Something Seems Off With This 986 Boxster

Good Morning! It looks like the Market left early Friday for a long weekend like everyone else in my office, as our sell-through rate and dollar volume took a break from the recent run of solid results.

THE MARKET

Sell-Through Rate (STR): 67%
Market Volume ($): $677,473
Market Volume (Units): 15

TOP SALES

2018 Porsche 911 GT3 6sp $211,000 Bring a Trailer
2004 Porsche 911 GT3 $133,000 Bring a Trailer
1982 Porsche 911SC 5sp Modified $125,000 PCARMARKET
1995 Porsche 911 Coupe 6sp $90,623 Bring a Trailer
2013 Porsche 911 Coupe $37,500 Bring a Trailer

SPOTLIGHT

As many of you know, I’m selfishly waiting for the 986 Boxster markets to take a dump and patiently looking for sub-80,000-mile examples to get below $10k again, not for me, but as a first car for my step-daughter who starts driving in three years. A Porsche for a first car! I honestly think it would be perfect; hear me out. First, they aren’t fast, especially by today’s standards. Second, they only have two seats, which limits a car full of friends. And then there is the 5-speed manual transmission, which most likely means none of her friends will be able to drive it. See, perfect first car.

So naturally, I click on every sub-$10k Boxster that crosses the virtual block, and this 1997 Boxster 5-Speed caught my eye. Was it the European plate? Well, I see a lot of cars here that sport European plates for whatever reason, so no. Look closer… It’s a right-hand drive.

Being that it’s a 1997 model year, it’s just turned 25 years old and has been imported from the UK. Finished in Black over Black, our Spotlight car shows 112,300 miles on the odometer and a clean CarFax, which means nothing because the only entry is from 2023, when it was imported. The exterior and interior are fairly worn, even for the mileage, and shows some rust on the driver-side quarter panel. Mechanically the car has been recently serviced, and the IMS bearing changed under previous ownership, but the owner does state that the clutch pedal is noisy and provides a video showing so.

So how did its British accent and steering wheel on the wrong side affect pricing? When looking at comps for first-gen Boxsters with roughly 110,000 miles, we see that they trade anywhere between $7,900 and $13,500, with one particularly nice example selling for a high of $16,500. Based on the condition of this one, I would put it down near $7,900, which is about where it sold as it hammered down at $7,600.

So a $300 discount for a right-hand drive? I guess the new owner wanted something quirky and different to pull up to their next cars & coffee in. I’m not sure what these trade for in the UK, but it’s got to be close, and then you have all of the import fees, duties, and shipping on top of it. I’m calling this one well-bought.

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