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Porsche will begin an app-based subscription service next month
- amelius 9y ago$2000 a month?? Wouldn't it be possible to lease at least two Porches permanently for that amount from an existing car-lease firm?
- matt_wulfeck 9y ago> Porsche is looking for a way to reach younger consumers whose shopping and transportation habits have been shaped by Silicon Valley giants like Uber Technologies... Apparently no one told them that these new consumers are broke as a joke also.
- tsunamifury 9y agoI'm not and I often rent sports cars instead of buy them and let them become garage queens.
- rexf 9y agoThere's a $1,500/month similar service for Cadillacs https://bookbycadillac.com https://bookbycadillac.com
- perryh2 9y agoI've been getting a lot of ads from this new on-demand service from Audi. https://www.us.audiondemand.com/ https://www.us.audiondemand.com/
- NegativeLatency 9y ago>We now have millennials who are incredibly successful and have the financial power to own a Porsche, but might not be willing to own a Porsche today It's pretty ridiculous.
- ajkjk 9y agoWhat do you mean?
- iooi 9y agohttp://porschedealer.com/pfs/ http://porschedealer.com/pfs/ You could easily lease two including insurance, registration, and maintenance. I don't think the added flexibility of being able to swap your 718 for a Cayenne when you need to haul furniture (or have more than two people) is worth it.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y agoOr maybe just slum it and buy a new Touareg as an extra utility beater.
- WhitneyLand 9y agoIt’s not clear that’s true. Leases don’t typically cover other costs like insurance. Also this seems like it might not have the 2 to 3 year long commitments, which can really really drive down the apparent, if not actual cost of a lease.
- rconti 9y agoParticularly the deposit/down payment.
- compiler-guy 9y agoThe linked page puts leasing a 718 Boxster at ~$1400 a month on a 24 month lease. There is no way that the additional taxes, title, license, insurance and maintenance will cost more than $600 a month. Yes, there is a long-term commitment, but you can get a a lot of car for $2000 a month, all-in. So it would be cheaper to lease a boxster as the primary vehicle, and, when you need one, just rent a truck over a weekend or whatever.
- korzun 9y ago> So it would be cheaper to lease a boxster as the primary vehicle, and, when you need one, just rent a truck over a weekend or whatever. How is $48000 (2000*24) cheaper again?
- WhitneyLand 9y ago
- mustacheemperor 9y agoIs the target market people with newly disposable income but destroyed/nonexistent credit? Could explain the "millenial" target, if you ran up a bunch of credit cards in college but have a software job now, go ahead and "subscribe" to a car for 2x the price of a lease! Then when it gets repo'd for nonpayment you're not defaulting on your lease, you're just lapsing your subscription!
- amelius 9y agoPerhaps the target market is people who accidentally install the app :)
- SimbaOnSteroids 9y agoInsurance on these cars would cost a small fortune as well, as would replacing the tires, also maintenance because it has that special, not a v6 or inline-6, but flat 6 engine design, so gotta go to a special shop.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- fashionrob 9y agomy 2015 cayman 6speed costed less than my 2016 audi s3 for insurance. no accidents in 6+ years
- rounce 9y agoHow can you have had a 2015 car for 6+ years? This doesn't make sense.
- MrFoof 9y agoI pay just under $100/mo to insure a 1 of 724 (in the US) Boxster Spyder for 7,000 miles a year. For comparison, my 10-year old Mazda Miata ran me $62/mo with identical coverage, and was worth about 10% as much. However, unlike the Miata, I have declared value insurance because the car is worth 15% more than when it was new. Miata had typical depreciation insurance. Tires more expensive? Yes, because they're bigger. ~$1500/set versus $1000/set (shipped, mounted and balanced) for the Miata, and the rears wear out about twice as fast. Maintenance? If I went to a dealer for service, labor rate is 24% higher compared to a local Mazda dealer. I instead go to one of the best Porsche independents in the US and he's about 12% more than a local Mazda dealership, and he has way cooler stuff in his garage (last time I went, three 959s, a one-of-17 TechArt CTR3, and other craziness). Though still lots I can do myself. Parts? I did a full brake job recently, and it cost ~10% more than something like a Subaru WRX STi. I actually used uprated brake fluid (which was +$20 over OEM), though everything else was OEM. The only major long-term expense is engine rebuilds. Figure 25-30% more than rebuilding a mainstream V8 like a Toyota 1UR/3UR, Ford Coyote or Chevy small block. Though that's usually every 15-25 years (depending on engine hours at high RPM), so that's something you just sock money away for well in advance.
- FrojoS 9y agoI might be wrong, but I think leases typically run for at least two years, whereas this apparently can be canceled on a monthly base.
- ckluis 9y agoDon’t forget this includes insurance, mechanical work, registration, detailing when switching between cars. It also lets you use an SUV for a trip, a sports car for a date, or the sedan as needed. Flexibility always costs more. Hard-coded (single car) vs Configurable (multi-car)… what’s easier?
- usrusr 9y agoSome people might be willing to burn money today, but unwilling to commit to payments a year ahead. I think anything between moderate success and exactly zero customers is a possible outcome.
- myrandomcomment 9y agoHave you priced out a Porsche? Not the "stock" model, the one you would really buy/lease. For every starting pricing on a Porsche in the configurator add 30K-50K by the time you are done. I own 2. Love them. Best cars every. Fun to drive and they do not try to kill you (well most of them). I cannot wait for the Mission-E to hit. Its my next car.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- stevencorona 9y agoCool service but it ends up being like 2x the price of leasing. For comparison, I've leased two Porsches through PFS in the past and the all-in monthly payment (incl tax/insurance) was around $1500/mo for a 911 C4S (36 month) and $900/mo for a Cayman (24 month). And for the $2000/mo subscription, it doesn't seem like you even get access to the 911.
- tinbad 9y agoRight, and Porsches don't even lease very well compared to other brands. One thing I wonder if there's no mileage restrictions it could be worth it (as going over miles on a lease can be expensive).
- korzun 9y ago> Cool service but it ends up being like 2x the price of leasing. You are comparing apples to oranges. Your $1500/month (from the past, different year, packages, car) lease payment is an obligation that requires a 24/36/48 month commitment.
- jessriedel 9y agoAlso all repair costs! And the ability to swap out models on a whim!
- KGIII 9y agoI am not the target age but I am touring Europe next year. This interests me. Edit: I see I wasn't clear enough. It interests me because it may catch on or be available in other areas, should it be a success. Tooling through Europe in varied Porsches, each optimized for different reasons, would be a great vacation. Easily being able to do this would interest me. Thus, this interests me in that I hope it catches on.
- amigoingtodie 9y agoYou need the $3000/mo subscription for that.
- neospice 9y ago
- bytecodes 9y agoClutch, mentioned in the article as the company behind the subscription, is interesting in their own right. http://www.clutchatlanta.com/ http://www.clutchatlanta.com/ It's a car subscription where you can trade your car out for another type. Insurance is included, so it's a flexible alternative to buying. A bit pricy, though. So really only an alternative to buying new.
- jasongill 9y agoIt appears that the way Clutch works is that a dealer group can basically act as the Clutch "franchise" for a metro area. Here in NC the local luxury dealer group runs the service and sets their own pricing and cars available. It's one of those services that seems so awesome but the pricing is just "too high" enough that you put your credit card in repeatedly but never click submit. Can't wait for the price to drop by ~30% (which might not happen since it seems that each metro has an exclusive dealer for Clutch - no competition)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- fmsf 9y agoThe best entry level porsche is second hand. I got my first porsche like that. It had porsche warranty for 2 years and it costed 2/3 of the retail price. I love every moment driving it. The best part of owning a porsche is the sentimental value and the experience. Here you drop one, and only get the experience. I wonder how that will play out.
- got2surf 9y agoCompletely agree. Plus, after initial depreciation, 911s hold their value pretty well (particularly the 1999-2004 996 models). I view a used Porsche (as compared to new) as "90% of the fun for 50% the cost".
- pryelluw 9y agoThe 996 turbo is currently an awesome deal. The regular ones are a good deal but one needs to check up on the service history. Weird tidbit: I once put a 993 engine into a 996 rwd chassis and fit very well. The old 993 mount fit rather well and only needed some modifications to work. The engine had a 930 tranny bolted on (g50) and it fit perfectly as well. Of onlt that car were finished some day...
- coredog64 9y ago> The regular ones are a good deal but one needs to check up on the service history. As long as the IMS bearing hasn't already gone out, it's just(!) a matter of budgeting for replacement when you price the car. I've been seriously thinking about getting one but haven't found what I want yet.
- pryelluw 9y agoYes, you are right. Given how cheap they are right now some people get sticker shock when they learn a replacement will cost around $10k. That sometimes is more than half the cost of the whole car.
- IgorPartola 9y agoI wonder if a car rental company could pull this off. $100/month gets you 10 car days or some such. Would be a no brainer in some situations.
- tedmiston 9y agoThat'd be really nice for me. I live in the city and drive infrequently. My garage pass costs $100/month just to park anyway. If there was some sort of on-demand delivery it would be great.
- IgorPartola 9y agoDo you have Zip Car there?
- kylec 9y agoThis might be interesting if there’s no long-term commitment. While leasing and financing would obviously be much cheaper, those involve three to five year terms. If I could pay $3000/month and drive a 911 for a summer I might be very tempted to do that.
- shaanr 9y agoCheck out Fair.com also; Los Angeles only right now but also offers no-term flexibility. There is a 'start payment' but all said and done, Fair may be cheaper than this depending on how long you keep the car. Disclaimer: I work for Fair.
- tedmiston 9y agoHow does Fair compare to Turo?
- alexandersingh 9y agoTuro is a short term car rental marketplace. Fair is a flexible "long-term" car leasing service. They have two different business models and are serving two different problems.
- tedmiston 9y agoOstensibly true but what you wrote glosses over all of the interesting details because the services are not that black and white. I'm more interested in the areas where they overlap — the gray area between renting and leasing. Use cases like getting a car for a few days per month or just a month or two, where services like Zipcar are also competitors. Fair's marketing claims "pay as you go, walk away at any time" in the App Store description which suggests to me it is possible to "own" a car off Fair for a month or two.
- shaanr 9y agoYou're correct, @tedmiston. With Fair, you can return your car anytime (with a 5 day notice). So, you could keep the car for 1mo, 7 weeks etc. Fair will pro-rate the last month. Fair probably doesn't make sense for folks who just need a car for a few days. Happy to field more questions here (or email me: username @fair.com) By the way, with my referral code (SHAANR100) you can save $1,000 off the start payment until 10/31/17. Disclaimer x2: I work for Fair :)
- hack4supper 9y agoA quick summary guys: https://summarybrew.com/p/drivers-can-get-porsches-on-demand-with-a-dollar2-000-a-month-subscription#summary-39 https://summarybrew.com/p/drivers-can-get-porsches-on-demand...
- tehsah 9y agoA lot of people in this space now...especially at the premium tier. Canvas (https://drivecanvas.com https://drivecanvas.com) is another, but more targeted at the mainstream.