Quote:
Originally Posted by RockCrusher
Generally used car buyers are more concerned about condition and price. This doesn't mean they'll buy an ugly car or one horribly optioned but it generally means they are not rigidly fixated on a, well, a unicorn.
Even in a down market you might not find a unicorn.
Also, one has to be quick. Back in early 2009 -- in the midst of a down turn -- I decided I wanted to get a new Porsche Cayman S. I had a 2006 GTO for a trade in. In good condition, never abused, just short of 50K miles.
Researched the used GTO market and got a price. Waited a week or so then visited the Porsche dealer that had a new 2008 Cayman S I wanted. A bit of a stumbling block is the trade in value the dealer came up with was lower by about $150 than I had come up with. The used car market was sinking that fast.
The flip side is the dealer had marked the Cayman down by $12,000. Yep, $12,000! List was $62,600, and I bought it for $52,600. (911 Cabs were discounted $30K. Was a real down turn.)
There's more. Four weeks later my new Cayman S was hit -- another driver lost control in the rain and smashed into my car while I was stopped to make a right hand turn. The Cayman was (after several weeks) declared a total loss.
Bought the car early April 2009. Accident happened 4 weeks later in early May. A week or so into June I finally received all the insurance money from the at fault driver's insurance and also by that time had sold the Cayman at a salvage titled car auction and had that check.
(How I ended up with the Cayman S with a salvage title is a long story. But it worked out for me.)
Before I found and bought the Cayman there were a number around. Just so happened the Cayman S I found was in Speed Yellow, was nicely optioned, including Sports Chrono, and a 6-speed manual with black leather interior.
But when I re-entered the car market to find another Cayman they were almost all gone! The ones left while these were unicorns they were ugly ones. Ugly in that they were ordered for the track by wanna be podium winners which meant the cars were bare of options even to the point of lacking A/C! I wanted a daily driver/road car, not some hot box track thing.
I did find a couple of Boxsters but I had owned a Boxster since 2002 and still had it. I wanted a Cayman S.
But found none.
Ended up buying a low miles (<10K) pristine 2003 Porsche 996 Turbo. As I said pristine, documented servicing, and with a 2 year/100K mile CPO warranty. And at a good price. Less than 1/2 the $119,000 sticker price the car sold for back in 2003.
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To be fair, $150 difference on your trade is not anything that should make you walk away if that is the car you want.
