95 993 Value

[gustav]

I found a '95 993 that was in an accident for what looks like a good deal. The car is salvage title, but the seller claims the extent of the damage was only to the dressing, and the tub was not bent at all. To quote:

"The car got hit in the front left side and had the quarter panel, head light, fog light, bumper and hood replaced [....]. The structure wasn't affected in any way and the car was brought to its original condition."

I don't mind driving a salvage title vehicle as I think the asking price properly reflects the title. Do you think an insurnace company would 'total' a car with so little damage though?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!

Thanks,
Gus

[rcwaldo]

Depends on a few things, really.

Does he have any photos of before? Estimate or receipts on work performed? Will your insurance insure this car?

Might be difficult to sell this car in the future. I would sure be skeptical about tub damage. I have heard of 993 tubs get bent while insurance did not total the car.

What is he asking for this car?

Chris

[gustav]

Originally posted by rcwaldo
Depends on a few things, really.

Does he have any photos of before? Estimate or receipts on work performed? Will your insurance insure this car?

Might be difficult to sell this car in the future. I would sure be skeptical about tub damage. I have heard of 993 tubs get bent while insurance did not total the car.

What is he asking for this car?

Chris

Photos of before the car was fixed? That was the first thing I asked but didn't get a reply. I really would like to see the damage myself.

The asking price is 8600, but the car appears to be in excellent shape. The photos I was sent look great. Of course I'd go take a look at the car myself prior to purchase - for the price, considering its running etc - i'm not sure if a PPI is warranted - but maybe it is?

If I can't insure it, I'll make my SC the driver and dedicate the 993 to the track (reverse of what I had planned, but either way I'd be happy to have a new member in the family).

The cost of the repair work on the car was $3300 - which makes me think less damage than more - but I've never wrecked one of these cars so I dont know.

[kang]

They totaled a car for $3,300 of damage? That doesn't sound right. I'd be real suspicious of this. There is probably another reason for the salvage title. I'd find out the real reason before buying it, regardless of the price.

[miamipoker]

Ok..I have to chime in on this.. I have used car dealer liscense and know alot about salvage titles..

There is no set rule for salvage titles... I have seen them put a salvage title on a car that just had a small dent in the back hood. I've also seen a 20,000 car with 15,000 worth of damage have a clean title put on it.. You can't tell the type of damage based on the title period.

Take the car to a good body shop and have them look at it.. They should be able to tell the extent of the repair..

I'm currenty working on repairing a 993 (with a salvage title) The price that your seller is selling the car for is a very good price depending on the miles the car has.. I'll have about 22k in my 97 targa when I'm done ... BTW it's got 43k miles.

A similar targa just sold on ebay with a salvage title for 24k.

Salvage titles generally reduce the price of the car 20%.. Or in the incase of highend cars sometimes up to 30%.

Check the car out and buy it if it's in good shape and if your still scared of it and it's got reasonable miles email me and I'll buy it and pay you a small finders fee..

: )

Good luck

MP

[pete911]

$8600 is a great price. You could sell the engine for at least $7500 and still have the rest of the car.

Pete

[gustav]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the input. My feeling is I'm going to do a once over and buy it if nothing is out of place. I'll have the tub properly inspected when I get home, the price seems "right" barring anything major I might see when I check it out.

The mileage is 100k, so its not so much a steal. With 50k mile 993's seeming to go in the 30's, I figure this one without the title issue would be in the low 20's maybe teens? Deduct for the salvage title and it makes sense.

And if not, then I'll at least have a set of wheels, interior, brakes, engine and transaxle for my SC. So it'll either be a really good deal for a 993, or a really bad deal for an engine swap - but either way I'm willing to throw the dice. :>

Gus

[Kmatts]

Gus, what' s up man? so did you close the deal.
hey, i wrecked a 993. i whacked mine up pretty good and the totalled it instantly. however, it really doesn't take much damage for the insurance co to claim a "total loss". they use a formula based on estimated repair costs, not damage.
also my insurance co. doesnt have any issues insuring salvage titled vehicles. so if you insurance co does....PM me and i'll give you some info. also here in WA state, a salvaged title car has to be inspected by the state patrol before being re-licensed. if that hasn't been done already....be prepared.
best of luck, sounds like a good deal.
worst case scenario, you have a good base to make a great race car or part it out.
Kyle.

[gustav]

Hey Kyle,

I haven't closed the deal yet. The seller has gone MIA on me, so I'm not quite sure whats up with it. If he answers my questions today, I'll be heading down to get it tonight though.

Good to hear on the insurance - any details you could pass on would be great.

I'm on the same page if I can't get it properly titled, inspected & insured for turning it into a nice track car. But it'll hurt to do so, the interior is very nice on this car.

Keep us updated on your project too... :>

[gustav]

Welp, just a quick update. The seller sent me an email on Jan 22 and I replied the next day, basically saying we had a deal - and asking when we could move on it. Over a week later and not a single response from the seller.

I guess I'll give it one more day, so it'll be about a week and a half but then I think I'll reposition the funds into my SC. Oh well

[dgcate]

8600 would be tempting with no title.

[gustav]

Originally posted by dgcate
8600 would be tempting with no title.

Except that as far as I can tell it was a scam. I wrote the guy, told em I hadn't heard back and was gonna assume it was sold.

He writes back basically saying he can't show the car now (i had a buddy in the area the car was reported to be in), cause it's with the shipper. Said to give my address and he'd ship it. As soon as it was shipped he wanted $2k from me.

I replied back with my address, but said I wasn't willing to send $2k without knowing for fact I was getting a car. This guy had been impossible to get in touch with. It was a real high pressure sortta deal from him, and I smelled scam. I told him I'd put the money in escrow, and so long as I could drive the car off the truck I'd release escrow, and we could write up the document to say as much.

He never responded. I'm 99.999% sure it was a scam.

[dgcate]

could very well be. I just don't buy "high-dollar" without talking personally to the man who owns the item. phone's fine, email'l only..no go. could you've gotten his phone #? one may have asked him what it was doing at the shipper in the first place. if it was to ship to you, I believe I might have asked for the shipper's phone #, called them to verify that you have a car coming to you.

Anyway, it's almost impossible to buy anything over emails. It's just the nature of the beast. scams.

[dgcate]

Even if it's legit, someone else will find a way to buy it out from under you if they can talk to the seller in person. I mean if it's a steal of a deal (which this was, even for my money, if it wasn't fixed right) like you said, drivable.

[gustav]

Originally posted by dgcate
Even if it's legit, someone else will find a way to buy it out from under you if they can talk to the seller in person. I mean if it's a steal of a deal (which this was, even for my money, if it wasn't fixed right) like you said, drivable.

That's the thing. The seller insisted that it was impossible for him to talk in person. Hmmm... It's been a while since I looked at the ad, which is now gone, but iirc the car was pretty high milage. I figured no matter what I'd make my money back on the deal... I actually in the end got him down to $8300 too. So I'm really sad it didn't work out. Worst case scenario - I wouldda parted it.

Pics of the car in question can be found at:
http://bourg.net/~gus/993

And the autocheck:
http://bourg.net/~gus/WP0AA2993SS320662.html

I can't be 100% certain it wasn't a scam... But man, between waiting 1-2 weeks for this guy to respond to email, and the high pressure sales tactic at the end (you cant inspect this now, but give me your address and I'll send it to you then give me 2k cash immediately after I said it was sent) it sure did seem like one!

[dgcate]

Buddy, you've done good. I wouldn't give nothin' for it without talking to the owner. Even if it was ligit, you've still done good.

[gustav]

Originally posted by dgcate
Buddy, you've done good. I wouldn't give nothin' for it without talking to the owner. Even if it was ligit, you've still done good.

Man, I hope so!!! I'm going to be kicking myself in the head if it was legit and I just wasn't patient enough

Oh well, there are other deals out there - just gotta find them. I think I read that one guy on here got a 930 for 4500 or so... So I have hope.

[raleigh5]

maybe fly down and drive it back to WA for less hassle and more POM? or give me the details and i will buy it:-)