I recently purchased a 1996, 993 Turbo with 2670 miles. I have driven the car less than 100 miles since it was delivered to me within the past few weeks. The car was advertised as follows,
“This turbo has only been driven 2670 miles in the past 13 years ! It was special ordered in “paint to match “ Polar Silver with FULL black leather interior, sunroof, and “werks” center console. The first owner kept the car for three years driving it a little over 800 miles a year. He only drove it for pleasure, never in bad weather, always kept it garaged, and had all the scheduled service performed. Because of its great condition and exceptionally low miles the second owner purchased the car for his private collection with the intention of keeping the car just as it was and not adding any more miles. It has only been driven 500 miles in the past year and is in NEW condition.”
I thought I found the perfect 993 TT I had been looking for. Unfortunately I found out 6 days ago that the car was involved in a bad accident in Virginia in 1998, was given a salvaged title, declared a total loss by the insurance company, and sold off to somebody else at the appropriate price considering the condition. I am not going to mention the name of the dealer here as there will be pending legal action against him, but it is a high-end dealer that routinely deals in exotics and classics.
I have spent the past 6 days confirming the salvaged history with the Virginia DMV as well as the body shop that repaired the car over 10 years ago and speaking with multiple people that were familiar with the history of the car. I provided all this information along with 18 detailed photos showing all the signs that the car was not original to the selling dealer. My expectations and my request to the dealer was to return my funds, purchase price, shipping, and tax in return for his car back. The dealer has continued to refuse and has only pretended to tell me about “light accident history” before I bought the car. Considering I paid 2x the price of what a salvaged car would be worth and considering his ad above, I don’t think it takes Sherlock Holmes to figure out he is lying and concealed from me any damage other than a “scratch” he claimed was on the fender at the time of delivery and repaired by Porsche before the first owner would accept it.
The car changed hands 1 time before this dealer bought it and because of some DMV issues ended up with a clean title before this dealer acquired it. I don’t want to debate here or make my case if the dealer was disclosed the salvage history because I want to save some issues for court, however the fact that the carfax shows it, the car if looked at shows it (and he claims to be an expert on Porsches) and he is now pretending to tell me about some accident history all has some clear implications that he is 100% full of ****.
Only sticking to the facts above I would love to hear some feedback from some fellow enthusiasts as well as anybody with a legal background how everybody thinks this will play out in court. Thanks for your feedback in advance and everybody should take the time to use carfax in the future, I wish I had.
(And yes a “werks” center console when translated from ******* to English means a phone kit where the owner removed the phone over time)

 

If what you are saying is true, you will not neet to take him to court. His local attorney generals office will shut him down in less than 30 days for selling you a salvage title car and not disclosing it. Furthermore, the dealer cannot use the excuse that "when they got it, it was a clean title" as they are the one's that are supposed to do their due diligence on cars they take in and are the ones that are regulated by many consumer protection laws. Seriously, 1 letter from a good attorney should fix this issue for you.

 

Sorry to hear that. I hope you get that fixed soon and think Luisgt3 is right, find a good attorney.

 

Please disclose the dealer name so that no one else will be taken advantage of by this crook.

 

wow! this sucks!

 

In several states salvage cars have to be fully disclosed to the buyer and you would have to sign a form showing you knew it was salvage title, if sold by a dealer (not so true if it was a private party). In utah, there is actually a sub department of the DMV that handles salvage cars and dealerships only, so I would do some research on the seller's state and find out if they do and contact with this info.

ps. would love to hear this dealership is also....

 

Try to work it out with the dealer, see if he will budge or work with you. If he refuses then get your lawyer involved. He may work with you on a refund, may not give you the transportation fee's and all that but if he works with you that's better then having to go threw the legal route. If he doesn't work with you, definetely get a good lawyer.

It sucks this happened.

 

And, please, whenever you are able to do so, tell us the name!

 

Hope things works out at the end.

Here is the dealer.

http://www.canepa.com/inventory/coll...rbo/index.html

 

thanks guys but I assure you I have begged for 6 days for my money back and we can both move on. The dealer insists in lying thru his teeth

 

its a a beauty...good luck with the situation, it only sours the enjoyment you expected from having this car

 

Thanks for the heads up, have been watching their site for a collectible or two. Not any more.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

We should share ANY bad run ins with dealers... These are not $23,000 honda's. We tend to lose a lot of money.

 

Shiiiiit, I almost bought a car from these guys last yr!