944kid

Wow! I was so amazed when my mother said she would let me look for a porsche. I didn't even have to argue... she said she was worried about me getting a car I didn't want and going out and wrecking it.

There is a catch, I've got to do some homework on the car I plan to get
( a 1984 944 )
Here's some of what she wants:
1)prices on parts & labour(labor)
2)prices from 5 local mechanics to have a pre-purchase inspection(not really relavent here...but I thought you all should know)
3)where I can get parts
4)local porsche clubs+ their fees( I'm going to join here as soon as I get a car)
5)Insurance
6)Tow price to a mechanic and back
7)last thing I have to do is get a carfax history report

EDIT- I knew I would forget stuff: can you tell me what went wrong on your car, and how much you paid. I've looked throught some of the archives, but I look where I post more often.

I would really appreciate it if anyone here can help me with one or more of these. BTW- I will search all of these myself, but I know you guys have a lot to say, more than say, an online review-etc.

I hope you have fun with this one! ---944kid

post script ~ If I forgot anything, I'll post more later, forgive me, I had to get up to go to work(for once) I'm sooooo tired> Its only 9 o'clock!

apierce918

1) deoends on what parts, some arent too bad, some will make your jaw drop, can see when i refer you to a few websites in a second...
3) www.pelicanparts.com
- www.paragon-prodects.com
- www.vertexauto.com
- www.944online.com
- www.rennbay.com
- www.speedforceracing.com

- these are just some, there are many places.
5) if it is under your parents name, cheap.

Clint's 944

Here's some of what she wants:
1)prices on parts & labour(labor)
Parts can be cheap or expensive, it's all relative! Labor..well... expect anywhere from $60 -$120 per hour. Save some money and do alot of the work yourself. It's no that hard and Rennlist can walk you through almost anything!


2)prices from 5 local mechanics to have a pre-purchase inspection
Can't help you there...


3)where I can get parts
Alot of places...you can check the sponsors page.


4)local porsche clubs+ their fees
PCA is $50. Rennlist is $18


5)Insurance
Put it under your parents!


6)Tow price to a mechanic and back
Get AAA

7)last thing I have to do is get a carfax history report
Well....what are you waiting for!


Good luck!

njwilser

If you are in the Hudson Valley, I suggest you start cutting George B's lawn. Probably his advice alone will be worth the effort. Never know, he may befriend you and give you the family discount on used parts.
MW

Mighty Shilling

for PPI's and tech work, take it to someone who knows the cars well...

you'll thank us later.

mavfan

would u like my 85.5 944? new red paintjob!

Serge944

Only get a 944 if you'll have another form of transportation to use as a back-up.

These cars can be very reliable, my first 944 was excellent! However, there is NOTHING worse than wrenching on your car into the middle of the night, knowing you can't go to sleep because you have to drive it to work tomorrow. This is true of a lot of old cars.

In a nutshell, unless youre mechanically inclined, or your parents have a lot of money and are willing to spend it, stay clear of the 944. There are much better cars for teenagers out there.

faithless

If you dont plan to do 99% of the jobs yourself, dont enter 944 world. The labor is very high and the work required for jobs is just the same. Rich people can afford to have their car serviced, poor people can afford to do it all themselves. Despite how much you lust for the 944, it WILL be a love/hate relationship. As Sergey said, working on your car into the night blows. I've worked till 3-5am these last few nights just to get my car out of the garage and into the autobody shop before school starts. Luckily I can share a minivan with my sister, so it is no big deal to have the car out of service in the garage for a little while. During school, however, I'm going to really learn to stop dilly-dallying and get my jobs done faster.

Hands down 951's are the best way to get performance at the cost of maintenance. 944's unfortunately are pretty similar in their maintenance needs, and if you aren't keen on wrenching, be it you dont know how or you are wise enough to HATE it already... lol, you can probably find some newer but more expensive cars that will come pretty close to a 944. For me, I needed to buy a car that would satisfy performance and looks and still be within a budget. I'm natural to mechanical **** and problem solving, so it will work out in the end. I'm glad I finally got mine.

No matter how tired you are and pissed off at all those rusted bolts, when you feel how easily 944's can triple the posted limit in a backroad corner at 5am when you finished the job, it all starts to make sense.

Mighty Shilling

true... to an extent. I'm a college student, car is my only form of transport. Parents don't like to pay $90.00 an hour labor, so I do my work... and my car really hasn't crapped out much lately, and the current gas leak is the first thing in 5 months to go wrong...seriously.

Zporsche944

My insurence is 500 dollars under my parent ( they have a poor record too) and 2400 under my own my parents wont let me have it under theres. Which makes me think am I the only one on this site under 20 who's dad will only buy american cars?? jw I see a bunch of sig's saying "951 --- dads" or "87 silver N/A moms"
My insurence is under albertian law if I get one speeding ticket though my insurence company can charge me the normal HIGH rates somthin like 5000 dollars a year I better by a radar cuz I have a lead foot lol.

Techno Duck

A friend of my father went through the whole insurance deal. His son wanted a new car, he bought it for him, but the insurance was pretty high. He kept the insurance under his name (the father). The son drove the car like this for a number of months. The insurance company had no idea the son was driving the car. The son gets into an accident, insurance company finds out who was actually doing the driving. They backcharged the father the amount of money it would have cost him to have the son under the insurance policy for as long as the car was insured and when he finished paying...dropped the entire insurance policy on them. If you plan on going through your parents insurance plan, make sure you do it the right way!

I recommend getting your own insurance plan, yes it will be expensive. But thats the price to pay for freedom with an automobile. I worked all through highschool and college to buy my first car and pay the insurance. Getting your own plan now teaches you a bit about the value of money (so you will be much more wise than most kids your age). Build up a good driving record now and you will see your rates drop significantly as you get older. Take a few driver saftey courses to get a further discount on your insurance.

My father did exactly the same as the above story for my first year of driving. It was risky move, that i dont think either of us knew the consequences of. I stayed accident and ticket free (knock on wood) and have been driving two years under my own insurance. I pay a similar rate, $2300 for the year in my '87 N/A 944. I sometimes wish i had gotten the 944 Turbo instead, but the insurance was significantly more (i dont know exactly what it was...but my father told me "forget about it" when he checked).

As for buying this car...if you are fairly mechanically adept and dont mind doing the work yourself, buy a set of tools and do your own work. Like others have said, you will save a ton of money and will have the pride of your work. You have a vast amount of knowledge to back you up with these cars. If you cant figure something out, between Rennlist, the Pelican Parts fourms and Clarks-Garage you will find an answer and solution!

Serge944

You missed my point. Owning a 944 requires an appreciation for wrenching. It can be very fun and relaxing, but as soon as you're pressed for time, it turns into "homework."

Maybe it's just me, but when I have to wrench, regardless of whatever else is going on, things really turn sour.

MPD47

Parts prices are more expensive than most other cars on the market to be honest. I dont want to drive you away, but if you're set on a sporty german car you may want to look into e30's... just a suggestion.
I highly recommened Paragon for your general wear and tear items, as you arent buying a turbo I'd recommened staying away from the higher end speed shops... hell if you do buy a turbo... stay away, you'll spend to much money
State farm told me it didnt matter if it was a turbo or an NA, it would cost me the same, I think the last yearly I paid was around $1500 (but I'm listed as the primary under my fathers name)
If you dont own a truck/trailer, get AAA Gold, ASAP
Carfax only goes so far, get a good PPI. Maybe have a rennlister who knows 944's come take a look at it with you.

tifosiman

To echo what Mike said above, carfax is a nice thing to run, but, it won't reveal how the car was maintained and also if there were any accidents that did not envoke a police report or insurance claim. If someone stuffed it into a ditch hard, had bubba pull them out with his pick-um-up truck, then paid out of their own pocket to repair it, there will be nothing in carfax.

And to agree with a few others in this thread, these are old cars. And expensive to fix when something goes wrong, even if you are a mechanic savant and are just buying the parts. I would not have wanted to own one of these cars as my only form of transportation when I was young and in school. It would have been too much hassle and too much of a distraction from the real task at hand-----getting an education and growing up.

Just my two cents, which, with the recent drop in value is really more like 1.2 cents. Good luck.

Mighty Shilling

The wierd thing, Porsche parts if you go aftermarket are cheaper than subaru parts, and if you go factory are MUCH CHEAPER than Lexus... bizzare...