tomc_mets

Howdy…I am starting to get an itch for a "beater" Porsche for DD duties to complement my GR 997.2 S, which is my weekend fun car, road trip car, go to PCA events car, etc. The DD Porsche would be something I can commute in, park at Walmart or the parking lot at work and not worry about (OK, worry less!) about door dings, hail storms, etc.

In an ideal world, my 996 unicorn will be a speed yellow, beige interior coupe with Tiptronic transmission. As I am starting to do research on 996's on Cars.com, AutoTrader, CarFax, etc. I am noticing 911's that are ca. dozen or so years old with half a dozen or so owners.

My question, is there a red flag with "too many" owners? One half of me thinks, maybe this car is a lemon, so maybe they're selling it on to be someone else's problem. Alternatively, it could be a reasonably priced, sweet car that lots of people want. Any thoughts or advice would be most welcome….T

5CHN3LL

I'm the fifth owner of mine...

The 996 - and 911's in general - can turn over a lot. Although I use mine as a daily driver, many people are reluctant to use "exotic" cars as such. While lots of Rennlisters successfully use the back seat with kids, for others it's just not realistic to use as a people hauler - I think some of the people who convince themselves that the car is truly practical change their minds after a few airport runs and trips to Home Depot. For many, the 911 is an "I've always wanted one" car - and once they've had it for a while, it's time to sell it and get the next "I've always wanted" car.

Although you should always be wary when buying a used car, it doesn't surprise me that 996's change hands more often than other cars...there are more than a few Groovezillas out there.

jetson8859

Run a Carfax if you haven't already. I'm the 6th owner of my 99 with 74k miles. When I did the carfax I did a search on addresses and 2 "owners" were title pawn places. Apparently a couple people probably bought and couldn't afford the maintenance so they title pawned the car. During those periods, which were a little over 2 yrs the car had 1,100 miles put on it.

PPI is a good course as it should give you the maintenance and more importantly deferred maintenance that might be needed, this will give you your real purchase price.

Ryan...

If the PPI comes out clean I wouldn't worry about the # of owners.

One of the best BMWs I owned had 5 prior owners and no receipts for prior work. One of the worst was a 2 owner car with a packet full of receipts.

alpine003

Imo, these are luxury or toy cars for some and usually a 3rd, 4th car in someone's fleet. As such it can exchange hands quite a bit throughout years. And because of that, I wouldn't worry about the number of owners.

OTOH, if previous owners treated these cars as disposable commodities and weren't truly enthusiasts of the marque, many things could've been neglected or abused from one owner to another.

Rubik

I don't mind 4 or 5 previous owners but I am very weary of very short ownerships. If someone had the car for 3 months, you can bet your last Dollar that he beat the **** out of the car during that time and got rid of it before it exploded.

5CHN3LL

Maybe for other makes/models, but for a 996?

More like: Happily oblivious guy buys 996 on a whim, is delighted, goes online to learn more about it, finds RL, panics about IMS and/or 92 other IPPMOCFoORTFOs*, sells the car to some happily oblivious guy.

*Internet-Proven Potential Mode of Catastrophic Failure or Other Reason To Freak Out


Caveat: I would not buy an Integra, Civic, or CRX with 5 different owners (especially if any one of them was under age 50).

fpb111

Why would it matter? Good PPI, solid test drive = go for it.
How many owners would keep you from buying a 904 or 906? 10? 20? Some of them changed owners from race to race. Or even a 1973 911S? 10-15?

Ryan...

That's a very good point. Short ownership would scare me more than multiple owners of varying lengths.

williamr91

According to carfax, my lovely 996 has had over 8 owners I forget the actual number, but looking at the records, both hard records and carfax the car spent its first 6 or so years (4 or 5 "owners") in the same city (states where title is registered) and serviced at the same dealer. Owner 5 or 6, serviced at the org delivery dealer and another one, also local. My assumption is, the original owner switched which one of his corporations had it, or kids, maybe for tax purposes. Again that is just my assumption, the car is in great condition (hold for rock chips...mostly from when I'm driving), no over revs, nicely modded, etc. I'm happy, doesn't mean a thing to me about the number of POs.

c4racer

I bought mine from the second owner. First owner was a woman who had it over ten years. That is for sure the exception. I would not worry about 4-5 owners on a 12+ year old car as long as it checks out as solid.

My cherry and minty E39 M5 had 3-4 owners before me. I have owned it three years and logged about half of the 86k Miles the car has now. And it has been a joy to own and drive and not caused my any grief beyond the expected maintenance of a car like that. Which is in line with a 911 btw.

Anyway don't let that one thing turn you away.
Accident history or lack of service records is what you have to worry about more IMO.

HolmaN

Everytime a new person buys the car, he/she will put lots of offert into making everything right, proper and clean. Keep that in mind. Many owners might not always be a bad thing apart from on the paper.

Joe Ricard

My take on receipts is: Yep I spent a boat load of money on the car and finally have had enough. So here is your starter kit binder to continue the journey to the bottom of your wallet.

tomc_mets

Dear All…I thank you very much for the feed back. A lot of different takes and angles on this that I had not considered. The 996 form here on RL has been a great source of information and inspiration to me in my unicorn hunt. Again, thank you…T

FRUNKenstein

There, FIFY.

And, none taken.