insite

mine's a '99. i've had to do some wear & tear items, but over all, the car has been great. i have a lot of boxster friends in town, most w/ 986 cars (many w/ 2.5L). out of all of the people i know & track with, only one has blown a motor. this occured at 150,000 miles and happened at a race track (road atlanta).

6mil928

Anyone have any advice on where to buy a Boxster? There seems to be a lot on ebay but I got hosed on my 928 on ebay so I'm leary of that avenue. Victory motorcars down in houston Tx seems to sell a lot of nice Porsches but I haven't seen to many Boxsters come through there.

insite

i wouldn't bother with a dealership. you're still going to want a PPI, so any dealership other than Porsche won't save you a dime (plus you pay taxes). just look in auto trader or such. find a car you like for a price you want to pay. have the owner meet you at a PCar dealership & pay the $250 or so for the PPI. worth every penny.

Macster

one you like. And this includes one that is in acceptable condition.

My advice is to get a book or two on buying/selling new/used cars. Read/study to learn as much as you can about the process, pitfalls. Look at the selling chapters too to get a prospective from the seller's point of view.

Learn as much as you can about the Boxster. Buying one or more current issues of various Porsche specific magazines that are running current buyers guides articles is a good place to start. Or order the most recent back issue with a buyers guide. Another suggestion is to order a back issue that contains a review of the model style/year you are looking for. Some UK published Porsche car mags have run articles on long term Boxsters. These long term articles can really give you some good info about the model.

Excellence, and 911 & Porsche World (a UK published independent Porsche car mag) are recommended.

What you want to do is learn all you can so you when you look at a Boxster you can determine within a reasonable amount of time (in as little time as you can) the car is not worth wasting any time over, or it is worth a closer look.

Actually, you want to get the point you can do as much of this over the phone as you can -- of course by talking to the seller though this requires some expertise beyond the tire kicking level -- so you don't even waste any time arranging to look at the car you wouldn't be caught dead in had you been able to learn more about it, or the seller, before going to the trouble to arrange to look at the car in person.

What you want to do is to be able to spot a car not only worthy of your time but to the point that a PPI is worth the effort.

A PPI should be the last step in buying car, not the first. The idea is you eliminate all of the 'junk' cars yourself, finally relying on a PPI to confirm your feelings the car is as it is looks, is as it is being prepresented, and is worth going after.

At the same time you develop a market sense for the value of these cars so when you find a car you want, you can assign it a value, a dollar amount that your comfortable with.

In searching for a car you don't want to eliminate any reasonable path towards finding a car. Use the newspaper ads, Craigslist, other web sites that offer used Boxsters for sale: the classified ads here, www.autotrader.com, www.kbb.com, www.edmunds.com, www.kbb.com, etc. Use Google or some other search engine to turn up as many sites as you can stand.

Visit web sites of Porsche dealers to see what cars they have available. Also, don't be afraid of picking up a newspaper from another major metro area that is within reasonable driving/flying distance. (Even if not, it can provide some good info on the market of the car.)

A good used car is where you find it. Ideally, and this is doable provided you live anywhere but a deserted island, is you want to find one close to you. And if you look long enough, you'll find one. But you want to be prepared and not be rushed.

There is always another car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

mikefocke

google the web for mikefocke and buying boxster.
It was based on lots of inputs and has gone through probably 20 revisions.

6mil928

Mike that info is AWESOME! You Should get a nobel peace prize or some other great award for all the info on your site. Thank you so much from all prospective Boxster buyers. Jason