hello 996ers

what would you say are the TOP 3 things to inspect before you agree to buy the car? I will most definatly do a carfax and a PPI..what else ?

 

IMHO a carfax is decent for showing history of ownership and to make sure the miles line up. Absolutely do not count on carfax for accident history. I have inspected some 996's in particular, that have had MAJOR reconstruction that have shown up with clean carfaxes.

The PPI should catch most anything wrong with the car if the shop knows what they are doing. I would specifically want maintance records on top of that.

Edit: I couldn't say there are 3 top things to check on a 996TT. A PPI checks a couple of hundred....IMHO they all need to be checked when considering the purchase of the car. All those items that add up will give you an indicator of how the car was treated.

 

Agreed- the whole car needs to be looked over closely. Try to find someone with a paint meter.

Some of the big things I'd look at-

1. 2nd gear popout
2. Oil leaks
3. I'd remove the oil filter, cut it open, look for metal shavings, and throw a new one in.

There are other things that can go wrong with these cars- so don't stop at those items.

 

I would def get a PPI done but probably not from a shop near the owners house or a shop that he recommends. Chances are he has taken the car there before and if there are ARE known issues and the shop owner has had business from the seller he may side with the owner and hide or refrain from completely disclosing issues.
Just a thought.

 

good thread I'm interested in the feedback/answers as well...

 

+1 above
What I have been succesful with so far is to have my shop find a shop in the buying area to do the PPI. The guys have been able to develop a relationship and speak the same language. Also my guy gets to ask follow up questions based on the data.

There are so many things you want to take a look at on these cars it's more like the top 300 rather than the top 3

Good luck