Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

Opportunity to buy 3 986's...

MarkGolf

Well-known member
Joined
13 Nov 2012
Messages
930
Through someone I know, he has got/getting 3 986 Boxsters, 2 x 2.5's and 1 x 2.7. All of them apparently have 85-88k miles. 2 keys, MOT'd, serviced within the last year and work! He has given me the story from the previous owners, 1 old lady, 1 guy who was never in the country and the other who used it as a weekend toy (2.7).

The 2.5's are silver, both 1998 models and from what I am told, in good honest used condition. One has the 16" twin 5 spokes, black leather and the other has 17" twists with terracotta.

The silver/black car doesn't have a service book yet it has all the other books + wallet, there are various receipts for recent work in the last 3-4 years, plus various bits for years before. It looks to have been SORN'd for 6 years between 2009 and 2015. The MOT history is clean but this only goes back to 2005. The car is straight and the only thing required is a new rear roof window, PVC split.

The silver/terra has a service book but has been maintained by a local mechanic, it has receipts for work/parts. Not got much else on this one yet but apparently it is all there and has a super clean MOT history.

The 2.7, 2001, slightly more of interest, is grey with black, hardtop, some nice 18" 996 wheels but I think they're Boxster spec, wind deflector, apparently with some other Porsche factory options, this also has no service book (has all of the other books) but Porsche have record of a major service 10k miles ago in 2012 and a minor service in 2008 40k miles ago, nothing else. Paperwork with the car shows a recent service and some before that, receipts for bushes, tyres and the 2012 porsche major service. I have no clue if the IMS has been done, as it went on my own 2.7 when with the previous owner, I know that they do let go, so is this a ticking time bomb.

So, the deal is I buy all 3, all of which are good money and I was planning to simply buy all 3, do what I love to do and totally bring them back to as near showroom condition as reasonably possible and sell them on as decent straight cars for some beer money, I'm certainly no car dealer. A few people have said I should do this and now my own projects are pretty much done, I'm getting an itch and these have come at a good time, so these can be more of a hobby that gets paid for really.

Everything sounded good with these but the lack of a service book for 2 of them frustrates me, someone has clearly thrown them at some point considering everything else is present. I don't want to be stuck with the cars or make a loss, I know that there is some profit (unless I go OTT) in each car but will the lack of a service book hurt the value, would this be expected on cars of this age/value? Other than the service book, I don't think there is much to hurt the cars, I haven't seen them in the flesh yet but the source is an old friend who I trust and he has given me a fairly detailed run down on each car, they're too old for him to bother with, I'm sure he will make a cut but comparing them to cars online, there is room to have a spend on each car to rectify minor things such as centre caps, window rip, mats, bushes (if needed) blah blah and even if I came out with £50 profit, I'm happy as it isn't really about that. I just don't want to be stuck.

What are your thoughts on the lack of service book? Essentially, I'd look to shift the 2.5's for £4k and the 2.7 for 4.8k or perhaps split it from the hardtop to get £5k total. I don't think this is top money but once I'm finished with the cars, they will be in superb condition and all with low miles for the year.

Cheers for any advice.
 
Sounds an interesting opportunity - I have done similar in the past. From experience buying in the winter and selling in the spring/summer is usually beneficial. BUT - I have no idea whether Brexit will have any effect this year.

I also think that having 3 cars to shift at the same time doesnt sound fun (I only usually sell a car every few years and everytime, I hate the experience of dealing with tyre-kickers and stupid texts (usually along line of "Give you £500 cash today mate").

Re the Service History - I had an Audi with a missing service book. I bought a duplicate book from the Audi parts dept (marked as Duplicate) then got them stamped by the official dealer, with the services they could evidence.....Not sure if Porsche will do this on the one where you know it was serviced.
I do think a lack of Service History will limit your market, so push your prices down and elongate the sales-process......

Hopefully you are buying them cheap enough that there is a decent margin to cover any unexpected costs.

cheers
Ben
 
Hmm, sounds like fun but I can't see how the figures would work.
It's generally accepted that 9*6's aren't a great model to deal in if you like to prep things to a "superb" level. There are simply too many expensive parts to make it work.
Hence most cars being sold by dealers are "nice" straight cars but not perfect unless they are silly money.

If buy getting them "showroom" you mean replace any old or mismatched tyres, have the front end resprayed for stone chips, replace any suspension components showing wear, renew rads and condensers, have the seats treated or re-trimmed if not perfect, fit new floor mats, etc, etc then I just can't see it working.
That's why there are no companies specialising in selling "showroom" condition 9*6's. The money simply isn't in the deal.


If however by getting them "showroom" you mean leave whatever tyres on that they come with, however old or mis-matched, touch up any stone chips with a paint pen, ignore the suspension if it doesn't clunk or creak, ignore the condition of rads as long as they're not actually leaking, wipe a bit of scuff master dye over any cracked leather, ignore any wear to plastics or floor mats and then simply polish the paint and slap some tyre black on, well then you may make a few hundred a car maybe, but they won't be showroom.

However, you'll have to hope nothing gives up the ghost during your ownership or just after you sell it, unless you aren't bothered about the next guy, once he's handed over his money, which you'd have to be tough to do with a clear conscience.

There are a few places doing this obviously but even the hardened specialists such as 911V have only recently started dealing in the less special 996s again quite recently. For years nobody would touch them.
There's just too much bork factor. One big failure would wipe out a good few deals worth of profit.
My car dealer mate does flip the odd one but it's sold as it's bought, not fettled at all. SPQR, (Small profit, quick return) as they aren't worth getting involved with.

So anyway that's why I couldn't be a car dealer. I'm too fussy and would end up restoring a car for the next guy at huge cost to myself. I prefer being an enthusiast. That way when I waste a load of money I can justify it as a hobby not a loss. :grin:

Good luck though, I love your work and I love what you've done with your 964. 8)
You'll be working to massively smaller margins with 986s though. :thumb:


Edited to add for clarity, I in no way mean 911V prepare cars like my last example. I was making a different point that the respected dealers steered clear from M96 996/986s for a few years and most 986/996s being sold by dealers will most likely be at a "Dodgy Dave's motors" type setup than a respected Porsche specialist.

911V are one of the best and their cars are prepped more like my first example given. The trick is they'll take in a minter in the first place, which in turn rules out many cars and probably almost all 996s etc.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

I decided to pass up on the opportunity. The missing service books and no chance to get a story from the sellers put me off. I always like to meet the seller when I buy a car and get their story and any info on work done on cars that may not be documents etc.

Instead, I'm going to source one myself, use it to run about in rather than my Focus and go from there for a little winter project.

Showroom was probably the wrong word, I wouldn't go as far as repainting unless it looked like it had driven behind a gritter for an hour but a good clean condition for age would do, just like my current 986, not perfect but very clean.

cheers for the replies! Will update a new project thread if/when I get one. :thumbs:
 
Sounds like the right choice. Even if you got the story from a former keeper, the next buyer wouldn't have any reason to believe it. No documents = it didn't happen, in most buyers eyes.

A single Boxster will be more fun than 3. 3 would take months to sort. :thumb:
 
Yeah, I was just a bit blinded by the deal on the surface but getting more info on the cars and some pics on Sat, it just wasn't worth the hassle, plus my wife would go insane if I added 3 cars in a single go to the number I already have which she thinks is too much.

Essentially the deal was working out to be £2.2k per car! Very cheap and great to knock about in. I would have like one of them but it was all 3 or nothing. I didn't want to hassle of simply shifting them on as they stood.

So, I'm on the hunt for, ideally, an early spec 2.7 or 3.2 if under £6k and 80k miles, with ambers in silver. I want a Porsche Challenge Playstation 1 game spec car, something about the early spec one with ambers for me. Ideally no speakers, no centre console, 5 spoke twists, black interior, service history would be nice, doesn't have to be full but recent ones at the very least!! lol and that's it! :bandit:
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,356
Messages
1,439,463
Members
48,715
Latest member
911tt1
Back
Top