Buying & Selling A Porsche 911 My Sales Data Feb 2003 - May 2005 - evilBay, Rennlist & Pelican
PPI = Pre Purchase Inspection PO = Previous Owner Wrench = Garage Mechanic
Buying A Porsche 911 1.
Repeat After Me: Get a PPI from a qualified independent Porsche mechanic who does not normally service the car but is knowledgeable in the vintage you are buying.
Tell the mechanic specifically what you want done. Best to start with compression & leakdown to see if it is worth continuing spending your money. I had one wrench who did it last & it failed, but I still had to pay for all of his time. Idiot. Have the wrench call you if there is any major problem at any stage. Remember: a lower head stud check is mandatory if it's an SC, optional for Carreras. Then the wrench should do an overall inspection - brakes, tires, clutch & finish with a driving test. Get a written report for your-eyes-only. Use the report to beat up the PO on price. Now read this section again. And again. See Zimmermann for a great step-by-step PPI.
_2. You will want to buy the first one you see. Don't. 3. Look at & drive as many as you can. They all have different characters. 4. There is always a story - believe it at your peril. 5. Assume 1/2 of what the PO tells you is crap. Most of them know little or nothing about Porsches. They bought it to look cool or 'to set their hair on fire with speed'. Of course, that's the same reason you're buying it . . .
(quote stolen - source unknown Rennlister or Pelican)6. If you are buying from a dealer, be forewarned that he probably knows even less about the car than an owner. And he wants to charge you $5K more. Hmmm. I have heard of good used Porsche dealers, but I certainly didn't find one. 7. Don't skip # 1 above. Your will probably regret it. Selling A Porsche 911 1. Pictures. It's an electronic world now. Accept it. Take pictures & post them wherever you can. Everyone looking will want to see more. Have some sized for emailing & posting <100KB & some sized for detail (200 - 500KB). Look at some of the dealer posts on eBay for subject matter & angles. Hire some babe to sprawl semi-naked on the hood & you'll probably get $2K more. 2. Price your car reasonably. Many buyers assume that their car is worth whatever they paid for it plus all service & upgrades. Wrong. Especially the upgrade part. If you were really smart, you kept all of the original parts to turn it back to a near original state. Do some pricing research. As a good starting point, a clean car might sell for approximately what Excellence says an average car sells for. Then, subtract any issues (i.e. - $1K for bad seats, - $500 for brakes & rotors, - $500 for tires etc). 3. Know your car. What wheels? What tires? What color - the Porsche name for it. Drag out & organize your records & all PO service records - you did keep them didn't you? Etc etc. 4. Post your 'for sale' in numerous places. There are some 'free' sites: Roadfly, Pelican, etc. PCA or Rennlist if you are a member. Post there as well as your paying ad in Auto Trader, cars.com or whatever. 5. Wherever you post your 'for sale' include a picture, year/make/model/color & price. All of these. Any ad without a price will merely get a flood of irritated buyers asking for the price. This ain't real estate. 6. Wherever you post your 'for sale' include the location of the car & contact data for you. Email is a good filter or a phone number with voice mail. If I can't contact you to answer my questions, I obviously will write you off. Be prompt. And while we're at it, don't list your car for sale when you are off to Borneo for a month. If I want it, I want it now & your secretary/wife/roommate probably actually knows squat about the car other than it's irritating to her/he/it. 7. You will be contacted by the Nigeria - European scam guys - the ones that want to send you too much money & have you send some back. Hahahahaha. Oh sorry. I guess some people believe it. Hahahahaha. And don't accept cashier's checks with shipping to fill-in-the-blank. Ignore them or be swindled. Cash or verified bank transfer only. 8. You will have tire kickers who just want to drive a Porsche. Too bad. Imagine what selling a Ferrari or a Lambo would be like. 9. See buyers advice above & plan for it. Best Sales Copy I've Seen
One of the most beautiful shapes in automotive history. Performance is equal to that of supercars costing twice as much. Anyone accustomed to driving in ho-hum fashion, steering with a lazy finger, should steer clear of Porsches completely. To operate a 911 at all, much less seize the maximum from its potential, demands effort. You have to pay attention. Manipulate the clutch and gears with skill and caution, and you're rewarded with an unrivaled motoring experience. Acceleration is simply phenomenal, provided that you stay in each gear for a suitable span of time, and avoid letting the rear-mounted engine over-rev. (I might leave the over-revving part out) No one could ask for a sweeter gearshift lever; one that traverses through five speeds by way of long, visceral flicks of the wrist. The stiff clutch demands a strong foot, but engages gracefully. Everybody knows that handling is Porsche's prime talent, but you must experience it to believe. Steering doesn't require a lot of effort, but you feel every last imperfection from the pavement in the steering wheel, never losing intimate kinship with the road. On the highway, a 911 is surprisingly comfortable. The car tries to ride right over the top of bumps, to maintain the best possible grip. Back support couldn't be better, in a superlative driving position. Seats feel molded to your body; the point of perfection between stiffness and softness.