Considering a 2003 C4S and

according to carfax it was in rear impact accident. The current owner states that the previous owner broke the taillight and provided the repair invoice. According to the invoice, they replaced the left buffer and rear lens on lid, and repaired bumper cover. Now I'm thinking this is not extensive damage and should not scare me away. Am I right or wrong in my thinking. The car is a 2 owner vehicle, well maintained with 36k miles. Seller asking low 30's.

A rear impact accident reported on Carfax means the car is not worth low $30's. Even if the accident was minor, low $30's is top dollar for any C4S. A rear end accident is cause for concern with any vintage of 911. For a mint, "no stories" C4S with 36k miles, I'd say you could expect to pay $30,000. But, with a rear-ender on the Carfax, top dollar to me would be $26k or maybe even $27k if you've got photos of the accident damage and the repair invoice showing it really was that minor.

If you supply VIN there are some on here who might be able to find additional info. In "buffer" do you mean "bumperette"? Does the bumper cover show visible signs of repair? Any signs of damage inside the engine lid/inner shelf? How long has current owner owned the car? What was date of damage reported in Carfax? I read rear end damage can be bad or not much to worry about...depends...

That's what the invoice states, Lt buffer at $127. Rear lens $625. total cost including parts and labor a little over one thousand. Damage was in 2009. Current owner owned it since 2014. Have not seen the car in person yet. Looks clean from pics.

The big problem with a carfax accident is that it will scare other buyers away, which will lower the value even if things were repaired correctly. These days when I buy a car I want a carfax/autocheck more for resale value than because I worry about issues.

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I'm with kcattorney on this. I'm guessing if any sort of convincing documentation existed it would be shown right away. Even nice guys can be "persuasive" when they need to offload a problem. If you really like it, then do your due diligence with this one when it comes to professional inspections. Be prepared to pay up to $1,000 for a thorough inspection and be prepared to walk away from it.

That's optimistic at best. C4S fortunately/unfortunately carry their value. A "mint" 36k mile C4S will certainly go for more than 30k. Case in point, and with no ISMB done: / http://bringatrailer.com/listing/200...-carrera-4s-2/

^Well, that one had 27,000 miles and sold for $33,750, so I guess I was way off.

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No you weren't way off, but a mint C4S is likely not going to be had for $30k unless you are extremely lucky.

Actually buyer paid in the range of $35,400+ due to 5% buyer premium.

I can't believe people are paying $30k+ considering some turbos are in the 30's and folks have gotten very nice 996.1s for $20k

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Don't forget shipping and ppi cost. So, really more like $38k.

I was rear ended early April. I had a verticle crack about 1.5 inch long on the right side of the bumper. The crack was not through as you can just see the crack under the paint. No damage to the tail light or anything behind the bumper. I was bumped at less than 5 mph at a stop sign. The repair was $2800 as they couldnt repair the bumper, so I got a brand new Porsche Bumper and repaint to match. If I don't point to the crack, you can't even see it from farther than 3 feet. The person's insurance company assumed all responsibility and paid for all repair. I don't know if it would end up on carfax or not but I kept the repair record, details and pictures of the actual damage. What I will say is have the rear end check out by a shop in details. Pay for a more invasive or detailed PPi. You may get lucky if the accident is really minor like mine or you will know what the damage was and use it as leverage to negotiate for a good deal or walk away knowing that you are not going to end up with a problem.

A positive for me would be the owner when it got hit kept it another 5 years and current owner has had it for almost 3. If I was interested this might sway me some...just some. Of course, at 36k miles, neither drove the car very much.

In all seriousness, after looking at the numbers a little harder, I was on the low side by about $2k across the board.

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Based on what you wrote the accident does appear to have been a minor accident. FWIW, my Boxster has been hit twice in the rear. Both times stopped at a light. Both impacts were of the 5mph variety. First time the car actually got hit in the rear and shoved into the car in front and both ends were damaged. A front headlight was broken and a rear taillight was broken. Both bumper covers damaged and were replaced (factory new). There was a bit of bent sheet metal -- a sheet metal rail in the back -- that was straightened. The spoiler was undamaged. Second time just the rear was damaged. I don't recall now if the rear bumper cover was replaced or the original one salvaged. My point is there can be minor accidents that while on a CarFax report "look" bad are not bad. Be sure you don't focus all of your attention on the accident and fail to thoroughly check out the car. My adivce is go kick the tires and light the fires. When you visit the car and after you have checked the CEL comes on then goes off when the engine is started then go back and open the engine compartment lid and look around. Keep your hands out of the engine compartment and away from the engine compartment fan. At some point early on have the seller manually raise and lower the spoiler a couple of times to be sure this goes up and down smoothly, quietly, with no signs of unevened deployment. Checking the rear of the car for any signs of accident damage mis-repair works to your benefit two ways. You get to look over the rear of the car for any signs of unrepaired damage or badly repaired damage, bumper cover and tailight fits, gaps, but you also are at the engine and can listen to it idle as it warms up. View panels adjacent to the rear bumper cover looking for any signs of paint work. The tint/shade could be off slightly. Look at the rear quarter panels from obligue angles and from straight on from a distance. You want to see if you can spot any difference in the paint appearance between adjacent panels. Check for absence of the factory "orange peel". After some idling then have the seller take you on a 15 mile test ride to demo the car as you intend to use it. After the test ride back at the starting place swap seats and take the car out and drive it over the same route and drive the car the same way. You must experience the car on the road and being used like you intendt to use it. You want to drive the car enough the engine/drivetrain get fully up to temperature. This means you initialy start out with the A/C off -- you check this later -- so at some point when the coolant gets hot enough (my info is 212F) both radiator fans come on. Ideally the engine compartment should get hot enough the engine compartment fan comes on at some point. The two drives should be enough time for the DME to complete all the readiness monitor tests and set these to complete or light the CEL if a problem is discovered. After you test drive then check the car's other systems over to be sure they work ok. Lights. Signals. Seats. A/C. Heater. Vent controls. Fan control. Temp control. Windows go up and down with no drama. Wipers. Everything. At this point then if you have found no reason to reject the car and believe you can buy it at an acceptable -- to your and the seller -- price arrange for a PPI. Among other things this gets the car in the air so a careful check can be made for any leak sign. This is another reason why you want to spend time with the engine running and the car being used on the road as it is at this time that if there are any leaks they'll well, leak. At the same time the person doing the PPI should be made aware of the car's "accident" history so he can pay particular attention to the car in that area. If the car was repaired properly and if the accident damage was indeed minor with just some easily replaceable parts being required with possibly some paint on the new factory bumper cover, this is not a deal killer. Sure the car has a "story" but it is a minor one. Just to make it clear you must decide if the entire car is ok not just the area that was damaged in the minor accident.

^^This!

The current owner states that the previous owner "broke the tailight". Does not sound like he was rear ended. Maybe backed into something because according to the insurance appraisal, it seems like he paid the deductible. It appears deductible was taken out of the total cost.

Macster, Thanks for that right up, very informative.