Shopping for a 928?
Sources for Porsche 928s and Buying Tips
Sources of cars for sale:
eBay
Motors - 928 auction list
You can skip this lengthy diatribe on eBay if you are looking for
more general tips (see below).
Don't let the idea of buying a car in a competitive auction from a seller who may be clear across the country scare you from at least looking at eBay Motors. That's how I got my car, and I couldn't be happier. At any one time there are about 15 928s up for sale on eBay, and the stock turns over regularly - most car are up for bid for 5 to 10 days. Most of the sellers are fairly realistic on price. You can generally expect to pay between trade-in and retail value for the car, although some go for less than trade-in value and some go for more that full retail. Because the cars are almost always far away, you do have a challenge assessing the quality of the car and getting it home. Ideally, you should have the car inspected by a qualified 928 mechanic. That could be difficult to do in many cases. Second best would be to have an acquaintance who knows 928s look at it for you. If you have done your homework on what are the main issues with 928's, it is possible to assess a car from service records and careful questioning of the seller, supplemented by a VIN check with CarFax.
Personally, I would not buy a car sight unseen, although it is possible that with a bunch of high-quality photos, as some eBay sellers include, careful questioning of the seller who responds with forthright and complete answers, that a good car could be bought this way. eBayers do it every day. What I would do is patiently watch the eBay auctions until you find what appears to be the best car you can find that is within a reasonable plane ride from home. Politely question the hell out of the owner. If everything is up to snuff, bid on it, and if you win the bid, fly in to pick up and drive the car home. If the car is not what you expected when you get there, turn around and get a flight home or renegotiate the deal. Bids on eBay are final, so you shouldn't bid unless you know everything there is to know and you definitely want the car. However, if you find the seller basically lied, then you can back out , as I describe. I know there are charlatans on eBay, but you usually can pick them out and eliminate them if you are conscientious and thorough. Look for sellers with lots of positive feedback, for one thing. If you see any negative feedback that is not explained away, email the person who filed the feedback and ask if the complaint had been resolved or not. Note that from a buyer standpoint, there is no advantage to bidding on a car early in an auction, especially with a proxy bid. It just drives up the price earlier. I honestly can't understand the reason for bidding at any time except in the last few minutes. The ONLY argument for bidding early with a proxy bid is that if there is a tie, the earlier bid wins. This is so rare it is a negligible issue. Using odd bid amounts, including a few cents extra will avoid that. Many bidders use "bid sniping" software, which is perfectly legal, to place bids in the last 10 seconds or so of an auction.
In my case, I bought a car that was advertised with only one
small, fuzzy photo, which limited bid interest. The seller was not
terribly computer literate and could not figure out how to add extra
photos. eBay's ad posting process provides almost no help with this
(lately it has improved), so
you must be familiar with HTML to do this or use one of the 3rd party auction
toolkits. Anyway, I questioned the seller,
who was the original owner (always a plus), extensively via email, and his responses were
very straight forward and complete. There were a few gaps in his
knowledge, but he had every piece of paper on the car since new, so he was able
to dig through and answer my questions. I got a few more photos of the car
that weren't much better quality, but all of my questions were answered, and the
car had all the makings of a well cared for, near mint 928 S4. It was
located 500 miles (a $200 plane ticket) away. I won the bidding and flew
up the following weekend to get the car. There were a few minor surprises
when I got there. Overall the car was excellent in and out, better than I
expected, and I was very happy. It had a Porsche bra and windshield sun
protector, which I didn't know about. It was missing the spare tire
compressor, but had all other items, like the rear cargo cover and net. As
the owner assured me, every single system worked as it should and nothing was
broken. The owner had told me the nose and windshield had no rock chips, which
would have been a surprise for a 70K mile car. That proved to be
untrue, although the damage was relatively minor. The nose (and mirror)
rock chips are easy to fix, and the windshield had 2 very small (1/16th inch)
chips, other than a smattering of pinhead surface dings, common with the soft
Porsche glass. I decided not to quibble over these items as everything else was
as good or better than expected, and I was getting the car for a very good
price. I drove off with a big smile on my face and had the time of my life
blasting down the interstate towards home. This website is built around
that car, bought on eBay, so don't pass up this source. If you are
careful, as you should be buying a 928 from any source, eBay Motors offers a greater
variety of currently available 928s than any other single source. I
maintain a daily
review of current 928 auction on eBay (Sorry
- offline since mid-April 2001 for time being) as well as an archive
of earlier 928 eBay auctions.
Porsche
Classifieds
This source scans a number of car selling publications
nationwide, although most listings seem to come from Luxury
Car Network. It provides more listings than any other source I have
found, other than eBay Motors, and links to the original ad. in most cases, so
you can follow-up from there.
Rennlist
Classifieds
A mail-list site for Porsche enthusiasts that has an active
classifieds area. A good source as most of the members are real 928 enthusiasts.
AutoTrader.com
This is the online version of the bi-weekly car "Trader"
magazine. You can search for 928s within a radius of 200 miles or smaller
or nationwide. Generally has a pile of 928s in all price ranges.
Autos.recycler.com
This is the online version of Recycler magazine. It is similar to
AutoTader and focuses on Southern California but includes other areas.
Porsche
928 Specialists - 928s for Sale page
You should get familiar with this
entire website before you buys a 928. Lots of information and a good
selection of cars for sale, although some of the ads may be old.
Devek
Performance Products, Inc -Cars for Sale page
Again, you should get familiar with this
entire website. The ads are usually undated. Hopefully as soon
as the cars are sold, the sellers have Devek remove the ad.
928
Owners Club 928s for Sale
Not updated in awhile (July 2001)
Cars.com
This site searches newspaper classifieds from all over the
nation. If you select "All" in the distance options you can see
everything available throughout the country.
Other sources I have not used. Generally they have fewer
ads and tend to be out of date:
CarBuyer.com
Tips for Buyers - evaluating candidate vehicles:
For now I will just provide links to some other sources for 928 buying tips.
Dan's Prepurchase Telephone Checklist
Dan's Prepurchase Inspection Checklist
Thaddeus's Ultimate Pre-Purchase Inspection Checklist - by Thaddeus Austin. This is a PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read it.
Devek's
928 Market Report & Model Guide -
offline
Buying a Used 928 by David Wolfe
Portia's Parts and Restoration Pre-Purchase Inspection Checklist
Value - what's it worth?:
Kelley Blue Book
Car Values
Gives both trade-in and retail values and a new rating called "private party".
I haven't carefully looked at the private party values, but I think they are too
low. Maybe a good negotiating tool if you are buying, but usually expect
to pay closer to retail than wholesale when buying from a private party, while
it appears KBB has gone lower with this new rating. Anyway, values are adjusted for
mileage, location (values in eastern half of US are quoted 10-20% lower than western
US) and
options. Trade-in values adjust for condition. No differential for
5-speed versus automatic. Pretty accurate for common mid-year models; much
less so for GT model and very early cars. Private party sale values are
too low and really are wholesale values.
NADA
Guide Car Prices
Gives a range of retail values, not adjusted for options or
mileage. Values are often above Kelly.
Edmund's
Used Car Prices
Adjusts for options and mileage. Only goes back 10 years.
CarPrices.com
Used Car Prices
Gives wholesale and retail value adjusted for options and mileage for
1983 and newer cars.
Other Buyer Resources:
CarFax VIN
checker
Once you get serious about looking at 928s, I would suggest you
buy unlimited CarFax usage for 2 months for $19.95. You can check VINs for
registration history, serious title flaws (flood and junk titles, odometer role
back) or other things that may show a checkered past. CarFax is not
flawless and only collects information from DMVs and police reports.
However, it will often turn up useful information, and the $19.95 two-month deal is well worth
it.
