JimOz

Hi guys,

been conversing with the owner of a 91 c4 at a distance. Asked whether it was australian delivered to which he responded 'as far as I know, how do i tell'.

Car is in storage as he has purchased another vehicle. He has supplied the VIN and engine number. I know in the US you can run a carfax. Is there something similar is Australia?

Without actually sighting the compliance plate how do I know if it is an Australian delivered vehicle?

Thanks

Jim

AB-Oz

G'day Jim,
In case you didn't know...
On the VIN digits 456 should be Z for Rest of World as opposed to US.
digit 10 is the year:
K = 89, L = 90, M = 91, N = 92, P = 93 ,R = 94

So from that you will confirm the build year.

As to Aussie delivery, get him to send you a pic of the ADR compliance plate - even imports have these, but it should be stamped with year of compliance. If the years match up you should be right.

How many owners has the car had, and does the current owner have a full service history? If so get him to fax you a copy of the stamp of the dealer who did the very first service, and see where it was done.

Where are you and where is the car? I'm in Canberra so if its anywhere close I could go and have a look for you.

Good luck with it.

Cheers
AB

David P

Hi Jim,

See if it has the mounts for the baby seats on the rear shelf. I have a feeling that only the Canadian and Australian cars have these, but I could be wrong.

David P

Twood

I imported my car in '06 from Hong Kong.
It has a blue metal "modification" plate fixed to the side of the front luggage area. This is fixed when the car has meet Australian Compliance.
I an surprised that some one would not know if their car was Australian delivered or had been a private import.
In what state is the car and do you have any details?- someone on Rennlist in Australia may know of the particular car.

JimOz

The car is listed on carpoint.com.au.

91 C4 coupe - venetian blue with odo showing 75,000 km's.

Well presented but what got me wondering was the lack of a rear wiper or 3rd brake light.

I believe it has aftermarket exhaust. Not sure of any of the other details apart from what is contained in the ad. Owner has provided me with the name of the repair shop where work has been performed.

Thanks Jim

Twood

I think I found the car but the ad says it is Gun Metal Grey.
I am sure that you will have a pre purchase inspection by an Porsche specialist and they will soon be able to tell if it is an Australian delivered car.
Also if you ring Porsche Australia in Melbourne-try Jason at Porsche Australia on 03 9473 0911 - he will run the VIN and advise if it is an Australian car.

JimOz

Thanks for the contact at Porsche Australia.

Turns out it is a Hng Kong delivered car. Not necessarily a bad thing - they afterall all came from the same factory. The issue is what is a fair and reasonable price for the car.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Jim

Twood

Pm sent

AB-Oz

Jim,
I paid $59k Aud for mine 2 years ago. HK import too 50k km on the clock. Make sure it has the right TSB's done, do a search on topics started by me.
Is this the car? http://carpoint.com.au/used-car/PORS...csn614086.aspx

$55k is the asking price, offer him $50k negotiate from there.

It looks in pretty good nick.

JohnMetro

If this is the car be vary wary! I paid nearly $400 for a PPI for this car, and the news was all bad. I should have turned and run after the first few miles when I noticed the odometer had not moved. When I queried the owner later, he said "oh that only stopped a few days ago!" The PPI showed 2 pages of problems, some minor, some major - eg. badly repaired crash damage. Although the car has no oil leaks, they estimated it has done well over 100K km's. They said "please buy a Porsche, but DO NOT buy this one". If you are really keen on this car, my suggestion is to make an offer that leaves enough for you to spend the extra getting repairs done!

Sal 965

Just seen the ad....

God, they are awful wheels!!!!!!

morganb

I have taken HK cars to Australia, there are some good ones but lots of bad ones. There is normally a significant difference in price (less 15-25%) for a non Aust delivered car unless it is a rare car (say 964RS or some other special type car).
When I sold my turbo in HK it had 29K KM's, I saw it for sale advertising 23K KM's. Its seems to be a common occurence in HK dealerships to reduce the KM's. Tread carefully but you can get a good deal getting a solid car at a cheaper price on some imported cars.

JohnMetro

If it's a HK car, you would still expect to see a good service history. That is what really spooks me when I see them advertised. As my wife put it, in 1990 these cars were $196,000 in Australia (enough to buy a nice house, or maybe 2 houses in a not so good suburb!) so you would think that the owner(s) would go to a bit of trouble and expense to ensure that their investment was protected. They would ensure that all servicing was carried out and done by reputable shops.. Once the car has changed hands many times, lots of required maintenance get's left for the next guy along the line, so you may end up being the one without your bathers on when the tide goes out! (ie. a catastrophic failure!). Odo's that have been tampered with and/or wound back make all my alarm bells ring.

As I said earlier, if this is the same car that I saw and had a PPI done on, then I have 2 full pages of problems (eg. front boot floorpan has worn right through, so you can see daylight - and water comes in - because car has been lowered so much that it scrapes everywhere). Look under the passenger side doorsill for some very dodgy welding from what appears to be a front end shunt. Rust is already starting to appear!!!

JimOz

Thanks JohnMetro,

I did smell something fishy about this car, particularly when the owner played dumb about the delivery status. I thought it was a HK car because of the lack of a 3rd brake light and rear wiper.

However when speaking with the mechanic who has worked on the car he stated that a top end rebuild was just completed and brakes & clutch replaced meaning that it might not be all bad.

The lack of honesty has put me off. Think I'll turn my attention to a 993, Aussie delivered 964's are way overpriced IMHO.

Regards
Jim

rotorheadcase

Dude, if you think 964's are over priced then 993 prices are almost obscene! Up to a 30% premium for a car that is arguably no better than a 964 and in some cases not as good. I love the looks of the 993 but everyone on this board will tell you that the 964 is the way to go. My 2 shekels worth.

Neil