Advice on 996 being offered for sale at OPC

[Fulla]

Hi - One of the guy's at work is looking for a 996. It will be his first and he wants to purchase through an OPC. He will use for business and pleasure and intends to do 15-20k miles per year so wants a low mileage example. He has been offered the below from the OPC. He intends to hand back in 12-18months time for a newer one. The OPC has said the below best fits his requirements and they would welcome it back in the future.
Is this a good deal? I think it is overpriced even though the OPC has come down from 47k. Year end is friday I am told for the OPC........not sure if that is a positive or negative.
Detials of the car below:

911 C2 coupe

Arctic Silver
Black Full leather
Electric Memory front seats
Heated seats
18" Carrera Wheels
Rear Window wiper
PSM ( porsche stability management)
Upgrade sound pack
Rear park assistance

22,000 miles

registered 01/03/2003

£44,000

Thanks for your help.

[Fidgits]

first.

Dont buy from an OPC...

Second.

Dont buy a low mileage to rack up the miles on.
(he'll just remove all the value from the car - better to get a younger, higher mileage car thats lost money already through being high mileage, that way he can rack it up more without any problems.)

OPC Warranty

Enjoy

[guyvert1]

Nice sounding car but you're paying easy £5k premium , easy way to check is ask approx trade in after 12 months !

[LeeME3]

Why is he so keen to buy from OPC? Does he know about the option of buying elsewhere and putting OPC warranty on?

[SNDa]

Fulla,

A quick scan of the private ads for a 2003 996 C2 in PH's classifieds will show you that it's worth c.£36k. That should give you and your friend some perspective on whether getting an OPC car is good value / idea at c.£44k.

Is the driver getting the right type of financing to make it tax efficient for business use? Even then, there are companies out there offering appropriate financing. Struggling to see otherwise what the reason is for so much money on an OPC model?

[Thorny]

Against what most people on this forum think I have always bought from OPCs for peace of mind. as long as you go forewarned I think it is the best place to buy from...

[bennno]

bad buy at that price, the cheapest 997 would be a better buy

bennno

[Wanta996]

Edinburgh OPC has a 2002 C2 with 40k Miles at £37k which should give your friend an idea of what the trade-in is going to be even for an OPC. £44k seems a ridiculous figure for 2003 c2 to be honest, if it was an Anniversary 345bhp model or C4S then maybe i would agree with the price but i think its totally overpriced.

P.S. Just a matter of time before someone tells you that you can buy a TT or GT3 at that price.

Current OPC C2 prices -
http://ucl.porsche.de/ucl/plsql/uk/clients.show_ca...

Edited by Wanta996 on Tuesday 24th July 12:25

Edit - Interesting that Bournmouth have a slightly newer 2003 C2 with 16k miles for £39995??

Edited by Wanta996 on Tuesday 24th July 12:36

[DirkDiggler]

ooooo, me first

tell him to get a TT. I did, after looking at C4S for less than that OPC is offering (seems very expensive).

[2something]

Maybe this is heretical, but if someone is aware that OPCs buy for roughly 10k less than they sell (sure they put some money into the car inbetween), then why not buy it from an OPC if that is what they want to do. The person who said you lose 6k when you drive it off their forecourt was probably not far wide of the mark.

It's definitely not what I would do - I would buy elsewhere and put a warranty on it if I wanted peace of mind, but each to their own. Personally I'd be looking in the 997 direction for that kind of money + a bit.

[Vesuvius 996]

My thread is here.


I bought my 2000 996 from OPC East London two and half years ago. With the benefit of hindsight it was overpriced by about 5k.

BUT

Do I regret it? No.

It was my first really expensive car. It was immaculate. It came with a warranty. Any and every problem I ever had with it has been sorted free of charge with no complaints, even when the warranty didn't cover it.

Downside? Well it's going to hurt to trade it in if I do so I'll have to sell privately. Finance was in negative equity for the first two years as well. But it's lost a lot less in depreciation than a BMW and even taking account of paying over the odds for OPC peace of mind it's still cheaper per mile than a 3 series (see my profile....)

Would I buy from OPC again? Maybe I would but I'd do it smarter (own finance and drive a harder deal.) I might buy from a respected indy BUT I would make a deal based on 111 point inspection and OPC warranty.

Bear in mind that when you buy from OPC, you're in with a good chance of some goodwill if it goes tits up. If you've bought from them they will see you right, normally. Of course they build some fat into the price to pay for this.......

The naysayers on here slag OPCs. Easy sport. Get a decent relationship with one though and I've found them to be excellent. Cambridge and East London in particular have been tremendous.


If I was your mate buying my first Porsche I'd buy a newer higher mileage car from OPC. I'd wouldn't use Porsche finance again though. Expensive!

At that price an early higher mileage 997 might be the best bet.

Edited by Vesuvius 996 on Tuesday 24th July 13:25

[Adam B]

agree with soovy although would not do it myself

however if you must buy from an OPC do not buy an example that is a rip off even at OPC prices (as prvoen by the Bournemouth car at £5k less)

even your friend needs more convincing he could buy privately a good spec C4S with an extended warranty for that money and same age/miles

[mbutchers]

Yep - pretty much what everyone else is saying. I sold an immaculate 03 C2 Cab with many more desirable options, an OPC warranty, and fewer miles for £40k. The trade bid at the time was around £35/6k.
Best bet would be private with a warranty for around £8k less. Oh and also, why bother with low miles, when he's gonna be piling them on anyway?
The OPC buying experience is way overrated IMO and not worth the extra over a decent Indy......

Edited by mbutchers on Tuesday 24th July 13:32

[kayc]

For what its worth unless you want to do your bollox you have to buy privately,usually very cheaply as the seller will desperate to shift his car once the local OPC or Indy have informed him its only worth loose change.I can understand buying from an OPC if you a)Dont give a damn about price/depreciation or b)you are too worried about the risk of a private deal....Dealing with over-priced Indies seems pointless to me..they are nearly as expensive as OPC's and from my experience dealing in general in lower quality cars.With repect to the original posters car,surely thats only a £30k bid from the trade isnt it?

[Vesuvius 996]

kayc said:

For what its worth unless you want to do your bollox you have to buy privately,usually very cheaply as the seller will desperate to shift his car once the local OPC or Indy have informed him its only worth loose change.I can understand buying from an OPC if you a)Dont give a damn about price/depreciation or b)you are too worried about the risk of a private deal....Dealing with over-priced Indies seems pointless to me..they are nearly as expensive as OPC's and from my experience dealing in general in lower quality cars.With repect to the original posters car,surely thats only a £30k bid from the trade isnt it?

KayC's point (b) has it.

You can save a few grand buying privately. No backup. No goodwill from the dealer.

If your mate is a millionaire then fine. If he (as I was) was buying the most expensive car he could possibly afford, and wanted to spend some extra money to mitigate risks, then he should go down the OPC route and pay the extra.

It's all about risk appetite.

Pay more, worry less.

Pay less, worry more.

[POORCARDEALER]

It's all about risk appetite.

Pay more, worry less.

Pay less, worry more.



[/quote]


Like he said...........if your mate must buy from an OPC, shop around and start with the cheapest car that fits the criteria, not the dearest

[911wise]

Vesuvius 996 said:

If your mate is a millionaire then fine. If he (as I was)

Where did you blow your millions then Soovy?

[Ir Baboon]

There are some good deals to be had through OPCs. I just got the car of my dreams via the official network at the same price as some of the larger Indies charge.

If your mate can find a better car miles away, it may well be worth a look

[Fulla]

Gentlemen, er and ladies(possibly)......thank you ever so much. I knew I'd get a decent response on here.
I do understand the security of the OPC. My mate is new to Porsche and they offered a good trade in value on his Z4, even though they are pushing an overpriced C2. I agree with the C4S or TT route at that price. However I believe he realy wants to get under the 40k mark. hopefully the feedback from here will arm him with some figures to push them down or wait until he finds the right deal.
I bought mine from and indy and had the 111 point check and warranty. It's been looked after at Reading OPC(the guy's offering the 44k C2) and Chiswick. Never had an issue with warranty work and I feel I saved a few quid. But I own mine and didn't finance it. Not sure if financing and having a trade in would mean I would have chosen a different route.
Will keep you posted on the outcome. And I will suggest he registers on here himself for future reference.
Must say it was nice popping into the OPC to see all that gleaming metal. Almost thought of discussing a deal myself on a TT they had until they mentioned it was a slush box.......oh well hopefully next year the TT will be even cheaper and more of a bargain!

[Vesuvius 996]

911wise said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

If your mate is a millionaire then fine. If he (as I was)

Where did you blow your millions then Soovy?

Not where, who.