Is an OPC the best place to buy a Porsche from? - Page 2 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

I like the look of a 991 Carrera 4 GTS convertible I’ve seen at an OPC. I’m not an expert of the brand so all help would be appreciated. Is an OPC the best place to buy from or do they mark up the prices and I’d be better off buying elsewhere?

They will never be the cheapest but you will get a fully warranted car ... Whats your definition of 'best to buy from' because if its price, then no .... somewhere like Ashgoods or 911V will be cheaper ....

dibblecorse said: They will never be the cheapest but you will get a fully warranted car ... Whats your definition of 'best to buy from' because if its price, then no .... somewhere like Ashgoods or 911V will be cheaper .... I’ve had a few Maserati’s and I certainly wouldn’t buy from a main dealer in a rush. A good indie is far better.

I would buy from Ashgoods, Virgin 911, Cameron Sports Cars & JZM - all good independent Porsche dealers who sell only decent cars. You can put a Porsche Warranty on a car up to 15 years old that has passed the 111 point check at an OPC. There shouldn’t be a problem getting the inspection done even if you’re buying from an independent dealer, I’ve done this in the past. If anything comes up from the inspection, you can use this as a bartering tool. I would imagine like for like, Ashgoods will be between £8-10k lower than the same car at a Porsche dealership, JZM probably closest in price (but still lower by a few £k) with the others somewhere in between. Or, for the right car, in the right spec just buy from an OPC and get the two year, very good, warranty.

I bought my first 911 (used) from Leeds OPC and they looked after me well. I paid good money for the car as I wanted a particular spec and also a warranty as it was my first Porsche. I sold the car through RPM Technik which was painless, and I got to see the standard to which they go to inspect & prepare their cars for re-sale even when they already have a buyer in line. IMHO their standards are far higher than Leeds OPC. Fast forward a few weeks on from that and I sourced my current car through RPM as I knew they'd go the extra mile. I couldn't be happier. A good indie will be as good as, if not better than an OPC. My warranty transferred over from the previous owner with no trouble at all. Speak to Alex @ RPM Technik if you want to talk through your options. They may even source you a car that's exactly what you're after.

You need to be careful about some of the indies too… One mentioned in this thread is retailing a Cayman with bore score…

I bought, a then eight year old, 997.2 from one of the well known independents cited above. Within a day of ownership it became apparent it needed a front lower arm (they did sort it under their warranty). It had also been quite obviously weeping coolant for a while, from where the thermostat tube meets the housing, as I discovered after a couple of weeks (they sent me the clamp and I fitted it). How they missed these two when they inspect the car before they bought it into stock I don't know. What was more worrying was when CG told me the right front wing had had paint. Popped out the headlight (which was found to be newer than the left) and the wing was painted differently inside to the left. So more than paint, a whole wing in fact. Fortunately as all subequent checks revealled everything else was square, straight, etc. Did the suppying dealer know this? Perhaps, perhaps not.

I am another who had a bad experience with one of the specialists mentioned with a 997.1. Since bought from Romans International who were great. Also spoke to Stirlings and was very impressed by they guy there albeit he didn’t have quite the right car for me at the time.

Doesn’t bode well as these are the indies I’m looking at for my next car !

I have bought/dealt with various south-east based Porsche indi’s over the past 20 years, as well as OPC Mid-Sussex and Tonbridge. OPC M-S and Paragon are the people i still deal with and frankly i would happily buy a used car blind from Paragon, so high are their standards of pre sale prep. You generally get what you pay for with the indi’s.

Mortimers (in Billingshurst) were good to deal with, although a little punchy on prices. Reasonable buying experience though. Good stock too. JM

Bear in mind as well, that the Porsche warranty is on the car - rather than belonging to the owner. As such, if it's a private seller - that's selling a car with warranty on, it will automatically move to you. I bought 991.2 Turbo Cab from a private seller, a couple of years back - let Porsche know I was the new owner, and renewed it last year for another 3 years. Make sure the paperwork is all in order, and if it was due a service since the warranty was taken out - it was done, and you should be fine.

MrVert said: I would buy from Ashgoods, Virgin 911, Cameron Sports Cars & JZM - all good independent Porsche dealers who sell only decent cars. You can put a Porsche Warranty on a car up to 15 years old that has passed the 111 point check at an OPC. There shouldn’t be a problem getting the inspection done even if you’re buying from an independent dealer, I’ve done this in the past. If anything comes up from the inspection, you can use this as a bartering tool. I would imagine like for like, Ashgoods will be between £8-10k lower than the same car at a Porsche dealership, JZM probably closest in price (but still lower by a few £k) with the others somewhere in between. Or, for the right car, in the right spec just buy from an OPC and get the two year, very good, warranty. Add in RPM Technik.

funbobby said: Doesn’t bode well as these are the indies I’m looking at for my next car ! I'd go in eyes wide open. Tell the indie you want to see the car on the ramp. Have them pop out both headlamps (this takes a few seconds) and peer inside the wings with a tourch looking for differences. Buy a paint depth tester. Get a VCheck. Ask lots of questions. Its what they don't mention that is the problem. Consider an inspection. If they refuse an inspection walk away. If they say "you'd be wasting your money" ignore, the cost of an inspection is nothing compared to the grief of missing something.

Boxstercol said: You need to be careful about some of the indies too… One mentioned in this thread is retailing a Cayman with bore score… I’d love to know more but obviously you can’t name and shame on PH. Be very interesting if a new cayman owner comes on the forums saying they’ve bought a car from a dealer that is bore scored…. Any chance of asking how you know it’s got bore score?

Any recommendations for best mobile inspections then? just to be on the safe side.

funbobby said: Any recommendations for best mobile inspections then? just to be on the safe side. used these guys once. https://www.porscheinspections.com/ thought they were good

Cheib said: used these guys once. https://www.porscheinspections.com/ thought they were good Would you get a car from an OPC inspected?

JamesW said: Bear in mind as well, that the Porsche warranty is on the car - rather than belonging to the owner. As such, if it's a private seller - that's selling a car with warranty on, it will automatically move to you. I know what you mean - but the warranty stays with the car regardless of who owns it!

I would say it depends on the opc you are buying from. You obviously have more chance of challenging them on defects than an indie in my opinion given they are linked to the Porsche main dealer network I recently had a private sale cayman gt4 inspected and if came up with some issues - all fixable but it made me walk away. I think personally that’s £500 well spent rather than wasted The one I actually bought was from a specialist and I made sure vchecked the car. Then I rang the Porsche dealer direct and checked out the warranty, history and recent service details. I also then googled the number plate and did some more google searches. Plus on the dealer checked the fca number, companies house site and a few other places Some might say it’s over the top but you are spending a lot of money so best to do every check you can regardless of whether it’s private, indie, specialist or dealer. So I would find the right car and do as much checking as you can.. inspection wise I would recommend for extra piece of mind Hope this helps

I know a friend who went to look at a car being sold as a ‘mint example’ from one of the independents you mention at the top of the thread. He sent me images of a long long list of obvious faults on the car. It would have saved my friend a wasted trip if they’d just been honest from the start. Some poor buyer has now ended up with that car. To answer your question, yes you may pay a little more from a reputable and highly regarded Porsche main dealer, but it’s a price worth paying for peace of mind, and if anything does go wrong, you know they will answer your call and deal with it.

It depends on the car. I bought the 911 privately as it was an older car and much cheaper, I knew the risks and planned accordingly. My Macan was bought used approved from OPC simply because of the warranty. I can't say a bad word about OPC Bolton, and that warranty must have saved me nearly £10k in 3 years. I'll do the same for the next daily driver.

Buying private...you don't just go to see the car you go to see what the owner is like which often indicates how well the car has been looked after. OPC...you have no idea the history of the car.

My 2 penneth If you can find a cheaper than OPC car that has a complete Porsche service history and has been warrantied in the past (or best case, still has a warranty) the cost saved is prob worth the hassle factor of arranging and paying for a 111pt check and the warranty (or renewal) . You have to own the car 90 days before you can apply for a Porsche warranty Aside from that I would think the question is spec / owners /cost and your appetite for hassle. I recently bought a Macan S as a family car. We started at Porsche Reading and they had the exact car we wanted. After considerable hours of internet action and phone calls I bought a v similar car £3.5k cheaper from an Audi dealer. After paying for 2yr warranty and 111pt check I am still well in the money. Spec on Porsches is so complicated with any car you need a full list of the options to be able to compare. Eg on a Macan S air suspension could be seen as a desirable option worth paying for , but wasn’t std… Good luck

kenofkens said: Be warned there are Porsche dealers out there worse than your back street garage. A friend of mine had his Porsche wrecked by the dealer, who persistently lied about what happened to it and how it occurred, the owner actually knew about the whole issue within a week or so of it happening as the idiot who damaged his car told his mate who was best pals with a very good Porsche networker. Even before they ruined the car, warranty work needed on the car before it was wrecked also became an issue as the OPC dealer undertaking warranty repairs had to fight it out with the original OPC dealer who sold the car, they were reluctant to agree to some of the warranty work, and, as they were only aligned under the Porsche name, the relationship between the two after sales managers was exceptionally poor and embarrasingly unproffesional. They ended up buying it back off him, the rear of the car was very misaligned, but it didn't stop them putting it up for sale in their showroom with the spoiler constantly extended etc to try and hide the issues. That car wasn't fit for We buy any car... luckily my porsche is very old and out of warranty so i dont need them. Happy to name and shame the charlatans if the need be, this isn't an isolated incident either. Edited by kenofkens on Saturday 20th December 17:25 Just because there is a well known name above the door you should not make assumptions. The path to disappointment, that is..

Price wise it depends. The opc is just like any other car dealer in that they need to turn stock. Whilst they are generally toppy price wise I do keep track of turbo s cab prices ( simply as I have one ) and the are some well pried opc cars and some not so. Anything with a red interior seems slow to sell and is discounted - but this applies across the board not just opc. So if you can live with it there is a deal to be done. I bought my Cayenne privately with manufacturers warrenty remaining and turbo s from a non opc who had it on consignment that had extended warrenty on it that I then extended again for 3 years for £2850 which as far as I was concerned put me in a better position than buying from an opc as warranty overall was 3 years and 8 months and far less money. I also bought a brand new 911 from an opc and the quality of paint prep was very very poor. Their answer was to need to pay the £1000 ish for the ceramic coating if you want it any better than that. For a new car in my view it should have been gleaming and faultless.

Depends where you are. There are a couple of good dealer in the South, Paragon Porsche, Harbour Cars, Williams Crawford, Philip Raby Sportscars, Cameron Sportscars

Be warned there are (OPC) Porsche dealers out there worse than your back street garage. A friend of mine had his Porsche wrecked by the dealer, who persistently lied about what happened to it and how it occurred, the owner actually knew about the whole issue within a week or so of it happening as the idiot who damaged his car told his mate who was best pals with a very good Porsche networker. Even before they ruined the car, warranty work needed on the car before it was wrecked also became an issue as the OPC dealer undertaking warranty repairs had to fight it out with the original OPC dealer who sold the car, they were reluctant to agree to some of the warranty work, and, as they were only aligned under the Porsche name, the relationship between the two after sales managers was exceptionally poor and embarrasingly unproffesional. They ended up buying it back off him, the rear of the car was very misaligned, but it didn't stop them putting it up for sale in their showroom with the spoiler constantly extended etc to try and hide the issues. That car wasn't fit for We buy any car... luckily my porsche is very old and out of warranty so i dont need them. Happy to name and shame the charlatans if the need be, this isn't an isolated incident either. Edited by kenofkens on Saturday 20th December 17:25 Edited by kenofkens on Sunday 21st December 17:50

Plus Sheffield OPC, up north

When I was looking last year I was happy to buy from either a OPC or specialist as long as it had a warranty on the car. I was always planning to have it independently inspected which I did even though I ended buying from an OPC. More importantly to me was spec and condition than where I bought it from. I did plenty of home work, nearly a year of watching the market before deciding to dip my toe in, just happened the best car that came up was at an OPC with desired spec mileage and colour, low mileage 2 owners and what was a very competitive price. Very happy with the car and also ending up with 2.5 years of warranty. Choose the car, get it inspected, but also research the seller, as said above there are good and bad opc’s and independents

I did exactly the same ... as for OPC Sheffield I have heard a horrendous story about them regarding a fairly new car and battery failure. The AA said that the cause of the immobilisation of the car on a number of occasions was definitely due to a faulty battery, OPC Sheffield would not replace it telling the owner that the battery was not faulty but without being able to find any other cause, so the owner paid them to fit a new one (within the three year warranty) and the car has not failed since. He has since added a McLaren to his garage and loves it ... I often hear OPC Leeds tarred in similar fashion, for me on a very low mileage 987 Spyder 12 year service they were fab ... and in the same breath managed to fit the number plate to the front of a 991.2 GT3 that I had bought privately at a considerable "wonk" .... But ... Porsche East London were great and OPC York have been very good to me. It's all down to the person doing the job ??