Valuation 944 2.7 Lux please

[carreraboy]

Having just got the car back and had a look yesterday and seeing what people are asking, I was pleasantly surprised how the values have seemingly gone up dramatically.

So 100,000 miles, good condition, one sill needs attention otherwise good, everything works except the clock, immaculate blue pinstripe interior, sunroof and nice D90 wheels. ?

 

[david924s]

I think the one sill will put people off or drop the price below what the car is probably worth silla are the paranoia of verybody with a 944 when reality dictates a 20+year car is bound to need them at some point. best way to price it is to see what others are selling for not what is being asked.

 

[carreraboy]

So what did you sell yours for .... ?

 

[edh]

The other thing that will affect value at this sort of price level is recent maintenance

belts, waterpump, discs, pads etc.. can easily stretch to more than the value of the car... and will be used by buyers to chip at the price if not done.

Paul McN is the best man to ask (have you had a free club valuation? []) but I would have thought it was £1500-£2000 depending on the rust.

 

[carreraboy]

Rust is superficial otherwise pretty straight, have seen them at more than double than this on p' heads anyway going to enjoy it, I have to give an insurance replacement figure ... Cambelt all done with discs brakes and new clutch 500 miles ago.

 

[edh]

That sounds better - although unless you look inside the sills you can't be sure.
all that recent maintenance is good stuff, particularly the clutch. 3k tops?

I think there are some ambitious sellers out there though....

Paul is your best bet for an insurance valuation - which is different to how much you might realise if you were to sell today.

 

[George Elliott]

Dez, if you are going to do a job on 2.7 values, can you give me a month or so to pick up a few 500 £pounders off Auto Trader. [8|]

I followed some of your predictions on the 964rs and you were correct, so maybe £10k for a tired RHD 2.7 in 2020, and £20k for a mint LHD[]

The 2.7 cylinder head will be worth £5k to anyone building 968 turbo S replicas in 2020, and flag mirrors will be £200 each to replace Cup upgrades []

joking aside, 944's will climb in value, it will be the old rule of supply (dwindling) and demand (currently flat).

I don't know why anyone worries about 944 corrosion when you see what restoration has been carried out on early '70's 911's or 356's. They are total rust buckets with bad brakes, lights, heaters, fuel & ignition systems.

A good 2.7 should make £3k today?

good to see you over here
George

 

[Jonesey]

I've just had a very quick sale on my G Reg 2.7 Lux. Put it on Autotrader at 7pm on Wednesday, sent some more photos and service/work history summary to the potential buyer at 11am on Thursday, had a deposit in my account by 3pm and it was collected at 4pm on the Friday. Went for £2400 with 6 months MOT.

I'm bound to say it was in pristine condition with only one or two niggles left to sort out but, just as important for the buyer, was the detailed history file and work plan following a zealot-level inspection conducted by GT One in Egham last year. I cancelled the advert on Friday and had around 8-10 calls on it in total.

Maybe I positioned it too cheap or, maybe, I can sell fridges to the Eskimos but I thought that was a very fair price.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I don't know why anyone worries about 944 corrosion when you see what restoration has been carried out on early '70's 911's or 356's. They are total rust buckets with bad brakes, lights, heaters, fuel & ignition systems.

Hi George,

Simply because you don't look at buying a 944 if you can afford the restoration on a 356! [&:]

The £1500 or less Lux isn't selling to Porsche enthusiasts who want the best-handling model for peanuts, but are prepared to put many £000s in to the car to restore it and keep it long-term. Most are going to one last buyer with a bit of cash before they fail an MOT and they're scrapped. £2K these days buys you an awful lot of more modern car that will appeal to younger buyers, so the Lux in Autotrader is competing with hot Renaults that are way faster until something falls off. Or Alfas that have a lot more kerb appeal than a Porsche most people don't remember, or worse think is a VW bitsa. £2K buys you a half-decent Scooby that is supposed to be the fastest car you can buy for real UK driving conditions.

Everyone keeps saying that 944 values are polarising; the base cars with daylight showing through the sills are worth a few hundred to a breaker so that's about the level they'll sell for. The "desirable" models, such as turbo cab, original and low-mileage turbos or concourse early cars, are arguably rising in value as they are rarer every year. I'd personally dispute "rising", in all but exceptional cases, but at least they're holding up. The middle ground is really a lottery, with the £1500-£5K cars ranging from overpriced dross at dealers, to undervalued immaculate cars that are a real bargain.

Des, if you want a decent valuation for the insurance then get Steve Kevlin to do one. Club valuations are free and approved by insurers. If you're looking for a value to sell the car, it's really a case of look at the prices of equivalent cars that have actually sold (not the often optimistic asking prices), and go in a bit lower. The main thing is the quality of the advert, read recent threads here if you want to see how people judge badly-written adverts! [&o]

 

[George Elliott]

Market is rising, good car snapped up

I've just had a very quick sale on my G Reg 2.7 Lux. Put it on Autotrader at 7pm on Wednesday, sent some more photos and service/work history summary to the potential buyer at 11am on Thursday, had a deposit in my account by 3pm and it was collected at 4pm on the Friday. Went for £2400 with 6 months MOT.

Paul, I understand the points you make, but I recall E-Types, and 356's struggling for a £1000, and when the light come on in people's heads - there is an old RWD transaxle Porsche which can out perform a 911 on a wet lap - then the few which escaped the breakers yard will go up in value. Des predicted the same with 964rs's and why? supply & demand coupled with a capable car. The reasoning is too simple for some people, but it works.

I don't have a 2.7 to sell today, but if I did it would be £3k and no offers.

or maybe that should be £3.6k in light of Jonesey's car............

George

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Paul, I understand the points you make, but I recall E-Types, and 356's struggling for a £1000, and when the light come on in people's heads - there is an old RWD transaxle Porsche which can out perform a 911 on a wet lap - then the few which escaped the breakers yard will go up in value.

I agree totally. But, were the e-types you could buy for a grand available at just 20 years old, and in the middle of a recession? There are very few buyers of Porsches as "weekend toys", and most of them will be tempted by the £5K Boxster, rightly or wrongly. Being realistic, can you really see the 944 becoming a true classic worth six-figure sums any time soon?

Also, modern cars are just so damned good. The progress in the last 10-15 years means there are few really bad cars out there now, and I'm sure an average 944 Lux wouldn't beat the C'eed'e'd thing around the Top Gear track? You've got to be one of two types of person to buy a 944 now; either the rare enthusiast like us, who is prepared to put 911-level running costs into a car that's percieved as less desirable. Or, you fancy a Porsche for no money and then can't afford the first bill it throws up.

There will always be a market for a decent 944. From what I see it's currently more people wanting a track car, and the days of people buying what they had on a poster in their bedroom as a kid, like me, have moved on to newer cars. Given that taxing, insuring and servicing a 944 has to run to over £1K per year as an absolute minimum, I'd not expect them to go up at that rate. So, keep it if you love it but it's not a pension fund. [&:]

 

[carreraboy]

Anyone selling a 924 Carrera GT?

 

[Fat Albert]

The 968 will always keep a lid on the values of 944s too, just look at the variance in values between a Tiptronic Coupe and a Club Sport!

A good, clean manual coupe or Sport can be had for £7-10k, so people who want a good-handling Front-runner will always look there first and the values of S2s and Convertible will suffer as a result, the Turbo will be the only 944 that will stand out as 968Ts were so rare

(yes I know that an S2 bought for £3k and with £3k's worth of suspension and brake work will outperform a 968, but its value will never reflect that)

 

[George Elliott]

Never is a very long time..........[]

Carrera GT's.......... anyone.........particular colour Dez? there will be a queue of sellers forming shortly to offload their CGT wares to you.


OK Paul, they are virtually worthless, and perhaps not worth the cost of an oil change...........that view of the 964rs and 964's generally was very helpful to those who were buyers. And do you know, the majority of the opinions had never driven one[][]

I say they will go up, and 968's will definitely go up. Normal spend to maintain a standard one will be recovered. Modifications will devalue the car and obviously not be recovered. 968 tip's will be converted to manual as per sporto 911's in due course.

Its all cyclical. I recall long bonnet 911's being updated to impact bumper, grotesque f/glass spoilers added to beautiful chrome window cars............ Then the 964 retracted all that brash, tasteless, rear spoiler nonsense.......... Then 3.2 Carreras are being backdated with long bonnets.....

Good sound original examples with orange indicators and standard wheels are worth maintaining

George
944t

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I say they will go up, and 968's will definitely go up. Normal spend to maintain a standard one will be recovered.

I'll stick to my guns and disagree! [][]

I honestly can't see an average 944 rising in value by over a grand a year in the next, say, ten or twenty years. Running an average 944 will cost more than a grand a year over the next ten years, especially if you restore it to a decent standard in that time.

Turbo cab will continue to be "collectible", cup cars always so. 968 turbos and good CSs yes. I'm still not sure that after buying a 968 Club Sport and running it for ten years it would have gone up more in value than you've spent, though?

That's not running the models down, just that the cars are relatively common and just aren't as desirable as "mid-life-crisis" cars (where a lot of the market for cars from our childhood comes from) as a 911, whilst having the same costs to run as any other '80s car. Buy one for what is, after all, peanuts. Look after it well and enjoy it, but don't be under any illusion that it will be worth tens of thousands any time soon, if ever. Just my own feeling about them.

 

[GlennS]

I can't see the prices rocketing skyward any time soon.

At a Porsche club meeting the other night someone observed to me "Oh, the 944... that has the Volkswagen engine doesn't it?" If people supposedly "in the know" don't consider them "real Porsches", imagine the wider buying population's opinion. The simple fact is the 944 isn't that desirable to many people who can't see further than the 911.

Doesn't bother in the slightest, I have never liked the 911 shape and have no desire to own one, whilst I have always loved the 944 (and 928 but I don't fancy the fuel bills). I like the fact that the 944 is "affordable" and that I can charge around the countryside having huge fun and clocking up high mileage without ruining "a valuable classic". If I bend or break it I can replace / repair at reasonable cost.