Any Experience with Expo Motorcars in Houston

Anyone have any experiences buying from Expo Motorcars in Houston? There's a 1999 996 Cab Tiptronic that I've been keeping an eye on that has been for sale for 2 months with no buyers. It apprears to be in pristine condition, 42K miles, asking price is $44,500. VIN is WP0CA2993XS655422 It seems like a reasonable price (maybe a tad low), but because it hasn't sold yet, it makes me suspicious. Can anyone offer some firsthand experience with the dealer and is the price about right or too low/high? Thanks, Mark Wheeler Go Navy, Beat Army! <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Mark, my best friend bought a 993 twin turbo from them (if their ebay name is y2k-usa). Car was fine. It did have a few more stone chips on the front end than the description and photos showed but otherwise he was happy. He felt like he got a fair price also. I drove the car and liked it also. He later traded it for a 996TT.

Scott, Thanks for the info. Any idea why this car isn't selling?? Is it the Tiptronic?? Are they that hard to get rid of?

a friend of mine who tracks his M3 and NSX said that TX and FL have more lenient salvage title laws, meaning if it were a CA car, it might have to have a salvage title but in those states, they can legally say it has a "Clean Title." I haven't done any research on the matter myself, but I do trust him. i've also wondered why all the really inexpensive P's on eBay are usually from Houston or FL. hope that helps.

oh, i should add that he bought his NSX from FL. they said Clean Title and while working on his NSX one day he noticed the frame had been rewelded. so thats how he decided to a do a little research on the matter.

I bought my 99 996 C2 Cab from them. The car was as-advertised and the price was about $8-10K less than I could find the equivalent for here in the SF Bay Area. I placed a small deposit, I hired a private inspector to check everything over before I sent the balance. It passed inspection with flying colors so I flew to Houston and drove my new 911 back to CA. What a terrific way to become aquainted with my new baby! Jorge Olgivas was the sales person I used and I'd recommend him...he is a "no pressure" guy and seems to be a straight shooter. Good luck! -Joe

There was a thread on Expo a few weeks ago.

you will notice all their posts are the basic same description. I purchased a 1999 996 and the description said like glass to every panel on the car and when i recieved it the stone chips were visible on many parts of the car. Many of the options listed were not on my vehicle and even the color was not correct (Advertised as one type of Silver but the paint code was totally different even though it looks silver). A quick look at the options on the bonnet of the car reveiled this. Also my car woud not pass inspection in Pa. and they met me half way to get the car proper. In the future i would only buy a car from them if i inspected the car myself.

I recently purchased a 2001 996 cab tiptronic here in northern CA, so I have a couple comments based on my experience... For one, in the resale market, there is no premium placed on a tip car even though it was originally sold off a higher list price than a manual. In fact, I think most dealers feel they are harder to move, so you might find one that was taken in on a trade, but the dealer is motivated not to have it sitting around too long. Second, there was a significant change to the tiptronic in 2000. The newer version allows you to downshift on the steering wheel even when the main gearshift is still in automatic mode. This is in my opinion a fantastic feature. Start merging on the highway, and without lifting your hands off the wheel pop down a gear or two, feel the revs build nearly instantaneously and zoom off. 10 seconds later the car automatically reverts to pure automatic mode. You can't do that in a MY1999 tip.

Thanks guys for all the insight and advice. And thanks to Joseph for sharing your personal experience with the dealer in question. I appreciate it.