Petevb

I'm potentially interested in getting a "buyback" car, and I suspect I'm not the only one. There doesn't seem to be any clarity yet, but perhaps someone has some insight?

What is clear is that quite a few owners will opt to choose either 2015s or different cars entirely rather than their 2014 GT3s, quite understandably. This will put a number engine swap cars out there, some "new" others used. Anyone buying one unfortunately won't be able to choose euro delivery or a spec, and they won't be getting an entirely "fresh" car, but they are still awesome machines one hopes will find good homes.

I'm personally getting interested in a lightly used stripper, assuming a reasonable price, and I'm wondering what they'll go for and how to go about finding one. My local dealer's pure speculation was that PCNA would likely put them up for auction directly to dealers, letting them bid against each-other and then make whatever they can on the cars. That would certainly seem to work, though who knows what it would do to existing car values, etc. Or perhaps they will come up with something more structured?

In any case I'm keeping an interested eye on it. Personally I suspect a nearly new car with a 100k track warranty might make for enough of a deal in spite of the transmission, though we'll see...

sgroer

Allans turned his lightly optioned GT3 in 10 days ago. He may have some insight. He got the car at Hennessy in ATL.

SamFromTX

I suspect those cars will be last on Porsche's list to replace their engines, then they'll show up somewhere later at dealerships after Porsche sells them at auction. Once the fixed cars are out and the GT3's reputation builds up (provided nothing else happens), I personally do not think the buy backs will be "cheap", not for customers anyway.
I don't know if the manufacturer can sell a "lemon" without fixing it first.

Petevb

I suspect Porsche will replace all the motors fairly rapidly once they get going- you'd think that the guys flying in from Germany to oversee things will want to go home at some point, and with any decent completion rate they will chew through cars quickly. I'd imagine them going geographically- they will have a limited number of guys and they probably don't want them running back and forth constantly, so get a team to an area, knock out ~4 cars per day (with help) until the area's done then move on. With four teams you'd be done with the US in ~3 weeks assuming you've got motors. Total speculation on my part of course, I have no idea what they are planning.

Once fixed, selling a used and repaired car at prices you could order a brand new custom one for seems tricky, for all the reasons that people turning down their allocations are noting. It's all supply and demand, of course, but the later and greater RS will be grabbing headlines, these cars may have a holdover stigma from the fires, 2015s will be right around the corner... We'll see.

Dr.Bill

Of course, by that time, you won't be able to order any GT3 any longer. Supply will always be low. And, unless something changes, demand will exceed supply.

I don't see the 'buyback' 2014's going for much less than MSRP. The ones that have never been titled are still new, replacement engine or not. The others are barely used and will have engines with zero miles - almost as good as new. Some will even have window tint, clear bra, custom radar detectors, etc.

I may be wrong, but I think any bargain hunters will be sadly disappointed. Only time will tell. (because Porsche isn't telling us anything!)

jcastle

In many states, you may not even know if engine was swapped. Some states don't require Dealers to disclose repairs that are less than 20% of vehicles value.

0Q991

That might be true, but the engine IIRC is $50k+, so the 20% threshold is easily surpassed...

996FLT6

Do so "buyback cars" go to some country with some chunk change like China or they are stuck at the country of origin? Mike

Hothonda

WA State.... any repair costs exceeding 5% of MSRP must be disclosed by law on new non titled cars to potential buyer.

allans

My guess is that many of the cars, returned thru dealers, are already resold to new buyers who have not gone thru this "time warp" and are willing to wait just a few weeks, rather than the months many here have. Allan

tasman

Cayman turned out nice Jason.

Mike in CA

Someone told me that the first time a lemomized car is sold at auction the lemon designation is on the title, but that for any subsequent auction or sale that info no longer needs to be disclosed and the title is effectively laundered. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

SamFromTX

When this question was posed earlier, I texted my salesperson and he responded "on subsequent resale, the lemon designation may not persist but it will always show on the Carfax report".

0Q991

For a car at port, with engine swap prior to delivery, will the engine swap show up on Carfax?

SamFromTX

Very good question. Carfax gets their data from insurance carriers, DMV and dealership repairs/warranty work. When I recently pulled a report on my Ferrari (selling next Saturday), it showed inspections and some (not all) services. Whether a pre-delivery job is reportable or not, I don't know. Curious as to what the answer is.