Values and Market for 996s

[GreigM]

And just to reinforce the value (or lack of) from the inspection - the new owner just emailed me to say he had taken the car to his local OPC when he got home - showed them the list and basically gave them a blank cheque to fix the things that are wrong......the total bill...... £25 (yes, not a typo, the check over was so quick they only charged for some WD40). They questioned if the report came from the same car as all of the items mentioned were within normal wear/tear for the year of car and needed no attention at present.

I'm starting to think that the next time I sell a car I wouldn't allow an inspection anywhere except at my known local indie - that way I know the inspection is fair and isn't being used to unfairly beat the price down over items which should be expected with with the age/mileage of the car.

 

[steveoz32]

That sounds about right!

True. I mean if I sold mine and someone wanted it checked at the same place and I refused, it would look as though I was trying to 'hide' something.

All of those items have been changed apart from the return pipe clamp, but I can guarantee they would probably have something to say about it and quote a silly number.

That said though, when I sell a motor people are always welcome to check out my posts on a club forum and the full file of pictures of work done and receipts I have.

 

[DavidL]

ORIGINAL: steveoz32

Interesting comments about the OPC inspection.

The inspection of my car a few years ago came up with about 3-4k needing to be spent on it at an OPC.

The list was:

- Return steering clamp crack (and I quote) "possible new rack required" £1800+
- Quoted for FOUR new tyres, as the fronts and rears were not the same N rating pirellis (even though the front two matched perfectly and were listed on the sheet as having 7mm of tread, rears 5mm lol!) Price? £800
- Rear discs and pads slightly worn, another £600
- Oil bellow and Variocam 'sweating' another few hundred pound
- headlight washers requiring adjustmet
- Non OPC battery
- Rear ARB bushes worn

Playing devils advocate here but surely anyone with half a brain would look at that list and ignore most of it but OPC will inspect to "their" level, which I assume would be a warrantyable one (even though the car may not even be eligible).
Tyres, brakes, headlight washer adjustment and battery are almost irrelevant. The rest to me would warrant some further investigation as you did.

Greig, as for limiting inspection opportunities surely that will reduce the pool of potential purchasers quite considerably - not everyone has the mechanical knowledge to be comfortable buying a car like this without independent assistance.
Equally only allowing the indie you use to inspect it would also raise eyebrows - I did that once, use the sellers garage for the inspection - with hindsight the results were "interesting" and not necessarily in my favour.

 

[steveoz32]

I think this is true, as I mentioned it would seem like the seller was trying to hide something.

Don't get me wrong, I've had some real good experiences with the OPC in Swindon, the parts department have been fantastic and customer service is good. But you do have to take some of what the service guys say with a pinch of salt - I recall some time ago when I mentioned the somewhat mechanical change from first to second when cold to a service tech that was there when I picked up some parts. He said that it was a load of tosh that it is normal and there should be no quirks on the car.

Knowing that nearly everyone that has had an old 996 says the same I just ignored his comment to be honest.

I guess they don't service 996's every day any more and are more familiar with people throwing their newer Porsches at them with blank cheques!

 

[DavidL]

You can't be far from me then Steve. I'm stood at work in the centre of Swindon as we "speak"

 

[steveoz32]

ORIGINAL: DavidL

You can't be far from me then Steve. I'm stood at work in the centre of Swindon as we "speak"

Oh really? I'm near the Mini plant or old pressed steel works

 

[GreigM]

ORIGINAL: DavidL

Greig, as for limiting inspection opportunities surely that will reduce the pool of potential purchasers quite considerably - not everyone has the mechanical knowledge to be comfortable buying a car like this without independent assistance.
Equally only allowing the indie you use to inspect it would also raise eyebrows - I did that once, use the sellers garage for the inspection - with hindsight the results were "interesting" and not necessarily in my favour.

Yes, you are correct but having been stung once I simply won't go the route of having an OPC inspection again - if it loses buyers then so be it. In all honesty the experience has been bad enough that I certainly won't buy any modern porsche again simply due to the resale nightmare.

As for your other comment about people with half a brain ignoring most of the items on the list, this is not my experience - as I said, I was beaten over the head with a hose clip and the fact the car had and hadn't been painted - the intelligent and honest buyer who can take a balanced view is few and far between.

I would partially attribute the vast drop in residual prices of modern porsche to this growing trend for expensive inspections which are overly critical without an explanation of the real impact of the items they are picking up on (such as rusty bolts/heatshields - why even mention this as its normal wear and tear on a car of that age).