leed012

I'm just about ready to pull the plug on my '10 GT3. Just curious on how other fellow purist are handling tightening their belts.
What to do? Finance, lease or pay cash and trade? Any thoughts?

tmc

The residuals I saw on my 07 GT3 made leasing a bad idea.

Cash on the barrel head is always good too.

skxf430

the appeal of leasing is not having to deal with a trade in or even attempting to sell these cars. Good or bad economy, you get to turn in the car with no real hassles.

ashish

if you have a spec loaded up with Personalization options - definitely is nice to consider a lease.. you generally won't get proportionate resale value on the soft options when you try to trade it in down the line. regardless- congrats on the new gt3.

mikey175

If there are concerns over tigheting belts, pretty sure the lease vs. buy decision is a bit overshadowed by the "should I be buying a $120K car right now" query. When I bought my Mk I, the residuals were very low. My guess...PCNA will be even more convervative with the Mk II given current economic conditions. Either way, it's gonna be an expensive proposition -- either through high lease payments or significant depreciation (there are far fewer people versus in 07 that are willing or able to shell out this kind of dough for a car). Good luck with your purchase.

10 GT3

First, it really depends on how many years you are lookign at leasing. On this car, I would not recommend a 2-3 year lease. Historically with the 04' and 07', if you get an early launch car then you will make off better buying versus leasing. 04' 996 GT3s didn't really take a big hit until about 8 months ago. If you are looking at 4-5 years and the lease is competitive, then it may not be such a bad idea.

The biggest point of a lease is to beat depreciation. A good example of this is Jaguars that typically lose 30+% of their value the very first year. I would expect for a 10'' GT3 to be selling used at list a year from now. Why? In 2005, 2004 GT3s were still selling around list. In 2008, 2007 GT3s were selling at list or higher. That is simple supply and demand.

There are other factors you need to consider. If you plan to put $15K miles a year, this is actually a lease advantage. This is fairly normal mileage for a lease, buy a lot more than a typical 911 get driven in a year. Mileage over anything else, kills resale on these cars. If you plan to put a lot of miles on your car, let a lease take the depreciation hit so you don't.

Finally, consider the options on the car. If you order a car with a lot of frilly options: special order paint, full leather, extended leather, carbon trim, PCM, etc.; you get a major advantage leasing. Adding $40K in options to make you car unique, isn't going to make much of a difference when it comes time to sell. With a lease on the other hand, the lease cost and residual estimate is based on the selling price of the car.

leed012

It seems the residuals were not as high as I would have liked on leasing.... Retail rates are compettitive and of course the Credit Unions looking at the best route to go. Deciding on the option to buy this years GT3....? absolutely!

Carrera GT

The lease product and finance program from Porsche Financial are both quite aggressive. Search back over threads where people give advice on the pro's and con's. For my '07 GT3 (leased with US Bank) it's working out very nicely with the car about to be sold and me having equity in the result. This is the best of both worlds -- defined risk to the downside, known cash flow, no initial capital outlay (with your portfolio hopefully doing reasonably well over the next 36 months if you're cautious) so my GT3 will actually be on the "plus" side of the ledge overall. The finance program might be a little better for cash flow and relatively "free" money, but doesn't limit resale risk -- as already well described by "02 Carrera" the cost of options go into the front of the lease and appear in the residual, but the market will not reward (beyond the cost of say PDK or a Cabrio body over a coupe, etc.) And we're seeing that even the venerable 997 GT3 is now tracing towards 996 GT3 resale prices (which I believe is a short term abberation in the overall market as buyers are few and supply has been accumulating.) I don't think "Cash for Clunkers" is spurring GT3 sales. : )

KBS911

First of all spending $120K on a car is nuts. No way to justify it financially as far as I'm concerned. It can be rationalized emotionally. I know i did. With that said I paid cash, but if they had offered the 1.9% financing I may have gone for it. I don't like leases, unless it's a corporate write off.

mooty

your theory while correct in general terms and your particular situation provide positive equity. however, this doesn't always work out for everyone. if you had used up all the allowed miles on your lease contract, you will mostly find that your current positive equity be eaten up by the miles. i think your car commanded a good resale price due to the super low mileage. most of my cars break even since i have much higher mileage at lease end.

i used to buy my cars. now i prefer lease, especially with Ca's 9.75% sales tax. and if i do decide the keep the car at lease end, i still have the option to buy it out.

PogueMoHone

^

All of the lease, finance, purchase analysis amounts to no more than "financial machinations". I used to be a master at it (as a CPA), but it was like majoring in "minors" at college.

In the practical (therefore real?) world, it is best to lease.... Why?

Well, to answer that, consider that if you get in an accident, the fastest way to be made "whole" is through a lease. I learned that the "hard" way, and with the invaluable help of an outstanding Dealer who helped me fight the Insurance Company!

340Elise

Are you talking gap insurance or diminished value?

If you have an accident in a high end car such as the GT3, then the value of the car can drop $10K to $30K depending on severity of damage, even if it is fixed just like new. In a lease you can have it repaired properly and then turn it in at lease end not worrying about selling an accident GT3.

datax

So, what I'm getting from this thread so far is that leasing is good (if you use up all the miles that are allow to drive annually) and if you ever going to be in an accident, you can fix it and return it to the dealer without worrying about depreciation due to that accident.

Is that also mean, if I won't get into an accident and drive only less than 10k miles a year, finance option is better? Monthly payment for financing is pretty low against leasing when I compare at Porsche website.

Also, if I lease a car, do I still have to pay personal property tax every year?

red89

leed012

Thanks Mooty, I'm leaning towards leasing with 10k miles/year increasing the residual and putting some money down. Compared to retail financing, the same amount of money down would be higher monthly payments. Wish I could write a check but then again, not all of us are that fortunate or can let that kind of money fly in this economy