996 search. What do you all think about this one??

Came across this 996 in Houston. Thoughts? concerns? https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d...628497110.html

'Looks' nice. If you know what to look for on these cars, go check it out if you're local? I have full carbon interior as well. Looks awesome aside from some cracking...or I just say patina. 😎 good luck!

It has a rebuilt title. Are those the miles since the rebuild? There was no factory carbon fiber option in 2000 that I am aware of. I personally would skip it due to the rebuilt title, but if you do consider it, get a thorough PPI.

Is it $17,500 or $13,500. Rebuilt title. Little to no description. Concerns? Uh, yea lots of them.

First thought is too good to be true. Highly optioned Low miles Also 17,500 or 13,500? If you are close go see it in person. My bet is that the car is not real

Seller states he bought at auction, rebuilt title due to flood damage. He found the previous owner and he states it was not flooded . Problem with rear quarter window, leak enough water to destroy the immobilizer. He replace the carpet and immobilizer and says it runs perfect. He can verify the mileage as correct. Got a friend there who can check it out for me. But for sure, PPI would need to be done. NO IMS/RMS replacement.

Sounds like you need a thorough ppi for sure.

Run! Flooded cars will rust in places you can't see and once it starts, it really accelerates fast, especially if any salt water was involved. Why would the seller lie?

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I totally agree....this was a flooded car....in fact I kind of remember seeing it....may be worth half that its listed for....issues will constantly be popping up.

Those photos aren't all from the same time either. The first interior picture shows a regular black center console and leather lid, and single DIN stereo, while later pictures show the carbon console and lid and double DIN install. Also it says it's a 2000, but has a glovebox? Looks like a hodgepodge of parts, and/or wrong information. Impossible to tell from small photos whether it's any good or not, you gotta go see it in person and judge.

Your first clue to run...not walk...is HOUSTON. Re-built title tells you that you cannot run fast enough.

He's selling to buy the family a boat upon discovering that the 996, though buoyant, did not operate in flood waters as well as he had hoped.

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Here is a couple more pics. I asked if he had any before replacing the carpet.

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I especially like the leather covered Vice Grip steering wheel.

Flooded cars at a minimum will have all kinds of electrical issues, I think there are other 996 out there for a similar price that while may have some more miles may be a better deal over all.

Hey Forrest- RUN!

Even if the car is indeed decent, the rebuilt/flood/salvage title is going to pretty much kill your chances of resale as the miles increase. Another factor to consider is insurance on a rebuilt/salvage vehicle, especially a Porsche. Many of the most known insurance carriers will not touch a car that has been declared a total loss in the past, and if they do they usually sub it out to their high risk affiliates at super high premiums.

If it is for a driver (not a show car) and you can do work yourself, go for it. These are not complicated cars, and used parts are cheap and readily available. If the car (especially the motor) passes a PPI, I wouldn�t hesitate. Just dont expect to sell it in the future at a profit, given the salvage title and potential flood history.

I feel like I am making a confession here... I grew up in Houston and have a lot of exposure to rebuilt cars/trucks. I have owned several myself, starting in the early 90s. My first sports car was a rebuilt 93 Mustang GT (gosh I would love to own that now)! However, I have bought these from trusted friends that own auto dealerships with shops that do the work in-house. In the late 90s I even bought a rebuilt Land Rover and drove it for about 4 years and got very lucky, no major problems at all! I buy my cars to drive... and once I get a few years use out of them I am satisfied. This 911 will never be a show car or a money maker... do your home work and if you feel good about it, do it! Heck plenty of people have bought 911s after a solid PPI and ended up paying a ton in repairs just the same. What the worse that can wrong???

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Yeah, this describes me. I would not hesitate to replace the IMS myself. If it passed teh PPI and what seller says seems to line up with what PPI discovers, I might pull the trigger. And this car will be driven. It will not be a garage queen, or something I would expect to make money off when and if I sold it. So I got some decisions to make on what I want to do.

There are two prices listed? Either way I personally wouldn't but it with a salvage title, but at $13,500 I would say sure take the gamble if you'd like but at $17,500 I would say there are many more options available. Why take the risk when you can find another? The low milage would be of concern to me as well especially since its not a museum car a lot can go wrong with a car thats sits, more so than one that is actually driven. You are most likely going to be spending around 3k right away on the IMS replacement so now you are into this car for 20+k, way too much! I would look for a car with a clean title, around 60k miles and a replaced IMS and I bet you grab it around that 17k mark.

Go see the car, give the owner $15 bucks for gas and tell him you want it on for the next two hours and give it a really good test drive. Most leaks, electrical gremlins and strange noises will show up. Connect a scanner to it as well to check for error codes. If all is good, then make him an offer that you can live with.

I've been in contact with the owner too. The price was $17,500 and then dropped to $13,500 a week later. I was hoping to see it drop yet again this weekend. It has the original IMS bearing, so IMS needs to be replaced. I would replace the IMS bearing myself with an IMS Solution. I would likely put the same clutch back in since it has so few miles. I'd made plans to go look at it earlier this week until he updated the ad and revealed the rebuilt title. I'm not too excited to buy a car that would be difficult to resell...or even insure. My last car was a BMW 135i...so I really don't want something else with annoying intermittent electrical issues. BTDT, went and bought a Porsche instead.

I just got a message, he has dropped the price to $12,150. Track car!

That price is getting closer and closer to what a used engine would bring. Normally this would be a no-brainer, just walk away. But at some point (price) the decision gets harder.

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Show up with $9500 cash he's desperate lol. Buyer pool is very limited with a salvage title.

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I agree, not many would touch this with a 10' pole...

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I figure @ $9,500 he really can't do wrong, if he had to part it out he could recoup his money. I would just be so nervous of the long term damage from water, a small electrical problem here, a major one there, medium one a year later... Diagnostic time for electrical can add up fast because a small rotted out ground in some side panel can be tough to diagnose.

"A little water leaked in around the window seals" I don't believe anything someone says when selling a flood car. The story is always something like "the water only made it up to the bottom of the doors".

Super clean laguna blue Miata Damage =salvage title in TX thanks to insurance company Repair =rebuilt title after lots of paperwork in TX I am not endorsing this car. That said insurance companies salvage good cars all too often. Here is a photo of my �salvage title Miata.� I�m applying for the rebuilt title soon. 2nd photo after repair. I have all receipts and about 10 photos of the repair if you want to see them too. This damage was limited to the rear bumper, license plate filler (out of production so no OEM except used = salvage title most likely) and the trunk pan. If your budget is double what I have in this car, you will not be to buy a laguna blue Miata this nice. Try.

It is a flooded car, in the pictures, you can see the interior needed to be gutted, WD40 can required to remove stuff bolted to the floor pan, and appears that some spots had to be resprayed. That's why the price is so low. It's hard to tell from far away, but from the picture alone I'd say that whoever put it back together took care and did a decent job. And that is why I wouldn't hesitate to go and have a closer look. What to consider: potential engine or mechanical issues notwithstanding, I'd treat the rebuilt title as just that--loss of value. What I don't like: "No issues with this car at all." Rebuilt title is an issue, and should've been listed clearly at the outset. Also, have a careful look at the weld seams, peeling sealant, electrical issues, etc. Regardless of it's history, if it's redone properly and has been fully functional for a while, you might find more value in it than your cost.

Seller is a member of RL FB and if his story checks out, this could be a fair deal at $9-10K...Don't expect to get it back in the long run but enjoy the car. It only has 19K miles on it

With great risk there is a remote chance of great reward. You really need to be a true risk taker to go after these types of deals. I've had good luck with most of my risky Porsche buys and on every one of them I was told not to buy them for all the same reasons you�re getting. My first one was a 2011 Cayman S with 160,000 miles and zero maintenance history. It was a truly amazing car that I drove for a year and 5k miles and spent less than $500 in maintenance on it. I sold it for more then I paid for it and I just heard from the new owner that he has put 15k miles on it and only done front brakes and plugs. Next I bought a 2007 Boxster S with a flood title. Very similar to your story. All that had to be done was the immobilizer. I Drove it a few 1000 miles and fixed a few minor things that had nothing to do with any flood issues. Sold it for a profit. Lastly I just recently bought a 2002 911 C4 with 107,000 miles. I bought this without going to see it and already knowing it needed quite a bit of repairs and doing IMS and RMS. The jury is still out I on this one but I don�t think I will come out ahead. But on the two first cars I did a lot of research and looked the cars over very carefully. Only did PPI on Cayman. So listen to what everyone is telling you and if still interested findout as much as you can. But know that if you buy it you are taking a big risk.

I'd buy it. I don't like silver and black, and I would still buy it for around $10-12k. Deal with the flood issues if any, and drive it like ya stole it. Put in an IMS, and likely go for another 100k miles. If elec stuff breaks, repair or replace it. Keep a few cans of De-Ox-It in the frunk and go. Not much that can fail catastrophic from electrons.

I bought mine as a literal "bring a trailer" car off Craigslist. It had an electrical issue that ruined two alternators and one battery. I was not able to test drive it because it would just die when the battery ran out of power. I did hear it run though. I suspected a bad ground and asked the previous owner about it. He said he had taken it to the shop and he was done messing with it. It did indeed have a bad ground from the battery to the body, and that was the problem. I took a chance my car because: 1. I was only paying about four thousand dollars more than a roller, so my downside was limited. 2. I was dealing directly with the second owner who had owned it for years. He was a straight up guy. 3. It had some maintenance records and documents back to the original purchase. 4. It has a clean title and clean Carfax, although the PO did disclose some non-structural damage he had repaired that I wouldn't have known about if he hadn't mentioned it. A flood car would be more concerning due to likely electrical gremlins that will appear over time. The salvage title will also limit what you can sell it for in the future. This wouldn't necessarily stop me from buying it, but I would have it checked over thoroughly and want to buy it cheep enough that I can spend some money on it in the future without feeling like it is a money pit, or that I should have bought a better car.

I've also heard that insurance company's had written new cars off for condensation on the interior's (maybe I exaggerate a little) and based on the story, a thorough PPI would make the risk low on this one. I would not kick it out of bed yet!

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If so, probably due to mold. It looks like the seller pretty much gutted the interior on this one to clean it up, so hopefully mold will not be an issue.

If all that happened was some water getting in due to leaking top and supposedly only taking out the immobilizer, why did he remove so much of the interior? That and it's in Houston is very concerning and a red flag. Get the vin# and Google it. That can turn up some good info like maybe original pictures before it was sold. Also I use this https://www.mycarfax.com . It's great and free.

I am not about to debate this particular car, but it isn�t that difficult to remove the interior carpets on a 996. If the owner suspected any potential water intrusion, it isn�t such a huge deal to remove the seats and carpets to evaluate for potential evidence or damage.

I agree, but take a good look at the picture and you will see he removed a lot more then carpet and seats. I wiould only buy a flood title car if I was convinced that it only had very minor water incursion

I just got a message that he sold it. Which one of y'all picked it up?

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Not me, I ultimately decided that there were too many issues with title and being an ultralow mileage car. I will keep looking for a solid car with good Hx.

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I decided that the rebuilt title would cause me too many problems selling it in the future. I'm too old for irritating problems dealing with buyers. I told my friend to let me know if he wanted to go look at it and I'd take my Snap-on scanner, my Durametric, and my manometer and we could check most things out. Then if he wanted we could either get a PPI done locally, or take it to my place to do it ourselves. It is about an hour and a half away from my place. He was still "thinking about it" when I saw him yesterday. I'm still not back to 100%, so I didn't mind not going to look at it.