Market value/Resale - 911 from Canada

[Dogbreath]

I am looking at a 1986 Carrera that was originally sold in Canada. It was brought to the US many years ago. The speedometer on it is in kilometers.
My question is how does this affect market value/resale?

One issue I see already is that the CarFax shows 150,000 mi. but in actuality that number should read kilometers. This puts the car at an actual, a very attractive 93,000 miles.
I am not sure if I should just keep looking or consider this car. I just get the impression that if I wanted to sell the car on in a few years, the fact that it was a Canada car and has euro gauges and a somewhat unclear Carfax, might significantly reduce the number potential buyers.
Any opinions?
Thanks

[silverc4s]

Rust, rust, rust.

[Dogbreath]

The car is pretty much pristine. The only concern I have is with the possible perceived issues involved in purchasing a car with gauges in Kilometers.

[vracer]

Everyone is entitled to a perception, (or opinion). Mine is that it is cool. It makes that car just a little bit different, and it takes (maybe) two minutes to learn the kph/mph equivalents. I don't think I lost a penny selling my Euro 356.

[christiandk]

Was the canadian cars 231 hp cars - Fast car!

[whiterabbit]

Not sure anyone cares about Carfax as these cars get older and if its accurate anyway for older cars. IMHO a ROW car like this is worth a premium over a US model.

[JJ 911SC]

Unfortunately, Canadian car are not ROW and have the same HP as the one found on US Car. While it has "ZZZ" in the trunk stamp, it has the normal North American VIN on the door jam sticker.

As for Carfax, mine is a Canadian that never left Ontario/Quebec so the Carfax is very good especially that garage in Quebec has to report the mileage. I was able to follow her travel time line from the day it got to the 1st dealer in Mar 83. A couple of years ago I visited the dealership (no longer selling Porsche) but and older sale men remembered when they got it. It sold within a week (match the Carfax report).

While the car has a KM speedo, my Carfax report is in Miles with a note about having it converted from KMs.

[Christien]

Carfax/carproof reports going back and forth between miles and km and being reported as one unit is not at all uncommon - shows you the average intelligence of a dmv employee

You might try getting a Carproof report - it's the Canadian equivalent of a Carfax. Carfax doesn't have all the info that Carproof does for Canadian cars.

[JJ 911SC]

From my experience CarProof was a big disappointment and not worth the $ wich is more than the multiple Carfax.

Being atypical Canadian company, once they got your money you are SOL

Carfax results; 13 entries:

5 from MOT (ON) 3 with mileage

6 from MVD (QC) none with mileage

2 Service Recording (QC) with mileage

CarProof; 7 entries:

4 from MOT (ON) none with mileage

2 from MVD (QC) none with mileage

1 Insurance Recording (ON) no mileage

They dis answer questions before I bought their service but did not even bother to answer my complaint E-mail which went something like this:

I used CarFax unlimited report ($40) to narrow down my offers on cars. Once I selected the car, I made it conditional to a clean report from CarProof even though I had a clean report from CarFax.

I was quite disappointed when the CarProof missed the following: 1st owner registry with the Ontario MOT, 1st registry with the Quebec MVD, 3rd, 5th and 6th renewals with the Quebec MVD, two odometer readings at repair facility in Quebec and finally three odometer readings on the last three Ontario MOT renewals (on the report).

Worse $52.45 I have ever spent.

[Christien]

Wow, good to know. How long ago was this?

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Christien

Wow, good to know. How long ago was this?

June 2009

[dienstuhr]

Originally Posted by silverc4s

Rust, rust, rust.

Depends where it came from in Canada, and most importantly whether it was winter driven. Canadian cars had the same galvanization protection as US ones. There are many parts of Canada that are actually farther south than parts of the USA...

Cheers

d.

[timothymoffat]

Originally Posted by silverc4s

Rust, rust, rust.

Really?

[silverc4s]

Originally Posted by dienstuhr

Depends where it came from in Canada, and most importantly whether it was winter driven. Canadian cars had the same galvanization protection as US ones. There are many parts of Canada that are actually farther south than parts of the USA...

Cheers

d.

Very true, but my experience with cars from Canada is one of rusting bodies. Of course this does not include all cars, and many people do park their 911s every winter, I know.
Just saying, there is a reason that folks look for older cars in the sunbelt states.
I Apologize if my comment was too brusque.

[Christien]

When we're looking to buy a car here, the rust issue is a factor, but so is mileage. Look at it this way: a 25 year old car from a salt-using, winter-lashed province of Canada (which is every one except BC ), if stored every winter, should have no rust and will only have been driven for half the year. A car of the same vintage from Florida will have been driven all year every year and thus may have twice the mileage. Sun-damaged cars (cracked seats, warped and cracked dashes, faded paint, wavy and warped sunvisors) are much more common, and may still have rust if it was constantly exposed to salt spray from the ocean. Either way, a PPI will answer all questions.

When I was looking for a 3.2 cabrio a few years ago, I looked mostly in FL, GA, AZ, TX, places like that. So many of them had cracked leather seats and warped dashes.

The vast majority of folks here park vintage cars during the winter. I did once see a longhood out in the middle of a snowstorm downtown Toronto in February - I was completely shocked. Then again, during a pitstop on my drive to Florida a couple weeks ago, I was shocked to see a white Gallardo out driving in some town in PA!

[Tremelune]

With regard to "true mileage", the speedometers in these cars are so easy to swap out without evidence, it often doesn't matter what they say. If miles matter, the only thing that counts is years of paperwork with the VIN and mileage on the same page from a reputable shop showing a steady increase to the current number with reasonable dates. Every else is taking the word of the seller. Are you a pretty good judge of character?

All that said, 80k, 160k, it doesn't matter as much as you think. Whichever one was maintained better is the better buy. If the seller has only put 1000 miles on it in the last year and is aware of no issues, there's probably something waiting to be "discovered". If he put 10k in the last year and can describe the evolution of a particular oil line seep to you, it's probably pretty damn well sorted and oil consumption would be a good indicator of overall condition. A PPI with a cold leakdown and removal of the lower valve covers to check for broken head studs will tell you what you want to know most.

In the end, they all have problems. Get the color you want in the body style you want and don't live your life according to predicted/perceived resale value. If you bought it at a reasonable price, it's likely someone else will too.

[DCinVA]

You can have the origional gauges recalibrated to MPH if that is important.
Frankly I think it is kind of cool to have them in KPH. If it were me I would just live with it.

Maint is more important than miles. These cars last a very long time when well cared for. My 86 carerra had 250k miles when I sold it last year. It still ran great, and I am sure it still does.