Expo Motorcars in Houston

Does anybody have any experience with Expo Motorcars in Houston? http://www.expomotorcars.com/Expomotors.htm They are selling a nice 2002 996 cab at what I think seems to be a reasonable price... Ebay nr 4628021247

I am also curious about them as well. They always seem to have some low priced P cars. I would guess their cars are purchased at auctions?? Also anyone done any business with Nxcess in Houston? Was just looking at a 03 C2 they have listed on Fleabay. Thanks in advance. FS

45k looks like a good price for that, it looks really clean. Heated seats and clear side markers, nice!

Advertised as still under warranty? In service date shows Feb 02'. Didn't see any pre-owned warranty 6yr/100K info in ad.

No personal experience with either one, but have passed by their shops several times. They're literally just minutes from each other, as well as from another similar outfit all long the same freeway. Although they're high-end specialty retailers, these shops are typically hit-or-miss, so due diligence is a must. Everything depends on the PPI.

They sell repaints and repaired cars. YUCK>

Live in Houston, been to those SW Fwy guys a number of times. Don't buy sight unseen.......you'll be sorry

I have gone by there to look at cars I had seen advertised & they never had "those" cars......almost like a bait & switch. Kinda left a sour taste in my mouth after that.

Are you speaking from experience? I have also been watching them for a while, and the impression I have is that they are usually priced lower than expected, which concerns me. Anyone here actually buy from them that can give us some details? Their feedback is very good given the number of transactions they have done.

I have some experience in not buying from them. they are experts at taking the photos and in my expereince (twice) the cars were not in the advertised condition once I saw them in person. I think they use too many canned descriptions of the condition, etc and that is one of the reasons for the mismatch between the actual condition and the stated condition. Also, about 2 years or so ago, they really did have some great prices if you were willing to sacrifice on the condition but today the prices arent that great compared to the other cars out there. As someone else said, don't buy sight unseen ....

I looked at a 2003 996 there when I was looking for a car. Photos on the web looked great, but the engine was filthy. They wanted too much for it. I passed. A friend of mine went to look at a 996 there and they told him it was in perfect shape. He opened the boot and saw that a bolt was missing from a ill aligned replacement fender. He could tell it was wrecked. Didn't buy. Really out of all of them I would only trust Memorial 1 Imports. Jurgen Steiner owns the place and does all the mechanical work on many awesome cars. I think they do a good job in finding well conditioned cars. Nxcess and Expo I would not buy sight unseen. I can run by and check a car out if need be at some point. Just give me some notice. I don't live too far from there, but need to be able to fit in the time.

BTW- I think you can find some good cars at those places. I am just saying check it out thoroughly before buying, and I would get a professional to check it out. In fact if you saw one there you liked take it up the street to Jurgen and Memorial 1 and he will be glad to check it out for you for I think 60 bucks. If he gives you an okay then maybe get a PPI.

Yes, I have direct experience with them, about 3-4 years ago. I bought a 2002, Lexus IS300 from them through Ebay that had about 9K miles on it. They are still in business, so I can't think they are selling total junk entirely, or they wouldn't last I assume, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I had a third party inspection done, Expo welcomed the inspection and made the car available. The inspection said it was very clean (like new) and didn't appear to have any accidents/paint/body work they could identify. So, I flew out to Houston, luckily I have friends that live there and they put me up in their home. Next day, I went downtown to their operation. First impressions, they have a lot of imports/exotics at the shop, and the showroom was clean. It was drizzling out, and their roof had a few leaks into the warehouse/showroom, but not a big deal I suppose. The car was inside the showroom and first sight, looked very nice. I looked this thing over very hard exterior and interior, I could not find a darn thing wrong with it. Believe me, I tried but just couldn't. The car was exactly as advertised on Ebay and photos did the car justice that were posted. The car drove perfect. It had about 9k miles on it when I bought it if I remember correctly. I have sold it since for other vehicles. They claimed of course it was bought from local dealer/auction that was a trade-in...blah blah, who knows the validity of their story. Anyway, gave them the money, signed the docs, and drove the vehicle all the way back to Tampa, FL from Houston pretty much non-stop except for gas/food/toilet. When I got back (probably a little late by this point, but still paranoid) I had my neighbor (insurance adjuster) who looks at wrecks/repairs all day long on all types of vehicles look the car over as a favor. He could not find anything wrong with it. If it had been wrecked, he certainly said it was an immaculate repair job and impossible to tell. Which lead me to believe it wasn't a wreck, but who knows, it ran solid and drove excellent. The sales guys attitude was indifferent for the most part, you know, let's get the paperwork done, give me a check and get out. But they do this so much and just want to get paid and are just brokers. They have no interest in the car itself or love affair with it..just like Drs/Nurses in the ER, they become indifferent and immune to the whole situation and no real emotional attachment to these things..so I can't say I expect any different from them. They are turning a lot of business for sure and always come in below typical price you would expect to pay elsewhere, for nearly 4 years or more now. So make your own conclusions as to the longetivy-authenticity argument on that. Here is my opinion and problem with any used car, especially from these "exotic boutiques." Who knows what has really happened to the car, and nodoby is going to tell you the real facts typically. No state law requires you reveal any information about accidents etc...they just answer the question "not that I know of" which is the hook to get them off...if it had been wrecked, the won't tell you. So, it is up to you and relying on somebody/yourself to be able to identify body work/repair and judge whether it has been wrecked..and as my neighbor says, sometimes they do such a good job, that it is nearly impossible to tell, unless it was on the rack and frame twisted, and even then they are repairing the clamp marks to cover that fact up at some shops now. Anyway, I am in the market for a used 996 or M3, and I am running into the same type of situation, hard to pull the trigger, even if you can see the vehicle first hand, and say for sure you know it's history...Carfax doesn't help sometimes either. It is just hard to really know unless you owned it from day 1 yourself, and it can be an expensive gamble with imports/exotics particularly. I would definitely have a 3rd party inspection, if somebody is also willing to go by there from the forum and check it out, even better, the more people to look at the vehicle the better chance of catching something. Heck, pay for 2 independent PPIs if you are concerned, it's only a extra $100-200 dollars, and maybe worth the piece of mind on the $40K investment (investment, that is a joke, it's a car, more like black hole) And of course, if you pull the trigger, be prepared if you don't like something when you show up from out of town. Have a round trip ticket and go home without a car if necessary. Ensure your deposit is refundable. I demanded it the deposit be refundable in writing, and they gave it to me. I don't care about Ebay and binding contract crap, if the car is bogus and they are selling a piece of garbage, I will take the 1 bad feedback out of my 200 and let my history speak for itself. I ain't taking a bad car from a person just because of Ebay/bidding non-sense, this a huge ticket item, not a stinking troll doll. Sorry for the long winded reply, but my experience is first hand, and was good with Expo and seemed to all check out, car was better than expected. Of course, I am sure you can find somebody that has the opposite story of mine if you look long enough. Sidebar, I was talking to my friend the adjuster about how to identify damage to a vehicle and he tried to provide some insight, but said some shops are so good it is very hard to tell, but some people can identify body work/paint better than others. So keep that in mind, 4 people who look at something, even experts, could come to different conclusions at times. One last thing, my friend said last week at a local body shop he frequents there was a Mercedes Maybach!? He didn't know how to pronounce it, but I knew which vehicle he was talking about It was in the shop with accident damage...the estimate......$150K...don't know what happened to it, but the bumper he said was like $15K alone Too funny....so it could be worse, you could end up buying that vehicle and not even know what happened.