Flew out to L.A to see a Car, it was a waste-Thank God for TRE MOTOR SPORTS!

Thanks Tre Motor Sports in San Fernando Valley specially Jeremy There.. So i've been searching for a 2002-2003 996 for a while, found a deal on craigslist HERE IS THE CAR had everything i wanted, and the price was not bad- I call the guy *i'm in Arizona* told me the car was pristine, clutch was changed at 60 k he said *its h 77k now* so i say screw this, i'm sick of waiting and looking all day online i'll go see this car, maye ITS THE ONE- I book a one way ticket from AZ ot LA for $175 the guy wouldn't even drive to the airport or anything, but thats ok, i took a cab 25 mins cost $60 then met up with him, car looked in good condition, just a couple of swirl marks, its ok its black, then i asked him to start it....he starts it and there is a TICKING SOUND- i ask him he says "my Mechanic said this is normal for all porsches" hmmm,so i figured i better call a porsche shop, mind you its 4pm now- i called TRE MOTOR SPORTS and talke to JEREMY, he said they can't do a full inspection but that i can bring it by and he will look at it for me and drive it (i figured if he said it was ok i'd stay the night in LA and do the FULL PPI tomorrow) so we get there, jeremy gets in the Car and immediatley says the clutch feels heavy, and feels like it may need to be changed...then he goes for a ride, comes back hears the ticking, says ofcourse its not normal then we smell a coolant smell...the guy kept saying everything has been changed and taken care of adn insisted teh clutch had been changed only 20k ago..anyways i tell him we will wait till tomororw so he barley even offers to give me a ride to the main street so i can take a cab back to near the airport to get a hotel or something...ofcourse i just went back to the airport booked another ticket $170 and back to AZ now! Conclusion: the car looked like it may have many problems, felt the owner was not too "forthcoming" but who knows... I really would recommend going to Tre MotorSports for PPI or any Porsche needs, those guys had all kinds of racing porsches there and really knw what they are doing..and jeremy checked the car out for me and spent 30-40mins of his time and didn't even charge anything!

The ad was weird too. Too salesy "Sacrificing my porsche". Always makes me suspicious with such an aggressive sales pitch...was it a private seller or a user car dealer/broker?

Not trying to be an ***, or, anything. What was wrong with the car? You didn't have a PPI done and you didn't check out the clutch story with the mechanic who did the job.

What do Porsche drivers and porcupines have in common, lol You just found out! JK

Cali plate starting with a 6 is very recent issue, not what came with the car in 03. So I would be suspicious of that alone.

Jeremy knows his stuff.

Re the clutch replacement; I would have asked to see the paperwork on that. Service order, invoice, whatever. Something that proved it was actually done and where.

IF the onwer is vague you need to walk. Which is what you did. These cars are a dime a dozen, except for mine of course.

I ususally do the PPI first. If it's good, then I fly out to look at the car and buy it on the spot if I like it. I've done this 3 times and have bought in Arizona, New Jersey and Tennesee. I'd rather waste some PPI money than waste my time and pay air fare.

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What do you mean what was wrong with the car? its enough the engine was ticking, coolant smell + very heavy clutch all this with the owner saying 1- his mechanic told him ticking is normal in porsches and its been like that since he bought it... 2- that he changed the waterpump already 3- that the clutch was just done 17k ago. Ofcourse i would have asked to see the papers, but at that point i had a bad feeling and just walked!

Sounds like you had all the proof you needed. Good Luck in your search! My point is that you've informed the entire forum that this car is worthless based on a 30 min ride by a tech at the end of the business day. I am sure that Tre Motorsports is reputable and the gut feeling of the tech is worth mentioning. That's good stuff, however, NO research was done on the car. You may be right, you may be wrong. But as of right now, there's no documented proof which refutes what the seller represents. If the proof exists, call him out - that's good stuff. It just doesn't seem right to crucify the guy for being aloof.

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FYI, I have a plate now starting w/ a '6'. My original plates had to be replaced as one 'flew' off the car thanks to the poor front license plate mounting bracket on the 996. Just saying....

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And that is why if you read my post i say "the car looked like it had problems but who knows" didn't crusify the guy- then i would have mentioned that the check engine light was also on (he had told me about that and said its just a sensor" but i never mentioned that..lol..guess now i am

I have been very lucky. I have purchased a 911 and a 996 now over the Internet. I get lots of pictures and do the PPI before I book my ticket. The first one I bought in New York when I was in Dallas. The guy I called to do the PPI said he will not charge me if I don't want the car since it is my first Porsche. I bought it and had him do some extra work for me. My 996 I just purchased in Louisville and I am in PA the PO said he would pay for the PPI. As it worked out the car checked out and I got some additional $ off on the car to fix stuff.

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Mahbay over in Allanna you do things that way.....

I wouldn't have wrote off the car yet. Clutch was heavy? Do a pass through all the gears WOT and see if it slips. That's probably the best indicator of the clutches' condition. Coolant smell? Check the resovoir and see if it is leaking. Check the oil and see if it is a milkshake color. Ticking? How loud? A tick can come from a lot of things from minor or major. It needs more investigation into the condition of the car than a simple drive plus the tech may be trying to get some work in the shop.

The first rule in buying a car like this is, "never get emotionally committed to the car. If things don't seem right, be ready and ABLE to just walk away." And that is what you did. I would have done it a bit differently. First I would get a Carfax to see something about the history of the car. How many owners? How many miles did each owner put on the car? Was it ever in an accident? This is good info that you can't get someplace else, and it only costs $30. Then I would have gotten recommendations on an independent shop in the area from someone on either this board, or on Pelican. (You ended up stumbling into one of the premier shops in CA - TRE. They have a great reputation.) Then I would call the shop to get the details on how they do a PPI, what they check, etc. Then I would arrange for the seller to take the car to the shop for the PPI. If he won't do that, you have your first reason to walk away. Then you will get a call and/or a fax from the shop that did the PPI. I always have them fax me the results. I want a hard copy. I also ask them for a general view of the car, taking into account all of their tests and examination. Any PPI will include a test drive. But the test drive is usually the LAST thing that the shop will do, not the first. You actually paid the price for a PPI, in your round trip airfare. But you didn't get the inspection that you needed. If the shop finds something wrong with the car, and they usually will - it's a used car!!! - then you need to know if it is something minor, or major. What will it cost to fix it?? And sometimes you will get strange things out of the PPI. When I had the PPI done on the 996 I just bought, the shop asked me that "as long as we have the car in here, do you want us to put the LN Engineering replacement IMS bearing in the engine?" HUH?? I just asked for a PPI, not major engine work!! If you are being picky, and you should be picky in selecting a 996 - there are lots of them around - you will likely have 2 or 3 PPI's done before you decide to buy the car that you had inspected. THEN, you get a commitment from the seller to sell the car to you and only you. And then and only then do you go out and buy your airline ticket. You kind of did things backwards, but ended up at the same spot with less information, but the same money spent. Hmmmmmmmm larry

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This is great advice for potential owners and I'm sure a lot of enthusiasts on this board are also willing to look at one local to them to give their 2 cents or opinion in addition to the PPI. In fact, I would see if there were any forum volunteers first before even forking over the cash for PPI. Stage 1 inspection(aesthetic/subjective driving condition done by fellow member) followed up by a Stage 2(PPI done by a mechanic). But I'm glad you walked away.

Anybody can fry a clutch in short order. Also the ticking can easily just be needing an oil change. But eh, good luck shopping.

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Thanks Larry, Great info, i was just a bit excited, cuz there was a 2002 out there also very nearby that i had pretty much made a deal on the night before and worked on it for almost 3 weeks, but he sold it THAT MORNING AND DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO TELL ME OR ANSWER MY CALLS OR TEXT SO I THOUGHT MAYBE HIS MORNING WAS JUST BUSY AND WHEN I WENT OUT THERE I'D GET TO SEE THAT ONE TOO..(wasn't meant to be i guess) So when i saw this one, talked to teh guy, ran both carfax & autocheck i figured i wanna be DONE with this Porsche Obsession that has taken me over, and i'll just go out there..i jumped the gun and the car turned out to have issues... Now yes its a USED CAR, ofcourse should have issues, but when someone tells you Ticking is NORMAL- Just changed Clutch and its perfect then those things turn out to be Wrong you get a bad feeling, and I'm glad i walked away..even though the car had the exact options i wanted! My Plan was to see it, then STAY THE NIGHT IN L.A and the next morning take it to do a full PPI, again too excited..lol..

A good friend just went through this same deal. It was his first Porsche and he was ready to pull the trigger on a lot of cars. Luckily with what I hope was my telling him to think things over. He passed on about 10 cars, 4 pretty serious to finally end up with a pristine 88. However it may feel that there is never the right car for you then all of a sudden one shows up. It shouldn't be considered "the one" because it's available. It should be "the one" when your feelings about the owner, the history of the car, and everything about the whole transaction works. I would worry when a seller tries to shove ice cream up your *** every time you ask a question about problems. A requests for a PPI normally weeds out the ones with known problems. If you are out of state and the owner has to drive it to the mechanic, already knowing that he's going to find something, he's more than likely going to pass on all that work. Happened to my buddy on a couple, when he asked for the PPI and all of a sudden he hears about this accident that was not on the CarFax(but professionally done, [cough]) etc etc.

I had all three of those symptoms with my car 4 months after I bought my car. I fixed them when I did the IMS upgrade myself. 1. Ticking was a loose spark plug (very common) 2. Coolant smell was a leaky coolant tank (very common) 3. Lubed the clutch lever when trans was removed (very common) Research led me to all three solutions.

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Dude, come on in to the 21st Century with the rest of us. Are you really that ignorant?

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That joke is geared for our bmw friends... Your better off walking away...the right car will jump out at you.

i always pay more attention to the owner of the car then the car itself. seller can prep their car very well and hide a lot of things that even ppi will not reveal. but one cannot change his personality. i'll speak to the seller for 30 min on the phone to make a decision to continue or not. TRE is very very well respected. if they tell me they dont feel 100%, i walk. 996 is not a rare car. you can find them very easy, no need to be hurried. good l uck in your next target.

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Ignorant? Fvckin really? It appears humor left the building.

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Hell, I used to live in Atlanta, and I thought it was funny... But then, I'm a little off that way... Dude, get off your thin-skinned high horse and enjoy life with the rest of us. Are you really that sensitive?

op I'm sorry, but that C/L ad has so many red flags. Why did you waste your time in the first place? All caps. Vague to non-existant information. But the seller manages to squeeze in what a great deal someone is getting. And the capper is when they say what they might or would do instead with the car should someone not take them up on their great deal. Consider in an education and you ought to be sending that ppi shop a big tip for saving you massive $$$ and hassle imo. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SACRIFICING MY 2003 PORSCHE CARERRA-BLACK-6 SPEED BEAUTY (WOODLAND HILLS) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 2010-10-12, 8:43AM PDT Reply to: see below -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SACRIFICING MY 2003 PORSCHE CARERRA-BLACK-6 SPEED BEAUTY SO MANY EXTRAS MUST SELL THIS WEEKEND. WAS GOING TO TRADE IN AND DECIDED TO GIVE A GREAT DEAL TO SOMEONE. $24,975 OBO [phone removed]

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Yup i agree, but i went out there thinking i would get to c 2 cars..oh well..Also i did post the shops name on 2 forums and the techs name as well..i believe thats better than a "good tip" its a great referral!