914 Value Options

[RonnieJ]

I was reading Excellence magazine the other day with the 914 value chart and they value our cars at from 12K to 18K. Why do we sale our cars so cheap and place such low value on them when Excellence themselves think our cars are worth more. The value and price of these cars would rise to the level they should be if everyone stuck to their guns and when selling a 914. When I insured mine it was for an agreed value which I put at 12K, I had to provide pictures and when I submitted evrything the insurance company had no problem with the value I put on the car. I think just as much of my Porsche 914 as a 911 owner and I believe that is how most of us feel. Apologies for the long rant but I see guys on here asking what they should ask for their cars when they sale them and all I here is 4K to 6K and ocasionally I see someone asking what the true value should be.

[carr914]

The other thing that brings the value down is the varying condition of our cars.

You see people doing stupid things to their cars, some people restore them perfectly. You also see people giving away good rollers in CA and people buying rust-buckets in the NE.

I'm sure that smg914 would not sell his Sahara Beige 914 for less than $50,000 or his M-471 for less than $150,000, but that doesn't define the value of everyone else's cars.

Sooner or later we will reach the point of 356's, when we will get real value for our cars.

Also some people think our cars are Ugly as Shit, while I happen to LOVE the styling ( I guess that is why I have owned so many)

T.C.

[mepstein]

The other thing that brings the value down is the varying condition of our cars.

You see people doing stupid things to their cars, some people restore them perfectly. You also see people giving away good rollers in CA and people buying rust-buckets in the NE.

I'm sure that smg914 would not sell his Sahara Beige 914 for less than $50,000 or his M-471 for less than $150,000, but that doesn't define the value of everyone else's cars.

Sooner or later we will reach the point of 356's, when we will get real value for our cars.

Also some people think our cars are Ugly as Shit, while I happen to LOVE the styling ( I guess that is why I have owned so many)

T.C.

I think your right, one day, 914's and especially 914-6's will be worth quite a bit more. But, look at the holding cost of a car used as an investment. Storage, insurance, maintenance, registration, replacement of rubber seals and tires, engine, transmission and brake caliper overhaul when seals and gaskets shrink, your time, RUST, ect. I’m not sure many people actually “make” money even when they sell a car for multiples of the purchase price 10, 20, 30 years later. I think it’s much like real estate, that is, you make your money on the deal when you buy, not on the appreciation before the sale. Appreciation just keeps you even with everything else.

[Scott S]

I think your right, one day, 914's and especially 914-6's will be worth quite a bit more. But, look at the holding cost of a car used as an investment. Storage, insurance, maintenance, registration, replacement of rubber seals and tires, engine, transmission and brake caliper overhaul when seals and gaskets shrink, your time, RUST, ect. I’m not sure many people actually “make” money even when they sell a car for multiples of the purchase price 10, 20, 30 years later. I think it’s much like real estate, that is, you make your money on the deal when you buy, not on the appreciation before the sale. Appreciation just keeps you even with everything else.

Yup - I agree with you that it is all about the purchase price and how it relates to the cars value in todays market. Speculation on where a cars value may end up in 10 years is a total crap shoot and not worth the headache. There are some spectaular deals out there right now due to the the bad economy combined with some that have speculated on a cars future value and shoved a pile of money into restoring/over restoring a car - only to find they now need whatever money they can get back out of the car right now.

The storage/insurance/maintenance etc can all be made significantly less if spread accross mutiple investment cars. Registration is not really an issue (at least in Colorado) as it drastically goes down over time. I think by far the biggest issue with investment cars is getting them to pass whatever emission regulation happens to be in place at the time you go to sell them.

I have been watching lots of Porsches over the past 2-3 years. They are not good investment cars (no margins). That makes me think that most p-car owners are a bit smarter/conservative about how they put money into them. Putting a 10k paint job on a 911 Turbo (or 914) is done more so out of ones passion for the car that they plan to keep, vs just to flip the thing. A really nice aircooled $25K 911 seems to have been a really nice 25K 911 for several years - and they buyer would be in dire straits to even listen to an offer of much less.