Looking for a 996 Turbo for about 20k, not much about! help

[eskillington]

Hi guys I know prices are rising etc and I'm 6 to 12 months late to try and pick up a 996 turbo for my budget but almost all the cars out there are for sale with dealers for 22 to 25 for reasonable tiptronics and 25 to 35 for low mile manuals etc. this being the case and having just sold my Cayenne GTS for a far sight less in my pocket than dealer retail prices people must be parting with their cars on trade ins and sale to dealers for in and under the 20k mark.

anyone any tips of forums out there etc where i can search as autotrader, ebay and pistonheads seem all the same really. alternative for me is to buy a 997 C2S but would much rather a 996 Turbo. is the only alternative to stump up the cash then and pay the going rate? I have a 911SC which I wanted to keep till the summer but may have to sell that if the budget bar has to be raised

[eskillington]

cheers mate. afraid I wouldn't be able to stretch that far and also don't see the value in 25 to 27. thats just a personal thing its the point at which i'd switch my attentions elsewhere. If I can't get one I'll wait, sell my 1980 911SC (which is mint) for the silly going market rate in a few months, chuck my 20k in the pot and buy a 997 Turbo. My only prob with that plan is after selling my GTS Cayenne, living in aberdeen with 911SC tucked in for winter the only transport in the house is a 53 plate n/a Forester (dog-mobile) and don't fancy driving that as my primary transport for next few months

[eskillington]

thanks guys, i think the 20k budget is not realistic at this stage. I've been looking to buy one since the summer but GTS took months to sell.

even 21/22 is prob unrealistic now.

there is one decent looking 2003 CatD on for 21k with low miles and one 2002 manual which isn't CatD with 95k on the clock for 20.5. besides that everything else is high enough. The CatD looks good but my worry is selling it on again, the attraction of the 996 Turbo right now is residuals and demand for when it is time to sell on. i might stretch to 22 but after that I'd be looking at other cars and waiting till May. first world problems and all that! appreciate the responses

[eskillington]

16plates said:

A year and a half ago I was looking to spend similar (up to 23k) on a car and I had plenty choice of 996 Turbos available, Now when I look, there's hardly any!

Bought an RS4 in the end, maybe I should have bought a 996T and made a couple of grand. Pretty sure we've missed the trough with regards to prices of these cars, only going up now.

yup think you're right. when i bought my GTS Cayenne the dealer had two 996Ts for 21 or 22k in stock and i paid 23k for my Cayenne. a year later my Cayenne fetched me 17.5k and those Turbos are worth more than they were then thats for sure! i wish that I knew what i know now.... when i was younger! as the song goes! at least i'm in good shape with my 911SC when i sell that on in the summer.

[eskillington]

thanks again guys for the input good to get first hand opinions. I have come close to one or two and have a good lead on at the moment for what seems a decent car in and around my budget will know more by the weekend.

astonishingly i realised just how much dealers are driving the prices up last night. before xmas there was a tip on ebay with split rim alloys, aero kit, 65k miles for 22k. i wanted it and was in touch with the guy who said he'd take 21. sale on my Cayenne fell through with the guy who was going to buy it so i could go no further, the listing came and went. sold my car xmas week and should have gotten in touch with the guy but xmas was hectic and i was travelling and his ad was off the net also etc so I said to myself soon as it was festivities were over i'd start making moves again on a 996T. Last weekend I thought to email him and turns out he'd just relisted the car and it sold immediately for the 21k he'd wanted for it. i was kicking myself for being to blaise about it and missed out on what looked like a really good car only needing minor repair to front bumper and wheel refurb according to the owner.

looking at the ads last night and that very car appeared online with a dealer, now selling at £28,995. that is a 8k markup. maybe the guy did sell too low, fair enough dealers need to make profits but just sounds mental to me that they've hiked the price so much and some guy is gonna pay it too. I'm kicking myself even more now that i missed that car. Maybe it just goes to show that cars are out there for my budget privately, just because they are sat on a dealers forecourt with 29k on the window doesn't mean you can't get the same car privately for 21k.

I should make an offer of 22 stating i know they paid 21 and a grand profit in a few days for washing a car ain't bad going!

[eskillington]

VonSenger said:

Its a small world!, I assumed 996tt's were two a penny, after looking at autotrader, I stumbled across my old car which I traded in 4 years ago!!

Is it still for sale?:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

I took all the mods off but left it mapped and the hoses on, hence why I know its mine. Its also got the larger calipers on the front which I had fitted. Theres a long post on my history if you need to know more about the car.

If its still for sale, well worth seeing, i spent a fortune on it and the dealer must of done all the work i described above to sell it on.

Also, I have checked AutotradeMail this afternoon, only 2S, 4S and 997tt's im afraid. But Ill keep looking for you.

enquired about that car its already sold, not sure why he still has ads on all over the place bud its gone anyway. cheers for checking, I'm off to see one tomorrow, if i like the look of it i'll be having it inspected by a specialist and will take it from there.

[eskillington]

JapanRed said:

I'm also in the market for a 996 manual Turbo. Been and looked at a few but the search continues. I think you are on a false economy buying a high mileage tiptronic for £20k. My budget is £30k but want manual and low miles as I think these are the ones that will appreciate. I'm struggling even at £30k to be honest!!! I suspect high milers (over £100k) and tiptronics won't appreciate by much.

Just out of interest. Anyone any thoughts on how high these might go? I'd be looking to keep mine 5-10years.

I'm not buying it as an investment as such, i like them and also want something that isn't depreciating, if in a years time i got my money back for it i'd be happy. trying to predict 5 to 10 year cycles in such a market is next to impossible I would think. was speaking to some dealers about SOR of my 911SC and they can't even predict the next few months bar the fact things are still going up. buying high end of the market also has drawback that you are shelling out a huge amount in dealers profit (debate above aside that the dealer may have to invest money in privately bought cars etc) and you won't get the money back privately when you sell. cos a car is worth 30k now at a dealer and worth 40k at a dealer in 5 years doesn't mean you will get a 10k profit.

one dealer told me he could sell my 911SC for 30 to 35k and I'd walk away with 27 to 30. one dealer told me i could sell my car privately for 25 (which would make me think he sees it as a 30k car from them if its worth 25 privately) but to him if he bought it outright he'd value it at 5 to 15 depending! the argurment that work needs to be allowed for and all that is valid but I'm thinking margins overall are prob very over inflated.

[eskillington]

RallyeJon said:

I went to see this car over xmas (long drive), was very nice (although needed a service, some paint work and the rear spoiler rams were leaking with dash lights on) but was unable to get an inspection arranged as the owner wanted a quick sale (even though they said they were happy for this to happen on the initial phone call). They sold it the next morning.

Edited by RallyeJon on Friday 9th January 09:04

have you found a car since? i take it you're in similar budget frame as I then? hmmm competition!

[eskillington]

RallyeJon said:

I've been looking for quite a while, still not found one, quite a few dogs out there at the lower end of the price band. I think there are more than just the two of us looking ;P

cheers, best of luck in the hunt then, hopefully we both get lucky and no dogs bought

[eskillington]

The search goes on, had what I thought was 2 cars at the weekend. One owner changed his mind and decided to wait til the summer to try and maximise his profit. the other car turned out to have belonged to a car club which also rented out their cars. BUYER BEWARE!!! seemed decent car for the money but having done a bit of digging I found out the seller was being a little economical with the truth and the car is out there on a website advertised for hire. the group that owned it is 12 strong and they all share the cars so its prob been ragged to death and I ran away from this deal! lucky escape. this car is advertised and has prob been seen online by a few of you. if the guys were up front and put all the info in there and dropped the price a little then maybe someone would grab it as a cheap in to 996 Turbo world but the secrecy and lies had me running for the hills. wasted my time and money travelling to see it but glad I found out before buying it rather than after!

could you guys recommend Porsche forums to post on? there are cars out there which have yet to be advertised and guys who've gone to dealers for trade-ins and not getting prices they'd like and would be better off going to dealers with cash in their pockets etc. dealer i know told me he offerd 20k to a guy for a black manual 84k car in december but guy wanted 22.

cheers

[eskillington]

thegoose said:

Eh? There's no VAT on used cars. It used to be that if importing from a EU country with a lower VAT rate you had to pay the difference, but that was all (besides DVLA £55 first reg fee), so if importing to the UK from a country with a 18% vat rate you'd have to pay 2%. If you imported from a country with a higher vat rate you were unable to claim the difference back though.

However, it looks like that's no longer the case and for cars over 6months old there is no vat of any kind to account for. Have a look here:
https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/...

i've imported 2 cars from Ireland and had to pay nowt. no interest in left hookers though and no 996 turbos for sale in ireland right now

[eskillington]

Flying911 said:

I think you need to accept all the advice about raising your budget by at least £5-10k or set more realistic expectations. See posts from Japan Red, Jibaro and KAS. The one you mentioned sounds ok at that price. Certainly better value than a CatD at £20k whichh is still reasonable. I think the fact you have been looking since last summer says it all doesn't it?. I bought a 911 over a year ago and got a reasonable deal on one but that car looks £4k more expensive now. Im not bothered as I bought it to drive and keep. I get stopped regularly and asked if I'm selling it. 911 Turbos have always been popular and thinking there's a gleaming £20k mid mileage Turbo that has escaped everyone in the market's notice including dealers isn't realistic. You may have seen a couple you had doubts about but unless you want to accept a compromise on owner/mileage/condition you will carry on looking as the prices continue to creep upwards. As you have a 911 already you are a little protected as presumably your will rise too but if it was me I'd buy the Turbo now and sell the SC in the summer otherwise you will still be regretting you sat on your hands for another 6 months.

thanks appreciate your input and advice. i've been looking since summer but afraid not had the cash till i sold my Cayenne in Dec so not long in a position to actually "go for it". I'm not expecting the holy grail just a decent car circa 100k miles, if thats not possible i'll let it be and move onto something else within the next few weeks

[eskillington]

After a bit of time and effort I've managed to get my hands on a £20 996TT. 54 plate black with 122k miles, tip, mechanically perfect, needs an undertray and a low tone horn. needs the front bumper resprayed and wheel refurb. came with original turbo twists and black set of 19" GT2 reps. black car, black leather looks gorgeous and goes great. just had £1200 major service, all coil packs changed and had lots of work done in recent past like all pads and discs. 3 owners last one for 4 years. no accident damage, hpi clear and no known dodgy history. owner upgraded to 997 Turbo. well sorted car needing small money on superficial cosmetic issues to get it to great condition. had upped the available budget to 25k but this one came along and represented great value for money. happy man.

[eskillington]

How rude of me! don't like black wheels so will change these or refurb to silver... or go back to stock

[eskillington]

Denno B said:

That looks great with the black wheels

cheers mate black wheels just ain't my thing. had grey on my cayenne gts for a while and looked good get bit more detail and light reflecting off grey but went back to silver in the end. each to theit own and all that. it does look mean as hell with the black wheels i'll give it that

[eskillington]

Crimp said:

Revolution Porsche Brighouse.
Did Russell look after you?

yes and yes! good guy and a pleasure to deal with

[eskillington]

Crimp said:

Mate of mine great guy.
If you check out his website he has some pics of some of my previous 911's under "Mad Ed"

Congrats on the car great value pal and the value may go North judging by the current values!!

small world and all that! was very pleased with everything overall, cracking lot of car for the money. cheers

[eskillington]

things change fast and I've now taken a job in the USA. going to be relocating about Aug/Sep and will be selling on my 996TT again. Its great I love it and will enjoy it for the summer and let it go to a new home, spent a couple of grand on it since getting it, private plate, wheel refurb, some paintwork touching up and full machine polish. so if anyone knows anyone this will be available in a few months. also be selling my 1980 911SC next month