996 Buying advice

Hi All. HAve been to see a very nice 996 facelift on an 02, the seller has said that the car was not originally registered in the UK when first sold. Does this have any impact. the log book shows that the car was first registered in 2002 in the UK and has a full service history. The car looks genuine inside and out and the seller offered the information without being asked. The HPI looks fine and all the service history is in the UK. Any comments will be much appreciated. Simon

Do you know where is was first registered ? If its a 2002 model and was registered in UK in 2002 then ... ???? I assume is RHD ???

The log book says it was first registered in march 2002 and matches the first registered in uk. its a RHD drive car and the seller says that they only discovered that it was non uk when they called porshe gb to confirm the paint colour. there is nothing in the log book to say it was registered elsewhere. The seller is a dealer (not a porsche specialist) so there is a chance he could be wrong. Would it impact the price or anything else? Thanks

what dealer is it

Ok so that might be a an import from somewhere in Europe or from one of the car supermarkets etc. If that is the case it doesnt make any difference (I imported my Peugeot 406 Coupe back in 2000 from Netherlands and save a lot of money) and you have the same rights anywhere in EU. If that is the only issue then I would be more than happy to go for it. The only interesting thing is that you might bring the price down a bit as is very likely the original price was slightly lower (at the time sterling was strong against the euro. Just check if possible where it was bought originally

As it's a facelift, it must be at least 2002, and if registered in the UK in '02 it was most likely registered new, so was probably a personal import, or imported by an independent dealer. It should reflect to some degree in the price, because some buyers will simply not entertain a non-UK car. What is the country code on the Vehicle Identification Label? This can be found under the luggage compartment lid, or in the maintenance booklet. C16=UK. The only thing to bear in mind with other RHD countries is that the alarm system requirements may be different. A tilt sensor and alarm siren are fitted to UK cars to meet Thatcham requirements, but they are not fitted to a C98 (Cyprus) car, for example. I suppose the cynic in me says that what if it's an early car from somewhere like South Africa which has had a facelift conversion, and brought in to this contry in 2002? Extremely unlikely, but it would be easy to check. Look at the 10th digit of the VIN - it should be "2". I do know of someone who bought a "2005" C4S from a dealer, and subsequently found it to be a 2003 car brought in from Cyprus.

Hi All, Spoke to the seller who has given me the VIN and details of the sticker under the bonnet, using the VIN checker the car is a 2002 and is a 3.6ltr facelift which is good news. The Car was imported from Cypres as the seller had suggestted. So a couple of questions. 1) does this affect the value of the car given its age? 2) are there any major differences between the cars? 3) should I be concerned as everything I have been told so far checks out or am I just being paranoid. Thanks for your help Simon

Personally, I think it does affect the value compared to a C16 UK car, purely because when you come to sell it there will be buyers who are prejudiced against a C98 Cyprus import. There are no significant differences between the cars, but some options may have been standard on UK cars which are options on RoW cars. Like I said, check the alarm system has option M536, which is the tilt sensor and siren package. It should be listed on the VIL. Without it, strictly speaking, you may not be covered for theft insurance as it won't have Thatcham Catagory 1 approval. If you PM me with the VIN, I could look it up for you. Also, bear in mind that if you plan on getting an OPC extended warranty you can probably rule that out.

Are there any rust-proofing (underseal) issues with a Cypriot 996? I seem to remember some manufacturers don't bother for hot dry countries. On the positive side it might have an uprated air con compressor?

I do not think there is a difference on the 996. Also almost all European cars that go to Cyprus are identical or almost identical to the UK specs (not a lot of European countries with RHD and Cyprus is a small market) The likely reason it was imported from Cyprus is because the after tax prices are very high for cars with engines of more than 2.0l thus the before tax prices are much better than the UK. As said earlier you should expect a slightly better price because is an import. As for the warranty Porsche have to provide you with one if you request it because EU law dictates that you have the same rights and it doest matter where you bought the car within the community. Of course they might tell you something different but that is rubbish (Been through the same thing with my 406 Coupe and I ended up writing a letter to Peugeot France and then I got an apology from both them and Peugeot UK and that was 8 years ago)

Ehen I purchased mine I wanted only uk car, and I think it does impact on some 911 buyers if a car has been imported. More important tho is whose hands it has been in since new as this wil determine what car you are left with!! I looked at several before buying and looked at the people as closely as the car!!!

In this case however the car is very likely never been even close to Cyprus and might be a Cyprus import only on paper for the reasons I explained earlier. I would treat this as a UK car but with slightly less price.. Maybe a car supermarket or an importer is using that avenue in order to get better price. Unfortunately in Europe only few countries are RHD (UK, Ireland, Malta & Cyprus) and it was more difficult overcome the problems that manufacturers thrown at you. Today that question is academic because with the value of our pound nothing is cheap from the continent

Thanks for the advice guys, the car is an 996 c2 on a 02 with 65k on the clock, its advertised at 22k which I think is a reasonable price and the car was in good nick inside and out. The spec is ok too with Silver console, sat nav and full black leather which suits the car. Any other thoughts?? Simon

There are currently 248 c2's available on Pistonheads alone. Some UK some not. Some cheaper some not so. Look around and find the one you want. One you have no doubts about. If after that the Cyprus car is the one then deal your dough.(After a strong haggle) Just an opinion and with hindsight what I would do.