days even fashion dictates.

Nowadays a 4 year plan is quite a long time to try and judge the market over especially as since you had yours a new car has been put into the market and by the time you come to get rid of yours the new Boxster coupe will be out there, probably with (hopefully) cheaper models.

A good dealer, and they are out there, will advise you not just to get the sale today but to make sure they get you back in 2 or 3 years down the road. The really good dealers won't be afraid to advise you to take some pain now so as not to keep getting pain every time you come back.

Sorry to be a bit keen - must have me sales head on!! Going to beat myself with damp copy of Porsche Post and off to kip with the Horlicks!!
Cheers
DPH

 

[Guest]

David,

No it's not a future guaranteed value. I am slowly starting to piece things together and the outcome is and I am happy to admit it "I have been stuffed on the finance".

The finance is HP with a Balloon and unlike a PCP there is no mileage attached to the agreement or penalty if you exceed it. However to arrive at the Balloon, the estimated annual mileage is entered in the computer and out comes the balloon figure. Now I am quite happy to admit that this finance was a first for me. I had either had HP or a PCP in the past and alarm bells didn't ring when the selling dealer didn't discuss a mileage.

Normally when asked in the past I have said 12K per annum and that is what I would have told the dealer if asked. So you can imagine my suprise when Capital Bank advised me today that to arrive at a £17K balloon after 4 years, the annual mileage entered into the computer was 5K miles a year . At 12K miles a year the ballon would have been £14K and would have meant a higher monthly payment. I suspect that what happened at the time was that the selling dealer was keen to use their finance, I was actually going to provide my own with a company I had business dealings with and there monthly payment was approx £90 more than with Capital Bank - in hindsight this saving (no fault of Capital Bank) was arrived at via a dubious annual mileage.

So I have certainly learnt a lesson from this, an expensive one admitedly and I will trade out as soon as possible. If nothing else hopefully this will mean anyone else new to prestige car finance will not get burnt.

 

[David Hooper]

Catherine, actually £17k after 4 years isn't that far off if you keep the car and keep the milage low. As we say in the trade "lovely milage". Sad.

Today a four year old 2.7 UK car would be Sept '00X and it allegedly "books" around the £20k mark this month with low miles as yours is or would be at the end of four years, if you see what I mean. I'm trying to make a comparison for the future looking at it from the idea that your car is four years old today. But doing a bad job! Sorry just got up with stinking cold , heads a bit fuzzy.

In todays market, this month a four year old car with all the bits on would be worth not too far off that money. An import a bit less at the £17k mark. At £14k I think you would be very safe.

Have you had any RMS probs with yours?

Cheers
DPH

 

[Guest]

David,

No, no rms issues and so far it has just done the 5K miles and is loosening up nicely. So were the values you were suggesting based on the 12K a year I will be doing or the 5K a year that the dealer set it up as.

Im afraid to say I am probably buying a Mercedes tomorrow and getting out of the sorry mess. It's ironic that I picked up CAR magazine today and there is an article about how everyone wants a used Boxster and therefore they do retain their value and are an excellent buy.


The other interesting fact is that the Mercedes dealer is sending the car to an OPC who is part of their group. They will retail the car on their forcourt even though it's a C98

 

[David Hooper]

That was based on 6k per annum. It's a shame really that your'e not staying with Porsche due to one of my trade letting you down.

With regard to your old car going to the Porsche dealer in their group, what the Merc dealer will have done is thrown all his discount at your car. Its the price to change that counts. An interesting question for the Merc dealer is " My relative wants my car, whats the discount on the new Merc?" Add the price to change from the full up deal to the discounted Merc deal and thats what the stand in value of your Porsche is.

At the moment there are some BIG monies off Mercs. I've seen a letter to previous customers offering over £8k discount off an in stock SL55. Give me a shout if you need to ref prices.

Hope it goes OK and happy motoring.
Cheers
DPH