Where did you search for your car?/what can you recommend 1st time Pcar(996) shopper

Hey everyone I've done alot of research about the 996's and what I think I would like to find in a 2002-04 996 Carrera. Problem is,... I've read / followed some stories of what sound like some really great cars that people are picking up and I just don't seem to find the same quality of cars where I'm looking. Basicallly I've been using Ebay / Autotrader.com / Cars.com and thats its. The closest I've come to pulling the trigger was a Seal Grey Carrera with Black Sports Seats at a dealer on LongIsland NY / I got them down to low $26's from $28k and the car had about 52,000 miles with what looked like a decent history and the options I would want (advanced technic and Sports seats) Are there any other recommendations you can make for where / how to direct my search? It would be my first Porsche ever, and an early 40th birthday present to myself, so I want to get it right. Any recommendations / advice would be appreciated Cheers Will

Porsche Pre-Owned, Rennlist Classifieds.......

Thanks I forgot to mention that (Rennlist Classifieds) , I've also been watching Rennlist but there aren't alot of 996's that come up I haven't tried Porsche Previously owned, I'll have to search that Anyone else

Just a quick search of Carmax revealed 5 911's in your year range as well.

Youll find yours when you find it simple as that. Looks like youre doing it all right and youre looking at the main places. Try yahoo auto as well....i researched a ton kn there as well when i was thinking of buying in cali and driving home along the pch (one of my bucket list things). Enjoy the search...makes finding yours all that much more enjoyable

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that site has seemed to have alot of 4S's and convertibles I really have my heart set on a seal grey Carrera - black interior or maybe a silver with black interior. I'm gonna stick to my color choices because I don't want to compromise on my first P-car

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I have to remind myself of that (finding "the one") Even though I'm not particularily fateful, I do believe that maybe the LongIsland car wasn't meant to be and my search will hopefully find my ideal car but in even better condition.............. Although its a downer because I had lined up the PPI and how to get there (I live 9hrs from LongIsland) W

I found mine in the newspaper classifieds, of all places. The previous owner was an older guy, naturally, but not that old (50s?).

I think you're looking in the right areas, it will just take some time to find the right car. My first 996 Cab took 15 months of looking nearly daily before I found the perfect car with all the right stuff in the colors I wanted. My Turbo Cab took about a year and I finally made a few concessions in color choice and several options that I originally wanted. Instead I chose to get a near perfect example with very low miles and impeccably serviced. There were less than 4200 996 Turbo Cabs produced for the US and the odds of finding one for sale at the right time, right price, near mint condition, low miles, right color and options may not have even existed. Be patient and you will find your car.

I think the current inventory is a bit thin. The great deals that some folks here seem to think are everywhere have largely gone away. Used car inventories across all types are very low. My local dealer has tried to buy my car several times recently. But they are out there. A few tips (I've bought a few and found a few others for friends): 1. Search widely. Rennlist and PCA give you eyes nationwide. You may need to fly or even buy sight unseen after lots of pictures, someone looks the car over and you get a thorough PPI. I did his. Worked great. 2. Learn option codes and tricks. It will help you sort through lots of ads relatively quickly. For example, I wanted bi-xenon headlights, but lots of online ads did not specify options. I learned that Bose was bundled with bi-xenons in a package. So if I saw Bose labeled speakers, the car probably had the headlights. 3. Search Tempest aggregates Craigslist so you can shop it nationwide fairly quickly. 4. Cargurus.com is another cool site. However, it mostly lists dealer offered cars. 5. Tell everyone locally that you are looking seriously. Some people are thinking about selling, just have not said anything. 6. Patience. It's out there

Here are a couple I found with cargurus. I then tracked down the actual dealer listings. And remember that dealer initial asking prices are always high. 2004 Seal Gray coupe 49k $33k asking price MD http://www.eurobethesdamercedes.com/...aspx?id=352146 2002 Seal Gray coupe 62k $29k asking price TX http://www.drivewithpride.net/web/us...Texas/5379950/ That only took 10 minutes. Imagine what you can do if you stay up all night!

You may also try craigslist. My 996 was offered on Craigstlist and EBay motors, and oddly I found it on a search query through Craigslist before I found it on Ebay. Try onecraigs.com, it searches all of craigslist, and then you can decide if it's too far away, etc. I live in Fla, and bought mine from AZ, and had it shipped. Had a thorough PPI done, and lots of pictures. Good luck, DS

PCA membership and porsche.com website may help you in the aspect that the cars sold there may have documented service history. RL members who are upgrading, usually sell some quality Pcars, and with decent mods and "retrofitted" pieces ( dare I say). Also, if you pay for a RL membership, you have access to members only classifieds. Good luck in your search.

Believe it or not but I Googled "2002 Porsche" and found mine at a local Mercedes Benz dealership.

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+1 I found mine on craigslist after a 1 1/2 year search using all the sites mentioned above. Don't get in a hurry. Wait for "the one" You will know it when you see it. Then get a PPI at a respected Indy. Good luck.

+1 on hooking up with your local PCA region. By doing so you will most likely find a member who will assist you in arranging a PPI, finding a well regarded indy for service, etc., AND you'll be making new p-car friends! relinuca PCA Ohio Valley Region

I found mine by working with a broker in CO. He has access to a lot of vehicles that are being traded amongst dealerships. Got me exactly what I was looking for. PM me and I'll send you his contact info.

rpm's S2 = thanks for the tips about the options packages etc..... -Xenons are another must for me (on top of sports seats) and its been hard to figure out whether all cars I've looked at automatically had them this one at drive with pride: http://www.drivewithpride.net/web/us...Texas/5379950/ is on my list, but it doesn't have sports seats and its got some unanswered questions about its past (it was in Baton Rouge during Hurricane Katrina) Invius = thanks, I never knew that link for craigslist 2k3TTMIA = I've actually been thinking about joining PCA, just so that I would have access to their classifieds, but I wasn't certain how many cars are actually listed there BabylonBoots = PM sent To all = thanks for all the input and support. Will

I used all of the usual suspects; Cars.com, Autotrader.com, eBay and Craigslist. For those I used automated tools that pushed updates to me. I also manually checked Rennlist, Pelican and a couple of other spots. I bought a Carfax 3 pack (or was if 5?) and stood at the ready to run reports for cars that looked good. I was willing to travel, but in the end, found one about 50 miles from me via Craigslist that was inadvertently listed as a trade, not a sale. A few days later, it was mine (after PPI, etc). Good luck, and as others have noted, patience is highly recommended. It doesn't sound like you are looking for anything to unusual, so be patient.

mine came from Ebay. Talked to the owner for a while. reserached his *** on the internet. Had a PI stop out and make sure the car actualy exsisted befor I let him have the money. PI took pix too so i was able to compare his pix to the sales ad pix, learned how long he had the car blah blah blah. no PPI. Paid 3000 less than I was willing to pay for it. Been driving it like I stole it every sinse. It had a few things wrong with it. But I feel he was just too book smart and not enough common sense smart to know. I see people on here all the time getting PPI's doing this and doing that.. and still drive it 50 miles and it quit. You have to do what gives you peas of mind.

Found mine on EBay but visited the dealer face to face and test drove it. Ended up buying from him then closing out the auction afterwards.

My C2 was from a dealer as a CPO car, I would not call it a steal yet the car was optioned so closely to what I would have selected had I been purchasing new, and the artic silver over black was my preference, so I pulled the trigger. Really appreciated the CPO warranty, especially to find that I was treated just as if I purchased the car new. Took care of everything big and small, including rattles, that just blew my mind. The C4S, after searching for nearly 1-1/2 years, popped up here in a post but not as "for sale". Took a great deal of communication with the owner but in the end it all worked out. Optioned nearly identically to the C2 and purchased sight unseen and 13K miles later all is still well. As others mentioned, I do believe that the right car will find you and when it does you will simply know it. Enjoy the hunt because it can be fun. Not as fun as driving the car though

found mine on autotrader. 17 matches for an 02-04 996 for $30K max price: http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...rch=true&Log=0

I found mine on Craigslist (So Cal area specifically). Most of these cars were sold in So Cal, so it's a great place to look for them. While looking I also checked out eBay (would never use), cars.com, autotrader and various dealership sites. No PPI and it's been treating me well.

you may laugh... but ebay... he was looking for more exposure, I was looking for a great example. We both won. BTW, I didn't buy via ebay, but he was local.

My car was in Panorama. I always try to buy from a Porsche enthusiast - and particularly one that loves them enough to replace it with a newer model. That increases the chances that you'll get a well maintained/sorted car. It will also be a car that the "community" knows the history about it.

All good searches listed above... Just be ready to pull the trigger when the one you want pops up.

What was the problem with the one for $26k? All of this is great advice, but if you are expecting to get a perfect pristine virgin 10 year old car with low mileage and one owner for $19k it won't matter. Most people exaggerate the deal they got... this is why there is always a disconnect (with every forum and every marque) between what forum logic seems to dictate is realistic and what people find when they look. You say that you found a car you wanted with records in order and got them down to 26k for reasonable mileage but you didn't go for it. So I assume you are looking for an even better car for even less money. I'd say the search will be long (long enough for additional depreciation to kick in)

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I�m not expecting a pristine car for $26k (or $19k for that matter) with all features I�m looking for and both RMS and IMS, I�m a lot more realistic than that. Really it was an issue of the one for $26k having some concerns (to me) -It was a NorthEastern car with registration dates and service dates during winter months(showing winter use). Cold Northeastern winters aren�t fantastic for cars, let alone the potential that this car saw road salt ��������personally I would really prefer a southern car from a warm+dry climate. -The clutch had been replaced I believe 3 times in only 52,000miles !!!??!!!!! (bad drivers? / abuse? / something wrong internally? ?????????????) -It had multiple owners(I believe 4 or 5). Not exactly sure why this stands out for me, but I guess I would just prefer to buy someones �BABY� than just someones �TOY� (usually the cars that have been cared for the best are the cars that were someones �BABY� that have been held onto the longest as a �special car� etc�) -The dealer absolutely refused to either confirm or not-confirm if the IMS and RMS had been done. It wasn�t a deal breaker for me if they weren�t done, but it was a bit weird how sketchy the dealer was being about it. -This car had a front plate bracket and from my experience with used sports cars, sometimes the plate brackets leave scratches and holes that necessitate repainting (I couldn�t get better pictures of the front plate area) Will

I�m continuing my search (including the newfound ideas that everyone has given me) and I really appreciate all the input from everyone to this thread. Thank you everyone Cheers Will p.s. - I'll post news as I have it