Winter Sports Car Prices

[CalPersFatCat]

Greeting.

Shopping for a 2007-2010 911 turbo, late 360 or early 430.

Does the sports car market die in December and January, like regular cars?

I don't mind delaying a few months to save $3k or to have a better selection of available cars.

DL

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by CalPersFatCat

Greeting.

Shopping for a 2007-2010 911 turbo, late 360 or early 430.

Does the sports car market die in December and January, like regular cars?

I don't mind delaying a few months to save $3k or to have a better selection of available cars.

DL

The good, service documented and low mileage, examples of these three models will NOT drop in price in winter. People with these cars are rarely daily drivers and rarely looking to fire sell them. Most go to brokers or dealers. I would imagine a guy with a S2000 or Boxster might be looking to sell cheap in order to avoid another rear wheel drive snow storm and buy a WRX, but not some guy with a 430 sitting in a heated garage.

IMHO, if you're looking to buy a $75K-$100K used car, I'd be a LOT more concerned with buying the right car than trying to save $3K? One routine service on the F-Cars will be more that $3K, a clutch or timing belt and you've tripled that...even on the 997TT. Be patient and prepare to negotiate, but whether it's January or August won't make much difference.

[911boost]

Based on looking at 911 turbo's, I agree 100% with Craig.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Agreed. When I had a dealership, and even before when I was buying/selling as a hobby, it's absolutely dead between Thanksgiving and New Years, and slow for sports cars most of the winter. But, that only buys you a good deal if someone is desperate and doesn't want to wait. Most sellers with a great car that's also their 3rd/4th/5th car can afford to wait for the right buyer, or for spring time. I doubt most sellers of a Ferrari or 997TT are selling out of desperation.

[cairns]

Not so sure I agree. I bought a new Carrera S last January. Dealer said no one is buying a Porsche in January. I got a big discount- but the car didn't get here until May. This was a new car- built to order- so take that into consideration.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by cairns

Not so sure I agree. I bought a new Carrera S last January. Dealer said no one is buying a Porsche in January. I got a big discount- but the car didn't get here until May. This was a new car- built to order- so take that into consideration.

That is a completely different segment of the car market than what he is asking about. Congrats on your purchase, (great car, I'm sure), but it has no bearing on the used market for more specialty cars.

[CalPersFatCat]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Agreed. When I had a dealership, and even before when I was buying/selling as a hobby, it's absolutely dead between Thanksgiving and New Years, and slow for sports cars most of the winter. But, that only buys you a good deal if someone is desperate and doesn't want to wait. Most sellers with a great car that's also their 3rd/4th/5th car can afford to wait for the right buyer, or for spring time. I doubt most sellers of a Ferrari or 997TT are selling out of desperation.

I've been watching FChat classifieds pretty closely for several months. The 3rd/4th/5th car guy doesn't seem to be worried about money, but he seems to be very concerned about garage space, frequently having already purchased another car or there is another car on the way.

If I buy a Ferrari, I will buy one off of Fchat from someone who has an FChat "rep".

A 997T or a GT3 will probably come from a dealer, because it seems like they have most of these cars. It seems that dealerships are easier to negotiate with during the Christmas season and that is mostly why I asked.

On Fchat, if a 360 doesn't sell right away, the price will start to come down incrementally until it does sell. I think that I need to pay attention because it is not uncommon for a 360 to be listed at X and then the owner will accept a best offer of X-$10k.

Thanks for replying. I really appreciate the input.

DL

[CalPersFatCat]

Originally Posted by CalPersFatCat

I've been watching FChat classifieds pretty closely for several months. The 3rd/4th/5th car guy doesn't seem to be worried about money, but he seems to be very concerned about garage space, frequently having already purchased another car or there is another car on the way.

If I buy a Ferrari, I will buy one off of Fchat from someone who has an FChat "rep".

A 997T or a GT3 will probably come from a dealer, because it seems like they have most of these cars. It seems that dealerships are easier to negotiate with during the Christmas season and that is mostly why I asked.

On Fchat, if a 360 doesn't sell right away, the price will start to come down incrementally until it does sell. I think that I need to pay attention because it is not uncommon for a 360 to be listed at X and then the owner will accept a best offer of X-$10k.

Thanks for replying. I really appreciate the input.

DL

It just occurred to me that I should have put this in Porsche used car market watch.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Just to be clear, dealer and private party are very different situations. Most dealers, even high line dealers, have a policy of keeping a car in inventory of XX days then sending it to auction. It costs them money to have a car in inventory, so they will only keep it for a finite amount of time. I suspect that if you contact a dealer on Christmas Eve to buy a GT3, you'll probably get a better deal. With a private party the dynamic totally changes, because each will have their own personal motivations.