So I have ventured down the path towards finding a nice 996 Twin Turbo, and can honestly say that I have never had such a hard time simply getting answers on these cars from the sellers. With the exception of one guy, the rest that I have contacted the sellers for requesting information about service history and vechicle condition have been met with deafening silence. I do not know how to take this, but have narrowed it down to a few possibilities.

1.) Owners / sellers are just waiting for someone to email or call saying they will buy with no questions asked.

2.) Their cars have no service history or are 'story' cars, and they don't want to admit it.

3.) The cars are sold (but I doubt ALL have been sold and remain listed).

4.) The sellers are just dumb.

I seriously have never had this much trouble trying to simply get information on a car. There is one in Nevada where I have been requesting better pictures of the car for over a week and still have not received them. I am beginning to think I will end up getting the first one where the owner / seller has a pulse and is smart enough to reply. Anyone else have these issues when buying their car?

 

Interesting experience. I find sellers fall into two categories - those that have meticulous records and know everything about their vehicles, and those that don't.

I bought mine from an independent dealer in northern California and didn't take their word on the history - I had a PPI done and that told the story.

Are you not getting any response? I'm betting there are enough of us on here to identify the TT's that are available throughout the country, and enough of us on here to actually find someone local to go check out the car. For example, I actually went and saw a Seal Grey TT in Las Vegas. High miles, but otherwise very good looking - might it be the car you are requesting info about? Post some links and I bet some might comment from first hand experience.

Best of luck! What are you looking for?

 

I'll sell you mine haha

but I know the feeling, that's why I always try to buy cars that are know in the forums. You can always search the history and what kind of people you are dealing with.

 

I might be one of them.

Honestly I have put my car up for sale a couple of times and all I get are guys who offer bottom dollar without seeing the car or in some cases asking questions. I literally have guys offer $10k under KBB in their first sentence! They aren't interested in any details unless I'm in their price range. I don't need to sell so I just got to where I ignored them...

Sorry!

 

Just like Craigslist buyers. What's the price? Who cares about the product!

 

Did you see the Seal Gray with essentially 100,000 miles on it? It looks nice, but I cannot get the owner to send me the better pictures of the outside. Service records for the first 50k miles, but none for the last 50k miles. Price is attractive, but at almost $34k I can spend a few thousand more and get a 60k mile car.

 

If a car had every service receipt from mile 1, I would pay extra for that. But what I do not understand are the people with '01 and '02 Twin Turbos with between 70k - 100k miles, almost no service history, and they are asking $45k - $50k with a ton of others out there with similar mileage in the $32k - $39k range.

 

From the last two posts, it looks like you are looking at the cheapest cars listed on the market, so you are getting the treatment that comes with that. I hate to sound cruel, but you get what you (are willing) to pay for!!

I'd suggest looking at cars in the $45-50k range, there are several great cars with under 45k miles in that range out there.

I sold my car with 39k miles to the first reasonable, serious buyer after getting lowballed and compared to the piles of garbage that you are wrestling with.

A 996TT will cost you $45-50 in first year of ownership in 95% of the cases - its up to you to chose whether you'll spend it up front and drive the car or chip away at it taking the car to the shop.

Good luck, TK

 

I would have to agree with this, best of luck to OP finding dream P car

 

I don't have any records on mine really since I've had it. 2 years and almost 4000 miles ago. If I'm doing my own maintenance why keep records? You really want me to type somethin up that says iv changed oil at 30K, air filter, cabin, etc?? OK!! Even if you come across some guy with meticulous maintenance records, unless they were done by the dealer how do you really know!? Mine had 30,000 maintenance done at 27K just before I bought it and I have taken care of things since.

I sent the guy a 30+ questionnaire and he filled it out to best of his ability and I did PPI at my own cost as well. Never saw the car in person. It has been perfect! I say as soon as you smell sh?t... hit the road. It's a buyers market and seller should be willing to bend over backwards to answer your questions as long as you haven't done anything to turn his nose first! I expect a lot of Porsche sellers are not in a diar sell situation though. Mines always for sale for the right price.

 

pumptech: I do all my own maintenance but also document at what date and mileage. If you're buying and see my records vs. a guy who says what you're saying, who would you rather go with. Documentation means I don't have to rely on you to "remember" to do all the maintenance as required.

OP: I have been searching for the same, a medium mileage 996T with history and haven't really encountered similar problems yet. I have, however, found sellers who are cavalier about answering questions, though still a response at least...

 

I have found quite the opposite when buying both my turbo and gt2... Even though I ended up buying both from the same known person, someone who is a friend and fellow PCA Instructor and chief instructor for our regional audi club. I did however look at other cars to compare I agree with the other posters, I went after cars I liked and not ones that were the lowest price per se. I think there is some truth to the get what you pay for adage in the used premium car market of which Porsche truly is a member.

 

i have a file folder where i keep every receipt for every cent i have put into the car, i dont understand why everyone doesnt do this, maybe it wouldnt get me a higher price if i were to ever sell the car but i definitely think the buyer would be more inclined to buy my car than someones car with no records of anything (file folder is very thick at this point lol)

i think part of the reason is that when someone is selling a car for what they percieve to be 'cheap' they think the buyer is already getting a bargain so they really shouldnt be hassling them too much by asking questions

 

Those cheaper ones are the only two you have seen me ask about on here, but are not the only ones I have gone after. Others that I have been inquiring about have been in the $45k range, and the treatment is still the same for many (as I mentioned, I do have one in particular where the owner has been responsive, and we will probably be getting a PPI done next week). So it is NOT that I am only looking at the cheapest ones, I am considering others in the more mainstream price range.

 

Actually, yes. At this level of car, documentation is a huge part of the sale process. Even people on here have told me, '...if there are no records, walk away and find one that does have them..'.

I went to an office supply store and bought a stack of the blank service records that a shop would use and I document any and all maintenance that I do to my car so that I know what was done, when it was done, and if I ever have to sell the car, the new owner would know what was done too. Is it foolproof? No. But it gives a buyer comfort since most people that are going to go through the trouble of documentation probably are not faking it. Going off of the memory of someone that '...everything is perfect...,' just does not work for me. The car may check out now, but I want to know what people have done over the past so that I can predict the future reliability.