What should be the discount on an 'imported' Porsche
Discussion
Hi, I am in the process of selling my 50 Anniversary Boxster that I imported from the US (is now a Swiss registered car). As some may know since it was not sold new in Switzerland it will trade at a discount - another example of where Swiss like to pay more for the exact same thing since because it was more expensive it must be better - in any case this is not a rant, it is a question.
Does anyone have any views or experience with how much of a discount it needs to be ? I have priced it at a 20% discount of the Comparis.ch target price. There has been some interest but seems that the fact it is an 'import' is a sticking point, but it is hard for me to tell if it is simply that it is a slow time of the year to be selling, or if my price is wrong, or some other factor...
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Does anyone have any views or experience with how much of a discount it needs to be ? I have priced it at a 20% discount of the Comparis.ch target price. There has been some interest but seems that the fact it is an 'import' is a sticking point, but it is hard for me to tell if it is simply that it is a slow time of the year to be selling, or if my price is wrong, or some other factor...
Thoughts?
Thanks,
There are so many cars imported into Switzerland every day, I can't see how this mentality of significant discounts can hold water. Just take a trip to the local vehicle registration office and see the queue of people importing. Your car was designed and built in Germany, and as long as you can prove it has full porsche service history, it it as good as anything else. You could perhaps (if correct) emphasise that where you are from there was no snow and therefore very little chance of corrosion - unlike the local cars.
But, being practical, because I know the thinking here is likely to be you need to discount it because, um, it was imported...no real logic...
I would price it at the lower end of the market to ensure you get good interest. Do you think you need to mention it is am import in the advert? I wouldn't think it's that relevant at this stage, but others will likely disagree. Also, if I were looking for a car and it was 20% below market, I'd assume something was wrong with it and perhaps not bother pursuing it.
So to answer your question. If the market is selling at 40k (say advertising at 42 to 44k), then advertise it at about 41, emphasise the service history etc and be prepared to discount perhaps 2k to sell it.
By the way, this is a very bad time to sell a convertible. I've hardly seen any around since it started snowing, so I would imagine the potential buyer realises if he buys it now he won't be really using it until April.
Good luck. Post the advert link if you want a more informed opinion.
But, being practical, because I know the thinking here is likely to be you need to discount it because, um, it was imported...no real logic...
I would price it at the lower end of the market to ensure you get good interest. Do you think you need to mention it is am import in the advert? I wouldn't think it's that relevant at this stage, but others will likely disagree. Also, if I were looking for a car and it was 20% below market, I'd assume something was wrong with it and perhaps not bother pursuing it.
So to answer your question. If the market is selling at 40k (say advertising at 42 to 44k), then advertise it at about 41, emphasise the service history etc and be prepared to discount perhaps 2k to sell it.
By the way, this is a very bad time to sell a convertible. I've hardly seen any around since it started snowing, so I would imagine the potential buyer realises if he buys it now he won't be really using it until April.
Good luck. Post the advert link if you want a more informed opinion.
So, I would agree with you - re it is the same car as you would buy here - I even put on the Euro bumper and got rid of the ugly bumperets, anyway, here is the link to the ad. And yeah, it is not the best time to be selling but see below the reply I got.
http://www.autoscout24.ch/de/d/porsc...04&year...
Thank your for your message and all the informations, complete, you sent to me.
The car seems to be nice, indeed.
I didn't notice first it was an imported car from the USA. But now I see on the picture the speedometer in MpH.
For -I think- bad reasons, people here are reluctant with import cars, even if the car is perfect. So even if I would find your car fine, I would take a financial risk buying a US import car, because of the lack of interest of new buyers in case of a selling in some years.
So I am quite hesitant and must think about that.
http://www.autoscout24.ch/de/d/porsc...04&year...
Thank your for your message and all the informations, complete, you sent to me.
The car seems to be nice, indeed.
I didn't notice first it was an imported car from the USA. But now I see on the picture the speedometer in MpH.
For -I think- bad reasons, people here are reluctant with import cars, even if the car is perfect. So even if I would find your car fine, I would take a financial risk buying a US import car, because of the lack of interest of new buyers in case of a selling in some years.
So I am quite hesitant and must think about that.
Nice car. It is funny because his logic is that it's other people who will discount it, not him. you could take two tacts: maybe that many cars are now imported, so the financial risk is something from the past. In fact it is the importing of Porsches that has brought the price down to such attractive and affordable levels. Alternatively you've factored in that these import cars are normally discounted (say 10%), so you've already factored that in for him...you know what I mean.
When I first read his reply, I thought this guy isn't sure about the purchase, so is 'happy' to find an excuse to pull out.
When I first read his reply, I thought this guy isn't sure about the purchase, so is 'happy' to find an excuse to pull out.
Selling cars in Switzerland privately does appear to be rather tricky unless you are prepared to let something go for a song...
It would appear that most deals are done via garages but if you keep an eye on particular stock from time to time, many prestige cars appear to take ages to sell. Have you had a trade bid?
Another factor is that with a comparatively wealthy population, many can afford to buy or lease new cars and therefore the demand for used cars seems to be weak - even though the asking prices often appear strong which can act as a further incentive to buy new as you often don't stand to save that much by buying nearly new - although this is something of a paradox.
With older/cheaper cars, I believe that many get exported as there just aren't the number of less affluent punters over here to soak-up the vast number of cast-offs no longer wanted by their wealthier countrymen...
Autoscout24.ch would appear to be the main marketplace but when you hit the home page, you find circa 142,000 cars advertised for sale.
The advanced search function can be illuminating - although I do wish that they allowed you to filter for private sellers only!
Of that 142k number, a staggering 2.2k are Porsches and 1.25k are 911's! i.e. almost 1 in 100 cars advertised for sale today in Switzerland are 911's!
There are 225 Boxsters listed of which 110 of them are 2004 or earlier (almost all 986 as you would expect). Only 20 of these are advertised for more than CHF25k.
Your car looks lovely and could be considered the pinacle of the 986 range by some potential buyers but I would wager that the average 986 buyer would probably just want the best car he can get for 'a reasonable sum' and there are 25 advertised between CHF12.5k and CHF17.5k. You might have to concede that a number of buyers with CHF25k plus to spend might be swayed by the charms of the 987 etc. however foolish they may be!
You might find your answer in the above somewhere.... I imagine that your car will ultimately sell and possibly for around what you are asking but you may have to wait a while for that buyer or drop the price to under CHF20k upon which a greater number of buyers who have set that as their ceiling may start to call and the prospect of getting a bigger bang for their buck will outweigh the percieved 'risk' of buying a grey import.
You can create alerts on Autoscout24 that appear in your inbox when new cars are listed. I have done this in the past and have spotted the same cars being readvertised at lower and lower prices. This is one of the ways you can use the data work out who is really keen to sell..
Best of luck.
P.S. Owned my 986 for 12 years from new. Bought it here and have no plans to sell it. I imported a Discovery from the UK (new) and also plan to run that into the ground so that I can 'give it away' if need be when the time comes.
It would appear that most deals are done via garages but if you keep an eye on particular stock from time to time, many prestige cars appear to take ages to sell. Have you had a trade bid?
Another factor is that with a comparatively wealthy population, many can afford to buy or lease new cars and therefore the demand for used cars seems to be weak - even though the asking prices often appear strong which can act as a further incentive to buy new as you often don't stand to save that much by buying nearly new - although this is something of a paradox.
With older/cheaper cars, I believe that many get exported as there just aren't the number of less affluent punters over here to soak-up the vast number of cast-offs no longer wanted by their wealthier countrymen...
Autoscout24.ch would appear to be the main marketplace but when you hit the home page, you find circa 142,000 cars advertised for sale.
The advanced search function can be illuminating - although I do wish that they allowed you to filter for private sellers only!
Of that 142k number, a staggering 2.2k are Porsches and 1.25k are 911's! i.e. almost 1 in 100 cars advertised for sale today in Switzerland are 911's!
There are 225 Boxsters listed of which 110 of them are 2004 or earlier (almost all 986 as you would expect). Only 20 of these are advertised for more than CHF25k.
Your car looks lovely and could be considered the pinacle of the 986 range by some potential buyers but I would wager that the average 986 buyer would probably just want the best car he can get for 'a reasonable sum' and there are 25 advertised between CHF12.5k and CHF17.5k. You might have to concede that a number of buyers with CHF25k plus to spend might be swayed by the charms of the 987 etc. however foolish they may be!
You might find your answer in the above somewhere.... I imagine that your car will ultimately sell and possibly for around what you are asking but you may have to wait a while for that buyer or drop the price to under CHF20k upon which a greater number of buyers who have set that as their ceiling may start to call and the prospect of getting a bigger bang for their buck will outweigh the percieved 'risk' of buying a grey import.
You can create alerts on Autoscout24 that appear in your inbox when new cars are listed. I have done this in the past and have spotted the same cars being readvertised at lower and lower prices. This is one of the ways you can use the data work out who is really keen to sell..
Best of luck.
P.S. Owned my 986 for 12 years from new. Bought it here and have no plans to sell it. I imported a Discovery from the UK (new) and also plan to run that into the ground so that I can 'give it away' if need be when the time comes.
Edited by MogulBoy on Wednesday 16th January 15:12
Thanks to all for the replies. I wanted to update everyone.
First, the car sold at 25.5 CHF to the first person who contacted me that was not a scammer (i.e., I live in Africa bla bla bla), was actually the one I referenced in my original post. They came back to me after 'thinking about it' and I shared all the documentation I had on the car, and they bought it sight unseen - of course they had the right to reject when I delivered the car to them, but since the car is in great shape this was not a problem.
I have left the post up on Autoscout for 'market research' and what I can say is that I have received a couple (2) of 'low ball' offers, i.e., 18-20k, and one who seemed earnest but in order to not waist his time I told him it was sold. We did not even get into the non-swiss car discussion.
What I can tell you from my experience.
- My feeling is that this discount on non-swiss cars is around 20-30% but ranges depending on where the car came from, with Germany probably having the lowest discount, and the US the highest, with Italy somewhere between. I do not have any hard evidence for this just my own feeling after going through the process and talking to a lot of people (those that have sold German / Italian cars please to jump in with your experience).
I also have the feeling that my car sold for a reasonable price since it was easily comparable, i.e. was a anniversary edition so all the options were standard. Of course my price helped a lot, as well as full documentation and service records but those go without saying.
What I will not do is buy another car in the US and import it. It is not worth the effort, and the perceived savings is not really there. That is, while you might buy it for a lot less the registration process will sap at least 50% of the arbitrage value, and then the lower resale value the rest. I have imported from Germany for my other car, and while I have not tried to sell it, the importation process (which I did myself) was relatively painless and cost free which 'protects' your down side.
In any case I have started the process - and almost closed on before a German leasing company beat me - my next P car (just wish I had sold my CHF before the big jump in the Euro... but it is always like that)
Again thanks for the replies.
cheers,
First, the car sold at 25.5 CHF to the first person who contacted me that was not a scammer (i.e., I live in Africa bla bla bla), was actually the one I referenced in my original post. They came back to me after 'thinking about it' and I shared all the documentation I had on the car, and they bought it sight unseen - of course they had the right to reject when I delivered the car to them, but since the car is in great shape this was not a problem.
I have left the post up on Autoscout for 'market research' and what I can say is that I have received a couple (2) of 'low ball' offers, i.e., 18-20k, and one who seemed earnest but in order to not waist his time I told him it was sold. We did not even get into the non-swiss car discussion.
What I can tell you from my experience.
- My feeling is that this discount on non-swiss cars is around 20-30% but ranges depending on where the car came from, with Germany probably having the lowest discount, and the US the highest, with Italy somewhere between. I do not have any hard evidence for this just my own feeling after going through the process and talking to a lot of people (those that have sold German / Italian cars please to jump in with your experience).
I also have the feeling that my car sold for a reasonable price since it was easily comparable, i.e. was a anniversary edition so all the options were standard. Of course my price helped a lot, as well as full documentation and service records but those go without saying.
What I will not do is buy another car in the US and import it. It is not worth the effort, and the perceived savings is not really there. That is, while you might buy it for a lot less the registration process will sap at least 50% of the arbitrage value, and then the lower resale value the rest. I have imported from Germany for my other car, and while I have not tried to sell it, the importation process (which I did myself) was relatively painless and cost free which 'protects' your down side.
In any case I have started the process - and almost closed on before a German leasing company beat me - my next P car (just wish I had sold my CHF before the big jump in the Euro... but it is always like that)
Again thanks for the replies.
cheers,
A good result!
P.S. If you don't mind me asking did you have to fit EU-spec. headlights to replace the DOT-spec. ones when you registered it? What about the HiFi - does the radio work an all frequencies over here? Lastly - what about suspension? Were the US models shipped with the Euro/ROW M030 or the slightly higher US equivalent?
P.S. If you don't mind me asking did you have to fit EU-spec. headlights to replace the DOT-spec. ones when you registered it? What about the HiFi - does the radio work an all frequencies over here? Lastly - what about suspension? Were the US models shipped with the Euro/ROW M030 or the slightly higher US equivalent?
I agree, a reasonable result all things considered. That being said, the buyer also got a lot of car for his money so I guess everyone is happy.
To answer your question , there were only two things physically changed on the car in the importation process.
1. A new catalytic converter and muffler - no idea why they 'had to' change this, as the car had California emissions which is more stringent that Switzerland, but they have you over a barrel and there is nothing you can do about it (1900 CHF please)
2. New washers for the headlights as they are litronic, of course there were washers on the headlights, but because they are litronic they need something 'special'... no idea, also felt like a 'shake down'
Radio worked fine - buyer also asked this question not sure where people are getting this information that there would be a problem. No change to the suspension. I do know the anniversary edition had different suspension than 'normal' but can't answer your question more than that.
I started the importation process on my own - after researching it to death - but had to give up and pay someone to help, translation, they open the closed doors which should have also been open to me but since I was not 'in' they were not, let it be said that Switzerland also has its own mafia, they just don't (generally) point a gun at you
To answer your question , there were only two things physically changed on the car in the importation process.
1. A new catalytic converter and muffler - no idea why they 'had to' change this, as the car had California emissions which is more stringent that Switzerland, but they have you over a barrel and there is nothing you can do about it (1900 CHF please)
2. New washers for the headlights as they are litronic, of course there were washers on the headlights, but because they are litronic they need something 'special'... no idea, also felt like a 'shake down'
Radio worked fine - buyer also asked this question not sure where people are getting this information that there would be a problem. No change to the suspension. I do know the anniversary edition had different suspension than 'normal' but can't answer your question more than that.
I started the importation process on my own - after researching it to death - but had to give up and pay someone to help, translation, they open the closed doors which should have also been open to me but since I was not 'in' they were not, let it be said that Switzerland also has its own mafia, they just don't (generally) point a gun at you
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