I bought my 2007 997.1 C2S from RSJ last week and couldn't be happier. The car is perfect, the buying process was perfect and the service provided by RSJ was perfect.
I found the car advertised on Pistonheads, so had a look on the RSJ website and it ticked all the boxes - rear wheel drive, manual, sports chrono, sports exhaust, black or grey - well actually it was white, which wasn't on my list, but it looked great with the black wheels. So I called RSJ to get some more details and spoke with Joel. He was very informative and candid, he wasn't at all pushy as some car salespeople can be, but he assured me I could have confidence in buying from RSJ as they would stand behind their warranty.
I must admit I was slightly nervous about buying a Gen 1 because of the bore scoring horror stories, but I decided that with the RSJ warranty and some other precautions I could minimise the risk, besides for the spec I wanted there was going to be a significant premium for a Gen 2 car, which I couldn't justify. So I arranged with Joel to go and have a look at the car and just under 3 weeks ago I travelled down to Slough. John Betjeman may have written 'Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!" and he' was probably right about most of it, but I bet he never visited RSJ as it's an absolute goldmine.
The cars are all immaculately presented, even those that haven't yet been prepped for customers. When I arrived I immediately understood why RSJ would not accommodate test drives, not only to deter joy-riders, but also because all the cars are on the 1st and 2nd floor of their big old industrial warehouse. I was immediately drawn to the car I had seen online, it was just as beautiful in the metal as it had been on my laptop screen. Joel left me to have a look around it, which I did, as well as taking numerous photographs to send back to the wife in the hope that she would be lured in by its beauty as I had. I checked what I could on the car, but I'm no expert, I noticed that some of the rear badge lettering has broken off, that was about as technical as I got.
I then spoke to Joel about the car, he told me of its history, went through the service records and basically told me what a great car it was. I then said that I would like a few things done to it - I wanted a low temp thermostat fitted, he said he could do that for a couple of hundred; I wanted protective grilles fitted in front of the radiators, he said they could fit them if I supplied them and gave me a few websites I might want to try; I also said I wanted the broken rear badge lettering replaced, which he said they would do. Joel added that they would give the car another thorough check (which they had already done when they bought it) and would put right everything they found. I said that because I was slightly risk averse, I would be more comfortable if I had an independent PPI check done and hoped that he didn't mind. He said that was fine, he told me that he really didn't think it was necessary, but if that made me more comfortable he was happy to accommodate and would ensure that anything that was found in the check would be put right. I was convinced, so I paid my deposit and said I would arrange for the inspection, hoping that they didn't find anything that would give me concerns about buying this car, as I was already smitten.
I spoke to Bob and Anthony at Porsche Inspections, who were great, told me that they had dealt with RSJ many times before and assured me that they were good to their word. A few days later, Bob had arranged a convenient time with Joel and headed out to Slough himself to conduct their million point check, or something like that anyway. Bob called me that afternoon, told me that the car was great (phew) and that he had picked up a few things that needed attention, but he had already spoken with Joel who had agreed to remedy all of these. Bob ran me through these items on the phone and then send out a 27 page report detailing his findings. The main findings were as follows:
- front coolant hoses need replacing
- exhaust fittings and sleeve clamps need replacing
- aircon not working properly, probably a condenser issue
- slight oil weep at RMS (the clutch and flywheel as well as the RMS were only replaced 6 months ago)
- broken lettering on rear badge (yay! I spotted that)
Most importantly for me, no signs of bore scoring. Bob added that the radiators looked like they might need replacing at some point, but they weren't an immediate concern.
The next day I spoke to Joel and went through these issues, he said he was happy to deal with all of these. I also asked him if they could have a closer look at the rads when they had the aircon condensers off. In the end, as well as doing all of this work, they replaced the RMS and IMS bearing. When they looked at the rads they said they probably had another year in them, but we agreed that if I paid for them, they would replace them whilst they had everything else off.
For the next few days I could barely think about anything other than this car and I didn't really sleep much at night. It really did feel like Christmas had come a few weeks early.
Then, last Thursday the day arrived - collection day. I'd like to say everything was perfect, but unfortunately I can't. It was pissing down with rain, cold, grey, damp and miserable - hardly the perfect conditions. But that was the only downer, everything else was perfect. The car was so well presented it did literally look like a brand new car. I had a good look around it, took some more photos and then went to do the paperwork. Once this was done, which didn't take too long, Elvio showed me how everything worked on the car, most importantly demonstrated how to check the oil, something that I will religiously follow on my start up routine and then he went through all of the other controls and functions.
Then, I got to drive off, in my brand new, 12 year-old 911. Yes it was raining, yes the traffic was horrendous, yes it took me nearly 2 hours to travel 50 odd miles, yes I was slightly surprised at how much fuel it was using even though I was being very cautious, but none of this could wipe the huge smile off my face - it's still there now!
In summary, I would thoroughly recommend buying a car from RSJ, they are awesome. Big shout out to Porsche Inspections too for a very thorough PPI check and comprehensive report.