Where do you look for cars?

I live in a small NC town, and don't have many P cars close by. Like most on here, I am looking for specific color combo and features, so that narrows down the number of cars actually available. So, my question is, where do you look for cars? Autotrader, Ebay? If you find one, how do you go about inspecting the vehicle? Newbie to Porsche and beginning a search and looking for experienced advice. Thanks to all.

I maintain contact with small, independent dealers who are also enthusiasts. Then, I let them know the type of cars that I'm interested in and they call me when they come across something they think I'll like. My main contact is a long-time Porsche Club of America guy who's been in the business for over 30 years. I also scope out a lot of online sites as well.

Autotrader is where I found mine 4 years ago. Also look at the Rennlist classifieds, Ebay etc.

is it Jacks on heel Jackson heel Jack Son Heel? What is it?

What I have allways done is....once you know what model your looking for, you just begin to look until the one at the right price and right specs jump out at you....I like to go in semi-unbiased and open to different colors ect. cars.com, autotrader.com, rennlist, pelicanparts.com. Kyle where are the pictures!!!!

Your sweet spot may be Atlanta. Many years ago I used to drive down to Atlanta from Ohio to buy used cars. Large enough to have almost anything, big competition on the used market, no road salt. One day's drive to get better selection & prices was worth it.

It is Jackson Heel. He is my son and we are both Tar Heels.

I live in moderately large city but at any given time there are maybe 0-3 996s and 0-4 997s for sale, and this is within a 50 mile radius. You will have to travel at least 450 to 500 miles to find more. An then you may not even find a car you does anything for you. Ebay has the best format for looking at cars and keeping current on what's available. Cars.com and Auto Trader have a lot for sale but sometimes the same cars a listed for months on end even after they are long gone. Also sellers here are more speculative and are sometimes just testing the waters. Porsche dealer inventory can be good, bad, with detailed info or careless and lackluster ads. Most P dealers cars sell for a premium, the best of the best are CPOed, the next best are not, the really bad ones are generally wholesaled to other dealers. I've bought 3 cars and 2 motorcycles off Ebay. They have all been very good and outstanding buys, much better than what the local market could offer. The secret is to be an informed buyer, know the market, know the vehicle, know where to have it checked out, know how to successfully deal with a seller across the country. Know how to protect yourself from unscrupulous sellers. If you can do this, you can find some very nice vehicles in wonderful condition, for very attractive prices. It's important to know what you want before you start looking. Study the market and your budget. Then spec the car you want. Note the year, model, color choices, interior choices, important options, etc. Write this all down and start looking for your car. You don't have to limit your decisions to just one color, or any one thing. It just makes deciding on a specific car easier. Be analytical and non-emotional, straightforward, yet tactful. Have your financing available or your own money freed up, know beforehand what your taxes and registration will be and your insurance rates. Know that your insurance will cost effectively insure your car. All of the above should be the same for any vehicle, not just a Porsche. The more you know beforehand, the easier time you'll have making the purchase. If you know all the above, you will know a lot more than most any sales person and you will not be intimidated by them. When you find the right car, and it checks out mechanically and visually, and is priced within your range, then you can be emotional. If you don't love the car, move on until you find one you do. GL hunting

Well, My 928 came from this board. It came all the way from Napa CA. I basically took the guys word for it... after a few vouched for him and the car. My 996 came off ebay.. and I basically took his word for it. I GOT LUCKY. But see I wrench my own cars. So for the car to have little issues is not a big deal to me. In fact I like to tinker so.. who wants a perfect car? I think I would autotrader if I was you. I am learing a PPI is a crap shoot anyway. So amy I have seen had a PPI to find they got screwed anyway. I guess a PPI is a good thing to make sure no obvious things are wrong with the car. When I bought my 996 I basically checked the integrity of the seller. I made sure EVERYTHING he told me was accurate all the way down to the payoff. After I trusted the seller.. I sent him a check

Ebay, Autotrader and Cars.com for the large scale searches. Rennlist scanning for great examples. I searched 5 months for my Targa and found it in Lexington, KY of all places. One thing to note is many eBay auctions are from bricks and mortar dealers. I saw my car post three times in auctions and not meet reserve, so I reached out to the dealer (independent) directly and started a dialog during his 4th auction. He didn't remove the car, but took it to the local P-car dealer for PPI, we negotiated a minor repair and got the deal done. Another thing. If you find a car and want a rennlister to look at it just ask. Someone might be close to the car you want to have checked out and they'll offer to look it over. Perhaps not PPI but they can steer you away from cars that look awesome on screen and are hurting in reality. When I was searching many on this board preached patience. They are 100% right. Your car is out there. Good luck!

Thanks for all of the good advice. I have been spending way too much time looking online at the websites mentioned here. I purchased a 98 Mercedes years ago on Ebay and it worked out well, so I am not afraid to buy something sight unseen as long as I can get it checked out and have it vouched for. I also have access to Manheim's website, and a friend who can purchase at auction. Prices this way are more competitive, but I lose the ability to have the car reviewed unless it is at an auction within a few hundred miles. Would you guys buy a car from auction like that without being able to have a more thorough inspection? What about if it allowed me to get a 997? I have lurked here for a while and appreciate everyone's knowledge.

Buying at auction is always risky. I used to buy vehicles at auction, you hope for the best and expect the worst, and bid accordingly. Bidders are taking a chance and most of the time after reconditioning, a profit can be made. If the car is too bad, it may be sold at a loss as is, or partially repaired. Often times people unfamiliar with a certain type of vehicle will bid too high thinking it's worth more than it actually is. This limits chances to pick up vehicles for what they are typically selling for at auction.

I bought my 996 through Porsche Club of America in the classified section. I figured I would be most likely to find a Porsche enthusiast there, much like you would find here.

Since I seem to have car ADD, I've bought and sold many cars. With a 996, though they're not super rare, they're rare enough that I feel that one needs to look at many different places. More so if you want a specific color combo or something like that. I've bought off of Craigslist, Autotrader (my favorite), eBay, through friends/PCA, cars.com and so on. Speaking of, my 2002 Carrera is for sale (Blue/Gray, manual coupe, 93k miles), let me know if you're interested as I'm also in North Carolina. Otherwise, good luck on your search.

As a first step, join PCA as their monthly magazine, Panorama, is worth the annual dues alone. Each month has lots of used Porsches listings, but be advised that the asking prices there are on the high side of the market. Call some sellers, most will appreciate your inquiry and will provide lots of helpful advice. And you just might find what you're looking for there. relinuca

also try ruf auto center in dallas. they evaluate their cars carefully and can be trusted. i've had my 996 serviced by them for years. hans hoffman is the guy to talk to. he'll refer you to a sales guy, but ask hans any questions on service. what specifics are you looking for? we can all be looking.

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I certainly hope that I get more out of my PCA membership because I think Panorama magazine is a joke. Just my opinion.

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If you can get a little information on the car at auction before bidding post the info here and see if someone knows the car. Also, what type of savings are you looking at by going to auction? Will you break even if you have a major repair? Compare the cost of wholesale to retail or private sale.

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I have purchased cars from Manheim, and my good friend buys two-three there per year for his personal use. I've spoken to him about buying a 911 from there in the past. His advice, given no chance for a PPI, is to make sure you buy and re-sell it while under warranty. You get the occasional twin turbo that runs through Manheim (out of warranty), and one can only imagine what is ticking inside that engine - such that the owner is fire-saleing it through Manheim. BTW, you can also check Excellence.com and the Porsche.com site for used 911s. Many go through Ebay, but don't sell. I think it is really more of a tool for the used car dealerships to generate interest and sell after the auction ends to some one who saw it and followed up. Can't remember is someone already mentioned 6speedonline.com and renntech.org. Many 911s there too. Just plug 'em into your "Favorites" My advice is to find a well sorted 911 from a caring owner that you can discuss the car with (or CPO from P-dealer is ok too in my book = $ premium). If my clutch was ready to go and other things were wrong with it that I didn't want to pay to fix, Manheim is a quick and easy way to unload it, at a discount.

I use mainly autotrader because its the easiest search engine. You can easily specify coupe, cabrio, manual trans, etc. I stick to private sellers since they tend to have the service history and you can at least get some sense of the previous owner. A knowledgible owner will be able to give you info on things like most recent water pump, coil packs, RMS replacement, IMS inspection, clutch, etc. All the crap you're going to have to do if it hasn't already been done - plus I just hate dealing with dealers. I found my 928 on Autotrader. Also check out Pelican classifieds, although a lot of those cars will be SCs, 3.2s, and 964s. Not a whole lot of 996s, but its a good site to watch. PCA is good too. But my personal experience is that PCA classifieds tend to be a little optimistic on their asking price.

I found mine on Porsche.com as I wanted a CPO car.

Definitely join PCA - Hurricane Region if you are Raleigh to the beach. A local tip: Leith Porsche in Cary actually sells some nice used 996s and 997s. They tend to go fairly quickly so don't show up on the internet. But if I know what you are looking for I can keep a look out, since I drive through there about twice a week ;-) PCA and Rennlist can often be the solution to an initial look at a car you have found. The last two cars I bought were checked out for me by people I had never met. Worked like a charm! One site that I used in my search was Search Tempest. It 'aggregates' Craigslist listings so that you can literally scroll through a search of the entire country. I initially found my current car on cars.com, but then found it on Craigslist locally in the Boston area where the owner was - for $1,000 less! Between cars.com, autotrader and search tempest I think I looked at just about every car available in the country for 2 months before I found one with the options, color and condition I wanted. In addition to color it really helps if you decide on the types of options you want - PSM, full leather, Bose, Litronic etc. For examply I knew that I wanted Litronics and PSM in a red coupe. That made it much easier to peruse ads and automatically jump past cars that did not fit my list. Some would argue that you should keep your options open, but that worked well for me. Good luck - and don't hesitate to ask for help, or even post what you are specifically looking for.

http://www.dailylister.com searches craigslist and ebay for anything.

found mine on craigslist.com

+ 1 for Atlanta (or just outside of). That's where I found mine through a wholesaler on EBay. PM if you want his site. Wholesaler and enthusiast. Just keep checking all the car sites till you find one that suits you. I spent countless hours drooling over many. Enjoy your search. Your Porsche will find you...

if you want to keep good taps on craigslist, buy a software called craigspal, you cna set it up to receive specific notification, it is the most powerfull app I think. and you can get some pretty good deals on craigslist, but I still think autotrader is the main source. My advise, add a couple $ and buy a cpo car from porsche, no headache, drive it like you stole it !