I have been browsing for a 996 TT for some time now and stumbled across this car on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-...US_Cars_Trucks

I spoke to the owner on the phone and he is agreeable to having the sale contingent upon a PPI by a local Houston Porsche dealer with a $400 non refundable deposit. I will gladly eat $400 for peace of mind. Does anyone in the Houston area know the car or the owner before I pull the trigger?

Thanks
Joe

 

I don't know this car. But wouldn't you rather a non-salvage title car for 40? Unless you plan to go full race car, I would stay away.

 

+1...

 

salvage car for 40k ... keep it moving.

 

Pass!

 

At 40K yes run, but it is a buy now for 27K which makes it pretty interesting if the seller is telling the truth about the damage, and it has been put back together right. Get it checked out. If you plan on driving the crap out of it, might not be a bad way to go.

 

Although I don't plan to drive the crap out of it, it seems too good a deal to pass up. Reason I posted was to see if anyone has personally seen the car as the seller did the work himself at his own business. He texted me a number of pics and the body lines are good with the exception of a slight bow to the front fascia ahead of the side marker light. I am most likely going to utilize the $27k "Buy it now" and make the sale contingent upon the PPI.

Also, trust me I would much rather have a clean title car but this "seems" to be a clean car with the exception of the title. Plus it leaves me roughly $30K left over which I am a huge fan of.

 

Based on the picture not sure why the car was totaled and given a salvage title. Did one or both air bags go off? Did one or both seat belt pretensioners go off?

My 03 Turbo suffered similar damage from an impact with a mule deer: front bumper cover, passenger fender, front trunk lid, headlight, wheel (just mildly scuffed but ruined when sent to a refinisher), tire, radiator and radiator fan and related hardware, A/C condenser and related hardware, fuel vapor recovery system hardware (located in passenger fender), various plastic front/underbody/wheel liners items, paint. Total cost to repair came to over $25K.

While the car was put on a Celette Bench to check for any chassis/tub damage there was none other than the metal shelf along the front trunk tub the front passenger fender bolts to was bent down a bit but this was straightened and the passenger fender gap and fit indistinguishable from factory.

Car kept its CPO warranty in fact.

I can understand the attraction in getting a car that could otherwise cost $30K more than the $27K for this car but doing this by buying a car with a salvage title is very risky.

I'd want to be sure the alignment was spot on and the adjustments were not all used up one way or the other to attempt to try to correct for a bent tub/chassis.

Also, even if the car was repaired back to its pre-collision condition, it can still have other issues like 2nd gear pop out, leaking water pump, leaking RMS, leaking spoiler hydraulics, sick engine, slipping clutch, bad clutch accumulator/slave cylinder, leaking transmission or rear or front diff seals, and so on.

The PPI should include a thorough check out by a reputable body shop in the area that has no ties to the seller unless the PPI is quite capable of performing a full body/paint PPI as well as a mechanical one.

 

Good points and I really appreciate you listing them. I am really on the fence right now. I have had the same concerns which you listed and I may hold off and wait until the right 996 comes along. I just sold my Syclone and have been looking for a TT or another Supra, and this particular car crossed my periphery.

 

Doesn't seem like a bad deal, only problem with salvage cars are resale. Good luck!

 

Run far away as it will always be a salvage car worth very little and hard to sell.

 

Why run away? At that price he can drive it till it dies and enjoy it. My brother in law just baught a 2011 Audi S5 with a salvage title and he paid $24k for it, I told him not to buy it but he had a good point and said "im never going to sell it" lol

 

if you planing to put it on the track..why not...and willing to keep it, otherwise, not worth it....

 

If that's all you can afford that's fine. Everyone says they are going to keep a car long term most don't. I bought a Vette with a bad tittle when I was young and had to beg someone to take it off my hands lol.

 

Nothing wrong with selling for 10K less if you buy it for 10K less(I would say this delta gets smaller the longer you keep it), when you know what and where the damage was it should be easy for a shop to check it out to make sure it lines up. Hell for 27K you could drive it for 4 years and have the kidney for cars people come pick it up and not loose to much The guy who bought it new ate more than that just driving of the lot. In this case a PPI and a quick trip to a body shop could yield a fun car for cheap.