shadow993

I have been seeing a lot of Porsche 991 lemon titles on eBay . At one point there were 3 gt3 991's. There are 5 now 991's with lemon titles on eBay.

Does anybody know the issues?

STG

2014 Porsche buy backs related to engine replacements. They in turn auctioned them back to the dealers to sell.

Michael_s

At prices close to or in some cases above MSRP. Go figure.

MJBird993

Aside from the GT3 issues as STG mentions, if someone (like Nick M. for example) has issues, serious or not, and Porsche does a buy-back for customer satisfaction, then it's typically labeled "lemon" even though it really isn't.

BMW does this a lot. A friend of mine bought a lemon 135 cab and had zero issues with it. Presumably BMW fixed the issues. Presumably the same is true for any Porsche. Well, maybe not Nick's car. That one should probably be crushed.

drcollie

Lemme tell ya how that worked out, since I'm 'the friend'. Bought that 135i Cab and it was a Lemon Buy Back under BMW's manufacturers warranty and it was $ 9K less than a new car ( $ 43K MSRP, I paid $ 34K for it) with only 4K miles on it. I had an Aston Martin as my 'big' car so I didn't want to go full hit on a new 135i and thought "What could go wrong? Its got 3 years left on the warranty? Worse that can happen is I have to drop it off and get a loaner for some work to be done on it".

The car was great. Never had the first issue with it and it only went in for a routine oil service. My wife hated the Aston Martin, it was too hard to get in and out of and with limited sight lines (very limited) she didn't like to go in it. The 135i was great for what it is - but I wanted to get a new 991S Cab so I put both cars up for sale. The Aston I did OK on, but I got killed on the 135i. No one would touch it because of the title saying it was a manufacturer's buyback. I put it on the forums (including this one), Craigslist, EBAY with no reserve and a very aggressive starting price, Auto Trader, etc. Nothing. Car Max and the Dealers wouldn't touch it. Why? I didn't know it at the time, but no bank or credit union will loan on a lemon title car. That was huge. And no one will write an extended warranty on it, either. That spooked off 90% of buyers for the car as most people can't pay cash on a car. I had an unsalable car and that I couldn't trade in, either. And it still had 2 1/2 years left on the factory warranty. Bollocks.

Finally there was a dealer in Florida that specializes in selling lemon titled cars. After trying to sell mine for 6 weeks in all the ways I knew how, I gulped and took $ 18.5K for it from him with just 9K miles on the clock (I had paid $ 34K for it just 10 months earlier). Huge hit, lesson learned. DO NOT buy an altered titled car unless you plan to keep it until it rots away.....Those GT3's are poison. Stay away unless you enjoy watching your bank account hemorrhage at resale time.

MerlinsGarage

Good info drcollie, thanks.
I would like to see what the auction price was for the lemonGT3's.

Kharz

Wow; thats interesting and scary drcollie, thanks!

todd92

A lemon GT3 is useful as a dedicated race car. You'll trash it or wreck it eventually anyway.

fastmd

That was a great bit of info. Always wondered about that when I see those deals. Thanks.

BGA23

I believe the titles on these GT3s are still clean, it is just the CarFax that says lemon. All early 991 GT3 had their engines replaces, but the lemon ones were bought back b/c owners got tired of waiting for replacement so Porsche bought them back. The cars themselves are no different from "non-lemon" GT3s.

There are a few threads in 991 GT3 section on this. Personally, I wouldn't be worried about buying one but I wouldn't pay over MSRP for one. A dealer on here had a couple for $10Kish under MSRP and they sold in a few days.

DucatiSPS

I had the chance to pick one of these up and ended up walking away from it, and getting an order in on a new one, for about the same price.

I guess it comes down to, are you willing to gamble with $140k. Everyone is saying the right things now about the cars, but 12-20 months down the line, when you are itching for that new car, do you want to be that guy who takes a 50% depreciation hit because of a technicality?

I agree with earlier posters, I think those cars will end up being poison to their new owners.

promocop

Been saying it for months

GSIRM3

I am pretty sure the GT3's that were bought back by Porsche needing an engine replacement do have a branded title.

MerlinsGarage

Possibly.^^^^Not sure about all states' laws.
While a lemon-law buy-back may not lead to a federally mandated title change (flood, thieft recovery, salvage, OD rollback etc) an AutoCheck or possiblly CarFax report will detail the event.
I live in PA and had a Viper Lemon buy-back. The car was never re-titled and sent to an R&D testing facility.
B.

drcollie

Absolutely they do - that's the very definition of one. The vehicle maker buys the car back from the customer, corrects the deficiencies, then puts it back out for sale again. That will stay with the car FOREVER. Porsche cuts a deal on them to get rid of them, the dealers snap them up and bank on the fact that the GT3's are hard to get and they'll find a sucker willing to pay close to the price for a fresh one, with promises of full factory warranty, good-as-new, etc. They will probably even finance it through Porsche Financial so to the unwary buyer, it will seem like a new car transaction and they may 'deal-down' $ 10K on negotiations to make you feel really good about the buy. If you go this route, better lease it - if they will even offer a lease on it (I wager they will not).

When you go to sell it a few years later - you will see how radioactive that car is with the branded title. You can't trade it in unless you are willing to accept well below auction wholesale and no one will finance it. Perhaps you are wealthy enough to carry the note on it for another buyer, or find someone who wants it for a track car. Anyone looking at it will want a massive discount on it and you will take a financial hit on them that will make your head spin.