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Buy now or later?

guymarric

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Joined
21 Sep 2017
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2
Hello there,

I wonder if I can trouble you guys for a bit of slightly unusual advice...

Firstly, I have three small kids, so an not in an ideal position to be taking advantage of a car like a 911 right now. However, I do find myself with £15,000 or £20,000 spare in the bank and have half an an eye on the future...

My ultimate plan is to spend some summers driving around Europe etc in a 911, once that is, the kids have grown up and can take holidays by themselves. So my question really revolves around when between now and then I should buy? I know none of us can see in to the future, but I thought I'd ask all your advice as I have no doubt you've got a better feel for the market, past and present and a better understand of where it might be heading, then I have.

Would I be best to buy a decent 996 now, semi mothball if for 7 or 8 years until I'll really be able to take advantage of it, or should I perhaps just put the money aside and buy a 911 much closer to the time? Would I still be able to afford a half decent 911 then or are they likely by that time to be out of my financial reach?

I'm not necessarily looking for a car as an investment, but more just looking for the most cost effective time to buy a 911 in the knowledge that I won't really be able to take advantage of it for 7 or 8 years?

Hope that makes some sense and look forward to hearing some of your thoughts.

Cheers


Guy
 
I'd wait. Maybe in 7/8 years you could get a 991 for that money...who knows :dont know:

OK, at least a 997 probably :grin:

We will probably all be driving electric by then and every town from here to the N'ring will have a ban on petrol cars so the Euro trip may have to be shelved :nooo:

:thumb:

PS :welcome:
 
:welcome: to 911uk Guy.

I've moved your post into the 'Porsche Chatter' sub-forum.

It's an interesting question and certainly not something I've ever heard of before.

A lot of people (including me) have experiences where cars they nearly bought or did sell for £X have been worth £2X or more 8 years later but knowing in advance which cars this phenomenon is going to happen to is not easy or we'd all be doing it. :D

Seriously, if you are looking forward to driving a car in earnest when the time is right you'd be best doing it in the newest and/or best prepared car you can find at that time. An old car that has been stored for a number of years would not be that car.

What car, if any, would be available within your existing budget at that time nobody knows but it's pretty certain your financial circumstances will have increased by then anyway.

:bye: for now.
 
If it's not an investment, I wouldn't buy it and park it up. These cars like to be used and "semi" using it every now and again, in my opinion, doesn't do the car any good and once you drive them they get under your skin and you want to drive them some more. I waited until I was 60 before I bought mine for various reasons (International travel for work, etc) but use it regularly now and just park it up for bad winter weather.
Your kids will love it as much as you, but at that budget expect to spend money on it for maintenance etc (not least petrol at circa 23 MPG ). whatever you choose have it inspected (PPI) and enjoy. :thumb:
 
the 996 was the unloved 911 & even though you did see sub £10k cars 2 years ago they were not the ones you would want to own. There seems to be a growing movement behind the acceptance of water cooled cars & 996's values are on the up, I can only see this having a knock on effect of 997 & their values stabilizing.
I would say buy now so you can enjoy & get it right while you wait.
My plan was to buy a 996 now & enjoy with aim of buying new 911 on retirement but I am now thinking 996 will be 25 year old on my retirement & it would be cool to tour Europe in what would be by then a classic
 
hard one to call!

if buying now to cocoon, my number one concern would be - do you have facilities to keep the car protected from our damp UK air? E.g. a heated garage or one of those plastic bubbles? Because if you don't, a 996 will not look pretty in 7 years time, they're bound to start rusting anytime now, albeit might not be as bad as the previous generations. Moisture could also build up inside the car - many believe 911s that sit for long periods of time tend to get more going wrong with them.

you might have better 911 pickings with your money in 7 years time (assuming you dump it in the stock market between now and then so it at least keeps up with and hopefully beats inflation) but I'm actually not too sure.

Think 996 hit its lowest price around 2013, aprox 15 years after its introduction, and has been creeping up since then. That said, base 991s seem to have already stopped depreciating and they only came out 5 years ago so maybe the depreciation cycles of each model are shortening (as I think less 911s are made as Porsche uses the majority of the factory to build 4x4s now?!).

In that case, it actually makes lots of sense to buy now because in 2024, you perhaps won't be able to afford 996s, 997s or 991s! 996s are still the overall cheapest of all 911 generations, and they're only going up...

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a ramble
 
badlands said:
........ maybe the depreciation cycles of each model are shortening (as I think less 911s are made as Porsche uses the majority of the factory to build 4x4s now?!.

The 4x4s are made in different factories but the 911 production line is shared with the Boxster and Cayman.
 
T8 said:
badlands said:
........ maybe the depreciation cycles of each model are shortening (as I think less 911s are made as Porsche uses the majority of the factory to build 4x4s now?!.

The 4x4s are made in different factories but the 911 production line is shared with the Boxster and Cayman.

Ahhhh, thanks for clarifying. Anyone know aprox overall UK numbers for 996 vs 997 vs 991? Appreciate 991 generation is not done yet
 
If you're going to buy now to store in order to use it in 7 or 8 years you'll still need to factor in the cost or proper storage and maintenance.

Why would you not want to use it now? Mine has a couple of booster seats in the back and my small people love it. It really is a practical toy. Granted I can't get all the family in but having the rear seats means it's not just a selfish purchase.

Nobody knows for sure how the market will go. 996's have been creeping up over the last couple of years although the market in general has softened over the last few months.

If the values crash it doesn't matter - you've got the car to enjoy.
If the values climb above what you are able to afford later - it doesn't matter you've already got the car!

Unless you know for sure that in 7-8 years you will definitely be able to afford one then I'd say buy it now and drive at least a few thousand miles a year. I don't see that it would cost you any more to use it than to store it.
 
As above, if you have small kids then now is the perfect time to drive a 911.

I have 2 kids under 4 and that was a big factor in me buying my 911 now and using it as a daily driver. I figured now was perfect as they both can happily fit in the back without any problems. Its when they get older and taller when I will then have to think about maybe selling the 911 and getting something with more room in the back for them.

Unless the value of a car increases drastically I cant see the point in buying a 911 now and storing it for 8 years. The storage costs will add up, then in 8 years time you will probably have to spend quite a bit getting the car roadworthy again if its been sitting there for 8 years not doing anything. Besides, in 8 years time you may not want a 911 and would rather buy something else!
 
Ive been out of the 911 market for over 2 years. I built half a new house and a garage with a plan to get another once completed. The problem is prices have shot up on all 911's and continue to rise, there alot waiting for 991's to depreciate, even they have slowed/stopped.

Remember no matter what anyone says they will all become classics, even the unloved 996, I doubt in 8 years youll be able to afford one.

As long as you have storage (a garage with a radiotor is fine) id persobnally get one now, limited mileage policy, you could sorn over winter, and the kids would be the coolest in the town. Do it now! (but get a gen1 997!)
 
One of the best bits about owning a 911 is actually owning it. I'd love to own it for 8/9 years and when the kids grow up "pass it on", it would feel much more special than just buying one when ready.
 
Thanks for all your responses. A fairly wide spread of option so far. When I said semi-mothball, I would plan to get out for a few thousand miles a year I'd like to think.

I hadn't thought of the advantage of buying the car now whilst the kids are young enough to fit in the in the back seats. I was thinking of a cabriolet though. Are the seats even smaller back there?

I guess the overriding question is would the cost now of a decent 996/7, plus ongoing yearly expenses/maintainace, be lower than simply buying a similar car 7 or 8 years down the road? Opinion seems split a little on that...

Thanks again,


Guy
 
guymarric said:
Thanks for all your responses. A fairly wide spread of option so far. When I said semi-mothball, I would plan to get out for a few thousand miles a year I'd like to think.

In 911 world that's not 'semi-mothballing' that's 'using it'. The average 996/997 only does 6-7k per year.

That being the case I change my vote to ........ buy now. :thumbs:
 
......... I agree with Terry ....... that's not "mothballing" ........ buy it ...... use it ....... and enjoy it ....... :)
 

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