I have my sights set on a 05-07 997, I have done the research, know what I want to pay, the options I want etc. where I live you don't see many 997 for sale that are within driving distance, my question is has anyone purchased from long distance, without looking and driving the vehicle and just relying on pictures, carfax etc.
I know a ppi is vital but can you get that done from thousand miles away?

Thank you

Oscar

 

A few months ago I purchased a GT3 located in Cailifornia. I relied on a PPI and many phone calls to the seller. It worked out great. Trust your instincts.

 

how to do you put together a ppi from out of state? just call indy porsche mechanic and have him go do it at a cost?

 

I purchased a car sight unseen from Minnesota and I live in Philly. I saw the car on a website and contacted a few names listed in the local Porsche Club. Gotta technical guy there, talked to him and he both recommended a Porsche Indy who did per-purchase inspections (they could dump the computer and check for overrevs). He then went over to the dealer saw and drove the car for me. The dealer drove the car to and from the PPI shop.

I sent him a case of Oranges for his trouble.

If you are not in the Porsche club, post here for a recommendation for a PPI place. Any dealer will cooperate and deliver the car to a PPI shop. My dealer was very happy to do it and actually volunteered to deliver and pick it up.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

 

always get a porsche cpo inspection, get all records from service dept, get carfax.

 

thank you for the insight guys

 

I purchased my first Porsche a little over a month ago. I was living overseas in Australia at the time and found the car at a Porsche dealer in Monterey California. My family was in the process of moving back to Illinois. Obviously bought the car sight unseen, relied solely on pics and dealer walking me around the car while in the phone. Being a Porsche dealer, they did a 200 point inspection and I had them perform a DME report and change the serpentine belt. They had already measured the tire tread and the brake pad life, replaced two leaking shocks. It was nerve wracking trying to sync phone conversations and paperwork from half a world away, a few times I thought about walking away, but I really liked the color combo and the price was right. The car just had come off of CPO this past March and had a clean car fax, so,I rolled the dice. Well, I moved, and took delivery of the car, the dealer arranged encloses shipping from Cali (my expense), on June 15. Talk about a birthday gift! The car had 60k miles on it so it was no garage queen, but that was ok with me. The car presented just as they had described, the interior stills looks like it has 10k miles on it, not 60k. I decided against having the car CPO'd again, to the tune of $4,000. Also declined an extended Porsche factory backed warranty, different from CPO, which was on offer for $12,000. I received good advice from the Rennlisters on this forum throughout the whole process, and might not have pursued the car at all without their knowledge. I have some sports cars in the past, M3, S2000, 300zx twin turbo, but nothing has been as addictive as driving the 911. Like others have said about their 911's, I just want to keep making up excuses to drive the car. Good luck with the search!
Cheers, David

 

David the car is just beautiful, glad it turned out to be what you were looking for, a couple of questions if you dont mind, were you able to get a lower price as to what they were originally asking for?
I have done a lot of reading regarding warranties, a lot of people like fidelity and easy care, what was your experience with buying a warranty?
I am going to be on a similar boat
2006 997 with about 30-40k miles, and thinking about a warranty

Thank you

 

I just went through the same thing and have purchased cars long distance in the past. Yes, you can get a PPI through a local dealer. 2006's are susceptible to IMS bearing failures. A 2006 should have the larger bearing so from what I've read failures are extremely low. The downside is the retrofit is much more complex and expensive than previous years. I've seen oil filter slices recommended for diagnosis.

The other major concern would be bore scoring. There's a ton of info on this. I've had a hard time nailing down failure rates but it seems to be roughly 2-10% based on surveys. The Carrera S was more susceptible to scoring. Soot on the left(I think) exhaust pipe is indicative of scoring but not conclusive. Scoping through the spark plug hole is one way to see if scoring is present and does not indicate severity. I've read some people say scoping is invasive and doesn't guarantee diagnosis.

Ultimately an engine rebuild/replacement will cost $20k so you need to be comfortable taking the risk.

 

Hi rolexamerica, thank you for the kind words. I am sure there are many Rennlisters who can speak about warranties better than I can. I ended up not buying a warranty at all. Hedging my bets that something catastrophic will not occur with the car. It did come with a 60 day, 3000 mile warranty from the dealer. I also purposely stretched my budget to accommodate a 2009 911 thinking the DFI engine would be more reliable. The fact that it is an S with Atlas gray over black and Terracotta leather kept me going when the logistics got a little overwhelming. As far as negotiating, the car was below $50k, considering the spec of the car (original sticker was $107k) I figured I was getting a good deal. At the time CPO cars with less options were going for high $50k's. Hope this helps you. I also plan to keep this car for a long time, so I made sure this car was exactly what I wanted, and just got lucky I guess. It's early days still, I am driving it and banking the warranty money until the day comes when I need it.
Cheers, David

 

IMO, there is always room in the asking price. How much depends on the availability and desirability of the particular model. When I bought my ex-GT3 in 2005, the asking price was about $4k less than like models I had been looking at. I bought it at $4k below that. My current car was priced at $90k. I paid $80k.

No harm in negotiating in good faith.

 

I bought my cpo Porsche from Florida and live in Washington. Came with new brake pads 30k service done on 20k mile car. Had it ppi from local Porsche dealership and get it serviced there. Perfect car couldn't be happier. One year ownership, I say buy cpo they take car of everything but make sure it is a good dealership.

 

Post the dealership and car on here on someone may go test drive it and take pics. I have done that for several listers without any issues. The dealer should know you are having someone test drive the car for you. If I have time I have no issues taking an hour to go drive a different 911.
Having someone that drives one everyday and has no vested interest in whether you buy it or not take it for a drive and give you their personal opinion is better than anything you are going to hear from the dealer himself.

 

Well my experience was a little different. I saw 50 pics, talked to the small dealer who had it, ordered a PPI with a local Porsche dealership and got back a written report - soup to nuts. Then came the hard part. My credit union issued a check and the car was paid for but still in Detroit and me in NJ. Then a bad situation. The dealer I trusted with arranging his car transport. That went badly when the "driver of the transport company got very indignant on the phone and basically said he would not bring the car back. He couldn't speak English well and was difficult to understand. So I arranged my own trucker to pick up the car. However it was a week or more before I got my car delivered. It was very nerve racking and I would not do it again that way. I feared my car was paid for and possibly gone and I would be filing a police report with a loan for $52K and no car. But the car is a gem and I did get it for a good price.