Advice on Private 997 purchase

[NewbieP99]

This will be my 1st porsche purchase so appreciate your patience!

Looking to buy a 4S that is 8 years old and has modest mileage. I have identified one I like, and it has full Porsche history, has a minor service coming up in 6 months, the current owners assure me no problems encountered in his ownership. It is a few grand cheaper than buying off an Indy, and I cannot afford any of the OPC stock.

I am going to view the car this weekend. After checking that it is to my liking, I then would like some advice on how to proceed...

1. I guess a Pre-Purchase Inspection is mandatory. Besides Peter Morgan, what other routes do I have to follow in North London for this?

2. Warranty? It has no warranty at the moment, should i look into one for peace of mind? What after-market warranty should I go for.

Any other advice? Your opinion of how I should act step-by step would be greatly appreciated. Come on guys, help a long-time lurker finally crack Porsche ownership!

Many thanks

[drgav2005]

Golden rule: buy on condition rather than mileage.

Get an inspection done by someone reputable (I used Peter Morgan consulting when I bought my 4S and ruled out a much lower mileage car in the process).

A few schemes of thought on the warranty; after market / Porsche OPC or save your money and use any savings to foot repair bills. I purchased a 3 year warranty with my car and had a few items replaced that more than covered the initial warranty cost, so I 'd go with a warranty of some sort.

Good luck with your car - if it doesn't work out you could always buy my 2006 4S - it's up for sale on Pistonheads at the minute!

[Callughan]

Would recommend a warranty and the Porsche one is the best available, however assuming you are buying private would need to pass their 111 point inspection and only covers car upto the cars 9th birthday.

You can also take to OPC West London or Hatfield depending on where North.

[NewbieP99]

Is £400 quite a lot for Peter Morgan inspection if you don't go ahead with the purchase!? I suppose the argument is it can save u a lot more money in the future in the process!?

[RiccardoG]

If you're keen on the warranty then you may as well jump Peter Morgan and take it for the pre-warranty checks at OPC. This process will bring up any issues that an OPC may request to rectify (including any recorded over revs) and you can use it as a bargaining point with the vendor.

If you're not that bothered re the OPC warranty then I'd say have it inspected by Jaz Porsche in Wembley, they will be thorough, know their Porsches and will give you a good indication of whether the car has been in any accidents, etc.

[williaa68]

What I did when I bought my 4s a few years ago was get the seller to book it in for a 111 point check and then have him take out a warranty which he transferred to me. I ended up with a warrantied car at a private price. Works well if you have a collaborative seller and if the OPC won't warrant it you won't want it anyway. I think the 111 point check was about £210. If you could actually persuade the seller to do the minor service at the time then you could probably get the 111 point check fee waived or reduced.

[Magic919]

Find a suitable Indy for servicing locally. Get them to check it over before you buy. Have them inspect the bores.

[bigfella70]

Suggest using Hartech in Bolton if you're anywhere near . They know these cars and the engines inside out. They also offer a gold maintainence plan which is worth reading about on their website.

Never used them myself but very good reports and they are undoubtedly the gurus on these cars.

Good luck and enjoy !

[a1butch]

If you can arrange it I used Sid at Porsche Torque down near Uxbridge, W London:
Contact Sid on 01895 814446 or 07507 623997 [e-mail] www.porsche-torque.com

He inspected a local non-Porsche specialist car for me. I think from memory he was going to charge £250 for a full inspection inc bore scores and ECU report.
He checked ECU first and unfortunately the calculated mileage was 30k out versus the oddo reading, so somebody tampered with the car somewhere along it's history. We agreed to cut the inspection short and he didn't charge me for the time so that was a nice touch.

[a1butch]

Just to add, I ended up buying from a non-specialist dealer near Brighton but would have applied the same inspection logic to a private sale.
The rule of condition runs true though as I bought my C2 with 70k and it honestly looked on par condition-wise than some of the OPC / specialist cars with half the mileage.
And I viewed my fair share!

[AndrewO]

I would agree a price on the condition of a clear or near to Porsche 111point check. The couple of times I tried to buy privately haven't worked out, variety of reasons.