Soft market or something else?

[fxn]

Hey all,

 

Just wondering if anyone can tell me whether the market for 987s has gone particularly soft in the last year or so and whether the following cost of ownership seems right.

 

Reason I'm asking is that I started searching for a 987.2 nearly exactly a year ago and spent a long time looking for the right car, bought one from a indie dealer in August/September for £27.5k which felt completely inline with the market at the time and having missed out on couple of other cars around that price point by being too slow.

 

I've been trying to sell it now for couple of months and receiving no interest at all despite listing on both PH and AT several times, most recently for £25k which I felt was very fair given it had a big service and extra work done in March. One trader has offered £20k for it.

 

Given the depreciation and the cost of the service that'd make the cost of ownership for the year over £10k, seems quite steep and quite different from what was coming up when I was doing my research a year ago. Any ideas what's going on? Is it Brexit jitters in the market? Or is this all as expected?

 

Thanks,

Ville

[Draven]

Probably need some idea of spec - at this point I have no idea what year, mileage, number of owners, colour, options, etc. But even so, the issue is, as always; something is worth what someone is willing to pay. 

 

I honestly wouldn't have expected the bottom to have fallen out of the 987.2 market in the past year, though. In fact, with the 718 being a four-pot, you'd think that a Cayman with a flat-six and hydraulic steering would be in demand. 

 

That said, there are a lot of Gen 2 S Caymans around the £24k / £25k mark, so maybe it's simply the volume available that's making it hard to sell. 

 

The market for the 987 R certainly doesn't seem to be heading in that direction, but one would assume that's because there are so few of them. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Draven

[twopointnine]

As Draven said, we really need more info from you in order to make reasonable comments.

 

I think one of the bigger inhibitors to private sales is that there are very few cash buyers around, many people need finance to buy, p/x, and finance to be cleared on their old cars.

 

While looking for my own 987.2  PDK I viewed a few private sale cars which got bought by dealers who were happy to clear outstanding finance and transfer private registrations. The dealers then added their sizeable margins and are happy to sit on the cars for months on end until they eventually sell and that applied to R and S models.

 

As a private individual wanting to move on to another car you’re probably very keen to sell but you may just have to think more like a dealer and keep advertising at the price you want until that one buyer comes along.

 

 

 

[extanker]

it seems like you had the car for less than a year......that raises flags to buyers 

[Aaron]

It's more likely the case that very few people will have £20k+ in cash.  They will want finance to make the purchase.

 

If you're comparing your private price against a dealer/independent price, you will always be pricing it lower.  The buyer also has less protection when buying private compared to a car dealer.

 

You can always approach a dealer to sell the car on your behalf rather than buy it wholly from you.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Aaron

[extanker]

most folk looking to buy a toy have their money in hand ready to go 

[PDK THE ONLY WAY]

Well as with everything, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay,

very early low spec 718 are one hovering around £30k (trade) so 987.2 towards high £25+ from a private seller seems a bit of a gamble, the current law states that you can buy a car from a trader, and within 30 days return the car if there is a fault,with a full refund, this will effect the buyers decision making,

even a nice late high spec 987.2 is getting near six years old, which is the time things need to be looked at, again this also puts buyers off,

i personally have bought a 2010 ; 18k recently, from a dealer with out much change from 28k , yes a bit on the high side, but high spec,

all the toys, the colour combination I liked, with the history, and warranty,and as I said before I was willing to pay that much, as I thought it worth it.

 

[Beanoir™]

The 987.2 was not made in huge numbers at all compared to the gen1 cars and is quite a sought after car in the right spec for that reason and also for the perceived (or not) reliability benefits the DFI engine brings.  

 

In my experience buyers of the 987.2 are also very spec sensitive (read: fussy) main due to the fact that if you're paying a premium then you want exactly the spec you want.  

 

These factors coupled with, as Aaron rightly pointed out, that not many folk have £25k in cash to fund a private sale makes selling one privately a challenging escapade. 

 

Have you put an ad on the forum here? If not, suggest you should ?.  Worth also having a word with Grieg Daly at RPM Technik about selling the car on your behalf, tell him I sent you if you do.  

[fxn]

Thanks for the replies and your thoughts everyone, maybe it is the whole financing thing that's making it tricky for people. I did think it might be that I've had the car for such a short amount of time but unfortunately I'm relocating abroad and they drive on the wrong side of the road so not sure about taking it over, having said that I'll rather take it there to enjoy than take a £10k hit though

 

The spec is Black 2009 Cayman S 987.2 PDK with PASM, LSD, Chrono+, 997.2 Carrera S alloys, Bi-Xenon with PDLS and 46k miles on the clock.

 

I remember paying a premium to have a black one with black interior and am assuming that still holds true and priced my car with that in mind.

 

Haven't been as active as I had hoped here so haven't got my post count to  post it on the forums here but will contact Grieg thanks for the tip!

 

Thanks,

Ville

[Draven]

Honestly I've never had a problem selling privately, regardless of price. 

 

I sold my 911 privately for around £50k and the ad was only up for few hours before I got a call; the guy flew down the next day and drove away in the car. 

 

Likewise I sold my Mk2 Focus RS for £23k and didn't even need to advertise it; mentioned I was thinking of selling on the owner's club forum and had eight people interested, first one to come and see it put a deposit down. He even transferred the entire balance to me before coming to collect it the following weekend!

 

So people do have cash to spend on a car - it's just a case of it being the car they're looking for. 

 

Your spec is pretty decent - the gearbox is always a matter of personal choice, and often comes down to how a prospective buyer is planning on using the car.  But there are newer cars with fewer miles being sold by dealers for the same - if not less - price you have yours up at. That means means two things...

 

1. Looking at roughly the same type of car, many buyers would go the dealer route for potential peace of mind, possible finance, warranty, etc. 

 

2. If dealers are selling those cars at roughly what you're asking privately, they obviously paid a lot less to get those cars into stock, hence your £20k offer from a dealer. 

 

Looking at the market, I'd say that if you want the car to shift, it needs to be priced around £22k, but obviously it comes down to what you're willing / able to swallow. 

[extanker]

^^^ agreed 

[Mavrik]

@eponymoose... I agree... I bought my MY2006 3.4s for 12k cash private with a full history & relatively low 60k mileage & private plate... The "Stealer" cars I viewed with similar "spec" were 14.5k & up!!

Edited May 31, 2018 by Mavrik

[banjo]

trade price + 10% usually gives you a ball park private sale price,so £22k as others have said sound right.