mabee

:clapping:

Having leased 5 cars in the past 12 years from 4Runners, to X5's to Cayenne's to an LR3 and a 997 (both in Jan of 06) and I've learned a bit from each experience. My advice is take a lease if you plan to keep your mileage down (a 10k mile per year lease will up your residual 2-3% points) and if you do not plan to buy the car down the road and NEVER put a big down payment on a car. Depreciation in the first 2 years will kill you if you have to or want to get out of the car.

Also, secure your own financing before you go if you can get a great rate. More on this below.

Happy, Depreciation on a 997 is about 12% a year averaged right now (about 50-70% of the total in the first 2 years) and change as the market changes - sometimes daily. The best residual on a 3 yr/12k lease for a new 997 C2 is about 58% (through Porsche FS, Chase may have a slightly higher one).

There are only 4 numbers in a lease payment calculation: Cap Cost (price you pay), Residual, Money Factor (interest rate), Trade In value (cap cost reduction) and Cap Cost Reduction (money you put down). All dealer costs will be factored into the Cap Cost so that number should be negotiated first, don't let them stray off this topic, get a number in stone they're willing to sell for.

The financing is where they can screw you. This is the only area of a lease where they don't have to divulge the best residual/MF combo to you. They have incentives to put you into Porsche Financing which may not be the best rate so be careful here. They can also try to pad the rate (Rusnak in CA does this shamelessly) This is why it is important to get your own financing before going in. Try to obtain as much current residual info as you can before going in too. It's not too hard to find on the net (cars.com, leasecompare have decent info although it's not always accurate.)

Negotiate your deal with $0 down first and then discuss cap reduction after your deal is in place. After you say you now want to put money down, don't let them change ANYTHING in the deal in terms of the financing, they will try and screw you.

After you've collected as much info as possible, go to carbuyingtips.com and download the Xcel spreadsheet from their Lease section. This form is based on the Federal Lease Act and calculates everything for you and gives you a good idea about what you should pay (if you have a lease now, take your yellow lease paperwork and plug it into this spreadsheet, you may be surprised - or shocked!). I walked in with one of these when going to get my 997 and said "This is the deal I want" and handed them the sheet. Deal I got was darn close and that way they know you are informed about the car/lease and won't waste time trying to screw you.

Other things to try and do before leasing:

-Make sure your credit is top tier. Anything below 720-740 and you're going to pay more.

-Take a 36 month lease or more but never a lease term longer than the warranty (48 months). This is just not smart if there are mechanical problems in your 5th year. Also, Porsche (only company I know of with 24 month terms on a 997) will penalize you with a high cost of borrowing (10% +) if you take this short term simply due to the depreciation they have to absorb. They will give you good residuals to try and cover this up but you're getting screwed.

-Get a car that's already on a lot, don't order one (unless you absolutely have to). You will get a better deal on a car that is spec'd for your state that the dealer has to pay to keep on his lot everyday than you will a one off car spec'd to your racecar tastes that the dealer is going to have a tough time selling if you decide to back out. Also, financing terms can flucuate quite a bit from time of order to delivery and you cannot do your financing until the car arrives at the dealer.

-Sell your current car if you have one. DO NOT trade it in. They will try and give you auction rates. Even if you have a current lease you can sell that car at any time and simply pay the bank off like any other vehicle.

-Mark up on a 997 is about 12-14% over sticker. That's what they're making on the deal. This margin is what you want to negotiate. Expect to pay 7% of this at least (most dealers are getting sticker for their cars).

-If you want a great deal, get a stick. There are far more of those than Tiptronics.

-If you have a few extra $$$ buy Expert Lease Pro from Chart Software to help with your research. Great Tool. $70, will save you thousands. Calculates margins and cost for every option (kbb does not do this for Porsche).

-Don't fall for the line "Every $1000 is about $30 a month on your payment so if you want this deal I'm offering at $1400 a month for $1250 a month, you're asking for another $5000 off the car". This is BS and is an attempt to manipulate you. This "calculation" doesn't take into account the residual or MF and is not spread out over time (the way a lease is structured).

At the end of the day a car is a bad investment and depreciation is severe and quick. If you buy the car outright and drive it for 10 years (with no major service - important) then you can get value. It is rare that you will not need major service on a Porsche at some point. If you lease or buy with the plan to maybe sell in a few years, don't put a lot of money down. Put that money you were going to put down in the markets and try for 5% or if you're lucky the market average of 10%. You have a chance of getting enough return to offset your financing costs and if you get some great returns, you can offset some depreciation.

Sorry for long post but I've learned a lot from intially paying $5k over sticker for a 4Runner in 1997 (!!) to getting $5k off sticker on a 997 (and even better an LR3 for my wife at $700 above dealer cost) and since it's easy to get ripped off when doing any car deal, I feel any information you can get empowers you and helps you get a good deal.

good luck.

:clapping: Well done!

I recently purchased a 2005 997 C2 and during transport a small 1/2 cm stone crack occurred on the passenger side of the front windshield. Should this be patched with the air removal and UV light sensitive fusion polimer or simply replaced?

Thanks for your input. I had the windscreen repaired by a Porsche authorized windshield repair technician. The transport was insured and Porsche of Naples has been very responsive. Hopefully, it will hold and not further crack. <_<

I recently purchased a 2005 997 C2 and during transport a small 1/2 cm stone crack occurred on the passenger side of the front windshield. Should this be patched with the air removal and UV light sensitive fusion polimer or simply replaced?