996 Targa and OPC Warranty

Hi, I intend to buy a 996 Targa Tiptronic over the coming weeks and am looking to spend about £35,000. I live in the UK and am looking for a car that has done less than 40,000 miles (preferably less than 30,000), around a 02-03 plate and is a full UK car. I certainly can't get one of these from an OPC, but my budget doesn't look unreasonable from a smaller dealer. Does everyone think that this is a reasonable budget...or should I adjust my budget/target? I also wonder whether anyone has any experience of buying from a Porsche Independent dealer (eg. Camtune, Autobahn, RSJSports etc, etc.) and wondered whether they typically are negotiable with the sticker price? Finally, is it true that I can buy a car and then take it to an OPC for it's 111-point check and pay £895 to get a warranty, as simple as that? Does anyone know how much the 111-point check costs and what the lead time/waiting time is please? Also, what's this RMS (covered under warranty) that everyone keeps referring to please? Many thanks, GD.

I think you should just scrape in with your budget. You are spot on with the warranty, but get the 111 point check done as part of the sale as it can throw up £1,000s of problems, which have to be fixed before the car can have a warranty. It is 2 hours labour, which is £237 at my OPC. WHen I sold mine, I got it booked in, in two days. Not sure if that was a favour to me though. And yes it covers RMS and £40K engines in the case of a GT3.

Thank you for the quick reply. Guess I need to put a wanted advert up in the classifieds! I was wondering specifically what RMS stood for?

Real main seal - effects manuals more than tiptronics. A little rubber seal that sells for £3, but takes hours to replace.

Blimey, definately a job for somewhere like Camtune, they are loads cheaper than Guildford AFN, if out of warranty. I used to get my Boxster serviced at AFN, but any faults fixed at Camtune, they worked out about 60% of the price PS. This isn't an advert for Camtune btw!!!!

Good luck with the search. I think with a Targa you might need to sit tight and look out for a good one at the right price as they are in short demand. Isn't Seagull selling his soon??

I've agreed to put a warranty on mine and selling it for £35K, though it is manual. The RMS is actually quite a big seal as it eseals the crankshaft where it goes from the crankcase to the flywheel and sells for about £30. Also to change at the same time is the Intermediate Shaft seal which does the same thing for the shaft that drives the ancillary pumps, alternator etc. and is cheaper. They don't have a stop on the inside end so have to be seated perfectly, hence the many evolutions of the seating tool and there are large forces acting on the shaft because of the distance of the nearest crankshaft journal to the seal. The money is spent on labour - 6 hours, I think - because the gearbox has to come out. If the seals need replacing, it is best to fork out £350 for a new clutch kit to save the labour later. If it is a second replacement clutch, it is worth considering a new flywheel as this also has to come off to get at the RMS

Hi Guildfordad - welcome to the forum. I was in the same situation you are in at the beginning of the year. Your budget will get you a nice 2002 model or even a 2003 from an indie (I think 2003 OPC models are retailing around the £40k-ish mark). I bought one from an indie dealer up in the north of the country in March and have never regretted it. I have only done 2500 miles in it since then but that is largely because of the recent rainy weather we have been getting and so it stays in the garage for those days. I don't have an OPC warranty, I went for an indie warranty which covers engine and gearbox only but then it costs approx half the cost of an OPC warranty. So far I've had no problems. Do you have any colour preferences? I was after seal grey but it seemed that every time I went to test drive one, it got sold literally minutes before I arrived. However, I love the midnite blue I have now. ~ Maxie

Hi, Thanks for the reply. Midnight blue would be my preference (with grey leather) or Arctic Silver (with black or blue leather). I am a little worried about my budget, because: Camtune have this: 02 MANUAL (I want TIP) - 51,000 miles (I am after <40k) for £37k (I am after <£35) Autobahn have this: 52 MANUAL - 55,000 miles, £37k So I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with these dealers? Camtune, for repairs, I cannot fault, excellent service. I believe they underwrite the warranty themselves. Not sure about Autobahn, but would expect their warranty is something like AA, which wouldn't cover the OPC costs (or potentially even Camtune). Not sure if there's room for negotiation on price (I would expect that my spec would be up for £40k) In fact, apart from colour, this is the right spec: 03 TIP, 25,000 miles, £41k!!! I'm starting to wonder whether my £35k budget is too little.

I got my previous car from autobahn and is was a good car. I was quite impressed with them. The warranty was OK but didn't cover RMS. I would go for OPC if you can You will get the car you want for your budget - but it will be a private sale. But this can be just as good if you can find one with a warranty. As the warranty is transferrable.

Ah, that is interesting to know, thanks. I have a car to part/ex, which I don't want to sell privately, so will have to go through an independent I suspect. When you bought from Autobahn, was there any negotiation with the price, or did they take the OPC approach, which is rubbish trade-in and sticker price only?

I think I got them to knock £1K off the price of the car (to £35K) and an extra £500 on Part-ex. Looking back, I should have been a bit harder and think I could have got another £500 off the car. So yes they are flexible.

thanks, that is very interesting and useful information to know. I've also noticed that a few have recently turned up at OPCs for 39k, pretty much the spec I'm looking for. This means that the Independents are charging similar money, which must help negotiations a bit.