What you are describing sounds like a situation where the buyer is taking dealer financing and the dealer is waiting for the finance contract to be funded. At that point they are paid and will release the title. You are correct that in a private party purchase, the buyer is going to want to receive the title at the time the cash is handed over. That will likely determine what form the payment is in. Most dealers will release a car but not the title unless the cashiers check has cleared/wire is received/contract is funded.

 

Bought my 2009 S new in early 2010 from Porsche dealer in New Hampshire. Obviously being new I didn't expect any issues and didn't have any

 

What he said.

Have had very good dealings with everyone I've purchased from. In fact three sellers actually let me use their plates to drive home and one was a cop! Have the plates hung up the garage to commemorate the buys!

 

Bought a 911 in ca, shipped to va
Made sure the car fax was clean
Verified maint records
Verified vin n porsche factory options
Title had lien...called lien holder of the bank n got a poc to make sure the process went as described
Requeated seller drivers photo
Lookd up the seller on the internet-google search, linkedin indicated a person with a high income occupation
Exchangd many emails n texts with seller.
Ppi $250,spoke with ppi mechanic, he told me i was buying a good 911
Wired money
Seller paid off lien immediately, and physical retrieved the title from bank (local bank) poc and maild it off the same day with trackng.

Nightmare with shipping, cancellations, no shows, delays,
Open shipping, car arrive covered with salt fr.snow storm, oil straks from car shipped on top of my car
Title and tax paid at my dmv

Advice: do at least what i did...except find a shipper through word of mouth and dont use uship bc ull save money and avoid shady truckng companies

 

This + 1000. When buying from a dealer you have no idea of what the car endured over its life. The Holy grail is to find a one owner car, serviced by Porsche at a mansion, laden with other Pcars or high end exotics. The next level is to find a Pcar at a dealer ship with CPO.

At the end of the day you and the seller have to have the warm fuzzies. My last transaction, the seller had problems with how the car was going to be paid for. I did some internet Googling...I knew their business, street address etc. Totally white collar type of people. I brought a brick of cash to be counted at my bank in full view of the cameras. They were happy and so was I.

With that said, I would never purchase any high dollar auto without a a PPI from a respected shop and confirmed funds.

 

Bought cars in and out of state. My favorite story was a 996 Targa that I bought on eBay. I had been looking for a large luxury sedan and following a Fla. seller who would list 4 or 5 cars. His feedback and descriptions of the cars was always spot on. One day a beautiful Targa showed up on his list. I called and negotiated a fair price providing the car passed a PPI at Champion Porsche.The seller picked me up at airport. We drove to the dealer and I signed off on the car. The car was still under warranty and needed no work. Flew down with my daughter saw PSU beat FSU in a triple overtime Orange Bowl and drove the car back home to Philly.
P.S. 2500 miles later I needed a new clutch. Oh well nothing's perfect. Drove that Targa for 50k miles before upgrading to my current car.

 

Thanks Bruce, I'll definitely ping you if I need any help! Thanks!
Miguel

I see a trend with fellow Rennlisters and/or PCA members going out of their way to help out. That's great to hear. I'll hit you up if I need help, Thanks!


Not familiar with a CLUE report so I'll look into it. The refundable deposit is an excellent idea as well!

The cop letting you use his plates, that's gold!


Great stories from everyone that has contributed. Keep 'em coming. Thanks ya'll!

 

Thanks...I'm looking forward to staring at mine while it's parked in my driveway - might even have to clear out our small garage to park her in there for more privacy.

 

No, the dealer I purchased from did all the work, I just had to pay.

 

Did it twice. I'm in the Western part of SC and bought my RUF modded 997 in Pittsburgh and my wife's 997 in Detroit.

Becasuse the RUF car is supercharged, I did a ridiculously thorough PPI on it, which I combined with a major service. I went into the deal with the seller and I already agreeing on a price but with the caveat that if the PPI reveled anything that needed repair, we would adjust accordingly.

I called a couple of the local dealerships to set this up and since I like to work on my own cars, actually selected the one that said I could work on and off with the tech to learn the car and see what they were doing first hand. The PPI & Service took 2 days where they gave me a vacant salesperson's desk so I setup my laptop and went in and out of the shop while it was taking place. We did the major stuff first Since it was an '05, my first concern was the IMS so I paid to have the transmission pulled and the bearing inspected. Had it been the small serviceable one, it would have been replaced with the LNE version and the current owner agreed to split the cost of that with me since it would have made the car easier to sell had I not been the one to buy it. Turned out it was the larger one so nothing there but a new RMS on reassembly. Afterhan we did a compression test. Had them install new plugs and coil packs since the labor to do a compression test essentially included that so it was just parts. Once that was good, we moved on to a leakdown test. t was good too, so at this point, I knew I'd be buying the car so we continued with the rest of the service items, which were on my nickel - changed the oil & filter, changed the transmission oil, renewed the cabin air filter, and a bunch of other little stuff like that. I bought a round trip ticket when I flew in which meant is things didn't go well, I'd use the return the next day and if they did, I'd just abandon the return and drive home with a 1 night stay along the way. Everything worked out and I got a nice introduction to the car at the same time.

For my wife's, it wasn't nearly as involved. It's also an '05, but the owner had already investigated replacing the IMS and hers also has the larger bearing so I didn't have to do the pull the trans part. I had already pulled the DME info with my Durametric before taking the car in for a PPI. Her car had PCCBs so I knew I needed the tech to look at those very carefully and we did a couple other things to get it ready. PPI and light service on that one only took about 6 hours split over 2 days so I jumped in and drove it home with a 1 night stay as well.

For my car, we did the transaction and title transfer at the local AAA office since I'm a AAA member. For my wife's we did it at the dealer where I had the PPI and service work done.

As long as the seller is a good guy, and you get things coordinated and setup in advance, buying out of state is not really a big deal. I also have used Interstate for enclosed transport and they are great so if it's too far to drive it home, I'd recommend them.

I added photos of what they looked like when they came home - my silver one is shown with my 914 and the black one is my wife's that's now pink pearl. Current photos are in the Shutterfly gallery links in my signature.

Good luck with your search.

 

A few years ago I started searching my three local dealers for a used CPO, low mileage, 6 speed, coupe S in a light color. That was my wish list. After a few months of nothing showing up like that at my dealers I decided to check out the Porsche website and did a search on the used inventory. A car shows up about 1500 miles away. (NY me-- Fla dealer). A 5,000 mile CPO, Cream wht, 6 speed C2S. Perfect. Made calls to the dealer for a few days , asking questions. Had a very patient salesman. Also I wanted to trade a 2010 E550 MB. A difficult job by phone you d think. So we made an agreement on prices and offered our word on the vehicles condition. I took off for a 24 hour straight drive thru to the dealer. My wife came and thought I was nuts. But I was on a mission. Got at dealer (right after getting a hotel room set as pressured by wife, LOL). Car was sitting inside all detailed up for my inspection. It was flawless! Couldn t tell it from a new one. They took my car and I took the 911 for a ride. It was indeed like a new car. Came back to dealer a little more relaxed as everything went well at this point. I had , by phone, put a $500 credit card hold on the car before I left and had a receipt faxed to me that it was totally refundable if I didn t want to car. Sat down with salesman to do the paperwork and found they didn t even charge my credit card the depo.. They said they just wanted to see if I was a serious buyer. Took the car that day and drove it around Fla a few days and then back to upstate NY. It was Feb and that always means a potential for snow. Thankfully it was clear driving those few days. It was a good experience to get to drive it that long to bond, LOL. They gave me temp tags and I went to DMV in NY. Title came in the mail. They paid taxes to my state.
997.2, 2009, C2S, 5K miles, CPO warranty. No PPI. No issues.
20K now and had one or two warranty items fixed. I do all my own service.

Here it is at dealer






Day one in Fla



NY state thruway/ almost home.




Home sweet home.



as she looks today..

 

Just remembered the story where the seller let me take the car without paying in full, owed him around $25k. Bought 2011 audi S4 as a company car so I was financing. Paperwork wasn't finalized in time and when I called him he said don't worry about it, fly down and pick up the car. He is on the 991 GT3 forum, sgroer, great guy. He restored my faith in mankind.

Couldn't make that story up.

 

In September 2015 I was ready to order my 8th Corvette but I knew I was not excited enough. A friend emailed me about a Black 2005 911 convertible with tan interior and 25k miles. It sounded nice even though I had never though about owning a 911 before. I called the guy and he said he had to talk to his wife..I drove a few 911's for sale locally and liked them. I went online to check comparables for pricing and saw

2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet
Exterior: Slate Grey
Interior: Tan
Miles: 27,053
6 Speed Manual Transmission
“PASM” electronic damper control
(PSM) Porsche Stability Management
Heated and power seats
Sport steering wheel
Xenon lighting system
19? Sport Design Wheels
Bose sound package

on Ebay with 2 days left for the auction.I kept looking at the ad and the photo and really liked that car. The Detroit guy said his wife wouldn't let him sell and I said that's ok; there is one I like better in New York.
I called the ebay seller and he said he would sell it as is for the reserve price if it didnt sell on Ebay. The car had no records and was being sold by a Porsche racing shop that took it in on trade. The carfax report showed it was from Virginia and the owner put on about 5000 miles every 2 years; then it was traded in to a dealer.
I waited for the ebay auction to end, called him 5 minutes after the auction ended, and had him take it to a nearby Porsche dealer for a PPI. It checked out perfectly so I flew to New York with a big check, drove it around the block, bought it , and drove home to Detroit. I took my Michigan plate off my car for the ride home and paid sales tax when I registered it in Michigan. I recommend the experience as a great way to bond with your next car

 

Purchased my last 4 cars out of state, here's how they went down. I live in Wisconsin.

1. 2006, found the exact Dodge Viper I was looking for (2004 with under 2000 miles) out in Maryland. Flew out there on a plane, looked it over, drove it, wrote a check and had it shipped home. Only regret was not driving it home.

2. 2011 335 xdrive. A big BMW dealer in Illinois was having a pretty big sale on their 328 xdrive loaners, so me and the wife drove down to buy one. I couldn't resist test driving the 335 and it was soooo much faster. Had to have it. Negotiated a sweet deal and took it home.

3. 2011 X5 50i msport. Was looking for a very specific car and it had to be CPO. Found it in Georgia, bought a one way ticket, flew down and drove it home.

4. 2009 c4s cab. Was looking for a 2009 4s cab PDK CPO. Found one in CT on Porsche's CPO website, called dealer, made offer, was rejected. I told him I was firm, he called back 2 days later and said he would do it. Bought a one way ticket for me and my pops, flew out to CT, looked at the car and drove it back to Wisconsin. What a blast.

Part of the fun for me is finding the car and getting the deal. I'm willing to go pretty much anywhere to get it.

 

I'm about to add to the thread hopefully!!!

My wife is driving me one state away this Friday to pick up my first 911!!

As long as the PPI at the dealer goes well I will be bringing home a new to me 2010 Carrera S.