buying porsche in Southern CA need advice..from canada - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

playboy · 06-25-2006, 10:03 PM

I'm going to be getting a 00-02 boxster from southern ca. I live in Vancouver, Canada and im going to be in southern ca for a bit and the price difference from here even after the taxes and duty and exchange rate it great. I also like the idea of no rain. im going to be driving it back.

Ive never bought a car in the states before so i have a few questions. Should I buy privatly or through a dealer, is there usually a huge difference in price? Do the dealers have to offer a warranty (where i live all dealers have to provide a 6 month warranty by law).

Would it be a big difference between a porsche dealer PPI or some other place (like carfax or something) or even just the dealer inspection.

How long do the 2.7's last? Should i be looking for one with 50-60 miles??

Does anyone know of any good sites to find CA porsches for sale other than car.com, ebay ect...

Any help on this would be appreciated...

Brucelee · 06-26-2006, 05:41 AM

You have asked a number of questions that have been handled many times before here on the Forum. I sugges several searches will prove valuable to you.

A quick answer to one CA question. Dealers are NOT required to warranty their used cars. Cars can be sold "as is" with no warranty applied.

Effective July 1, CA cars sold for under $40K can be returned to the dealer within 48 hrs. for a refund minus a service charge.

We always recommend a PPI performed by a Porsche dealership.

Good luck.

DC1 · 06-26-2006, 10:02 AM

I have had a very good experience buying vehicles from Carmax including a Boxster. You can go to www.carmax.com and seach CA inventory etc. They give a 30 day warranty on all vehicles and offer a competitive extended, not sure if it works in Canada but it may? There was some peace of mind for me in buying the car then taking it for an inspection knowing the complete car was covered. I would say its probably the next best alternative to buying form a Porsche dealer. Most of the cars I found around So Cal outside of Porsche, Carmax and privates were lease returns and they did not look to good, I was looking at 01 to 03's and ended up buying an 02 with 32,000 miles. Good luck.

xavier405 · 06-26-2006, 12:00 PM

I'll agree that CarMax does appear to have good quality control on their cars in general. I'm selling an 02 Box in So Cal (Check the for sale board here!) and I tried to sell my car to CarMax. Their offer to me was rather low and they explained it is because they apply $3500 worth of reconditioning expense to a Porsche. I don't know really what they do with all that expense, considering that brakes and tires could be done for $1500 (maybe fluids too), and I doubt they can do much more with a Porsche in their shop. But I do believe that when they have a more common car that they do get in there and give it a major service.

playboy · 06-26-2006, 12:09 PM

i've noticed the prices in TX are alot cheaper than in CA. Is there a reason for that? What state would be the best to buy in?

Im willing to travel as far as TX.

I didnt see any boxsters that really caught my eye on that site. Im looking for an 00' in good shape with decent miles for ~22-24.

SD987 · 06-26-2006, 12:19 PM

"i've noticed the prices in TX are alot cheaper than in CA. Is there a reason for that? What state would be the best to buy in?"

Thing in general are alot cheaper in TX than in CA. If I was looking to buy a Boxster from outside the U.S., California is pretty much the last place I'd look to buy.

playboy · 06-26-2006, 12:32 PM

where would you first look to buy?

xavier405 · 06-26-2006, 12:43 PM

Look out for Katrina flood cars in Texas. That might be one reason the prices are low, I speculate. Check the link in this forum on flood cars.

I would lean toward the southwest states anyway for a used car because of the mild weather.

DC1 · 06-26-2006, 12:53 PM

One thing to keep in mind about carmax is I think they base their prices just on low book values and if you pay attention you might get a good deal. Although your still paying retail I dont think they pay to much attention to options etc.each car has My car had 18" wheels and the litronic headlights I think its called and similar cars without these options were the same price so I think its just hit or miss as those alone would add a few thousand dollars. They gave me a service report on my car which was an 02 and they ordered and paid for the second key from Porsche, they put all new tires on the vehicle and changed oil with synthetic and an air filter. Even more surprising they paid the local Porsche I think it was $2500.00 to fix some type of an oil leak, so yes I do believe they put some money into the cars they keep. They even refunded me the dollars to purchase an owners manual. Just so happens Im having an inspection today and if it turns up anything I iwll bring it back to carmax prior to my extended kicking in. I also purchased a 5 year 60,000 mile extended for 1949.00 which was about 900.00 less I think than the aftermarket warranty companies so all in all it was a good experience.
I gave them my Land Rover Discovery Series II, there offer to purchase was about 20% below wholesale but it was convenient and the vehicle had 100,000 miles so I sold it to them as it was easy. I understand they dont sell any vehicle over a certain amoutn of miles, they said with Discoveries I think they will not sell anything over 50,000 miles so they just wholesale it. If anything its a good place to do market research.

Brucelee · 06-26-2006, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playboy

i've noticed the prices in TX are alot cheaper than in CA. Is there a reason for that? What state would be the best to buy in?

Im willing to travel as far as TX.

I didnt see any boxsters that really caught my eye on that site. Im looking for an 00' in good shape with decent miles for ~22-24.

DO NOT buy a car with a Texas title. This is a state where the shady guys go to "wash" titles.

CA has a nice supply of Boxes and the prices are not really any higher.

Brucelee · 06-26-2006, 01:07 PM

CarMax pays attention to EVERYTHING and they are no panacea for buying, you must STILL beware of what you are buying.

Moreover, you would have been better off having the car inspected prior to buying it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DC1

One thing to keep in mind about carmax is I think they base their prices just on low book values and if you pay attention you might get a good deal. Although your still paying retail I dont think they pay to much attention to options etc.each car has My car had 18" wheels and the litronic headlights I think its called and similar cars without these options were the same price so I think its just hit or miss as those alone would add a few thousand dollars. They gave me a service report on my car which was an 02 and they ordered and paid for the second key from Porsche, they put all new tires on the vehicle and changed oil with synthetic and an air filter. Even more surprising they paid the local Porsche I think it was $2500.00 to fix some type of an oil leak, so yes I do believe they put some money into the cars they keep. They even refunded me the dollars to purchase an owners manual. Just so happens Im having an inspection today and if it turns up anything I iwll bring it back to carmax prior to my extended kicking in. I also purchased a 5 year 60,000 mile extended for 1949.00 which was about 900.00 less I think than the aftermarket warranty companies so all in all it was a good experience.
I gave them my Land Rover Discovery Series II, there offer to purchase was about 20% below wholesale but it was convenient and the vehicle had 100,000 miles so I sold it to them as it was easy. I understand they dont sell any vehicle over a certain amoutn of miles, they said with Discoveries I think they will not sell anything over 50,000 miles so they just wholesale it. If anything its a good place to do market research.

playboy · 06-26-2006, 01:15 PM

the kelly blue book value is $2500 more in CA than in TX for the same car.

If i use the carfax title protection would i be protected if i found the car had been a victim of katrina? Also anyway to cheap for title washing except to compare condition to the miles?

playboy · 06-26-2006, 06:19 PM

another thing, I can get insurance for the car but I know I have to get state permits to drive it through the different states. Can I get this at one place for all the states or do i need to get them at each state i go through? Where can the permits be purchased at?

Thanks for all the help!

Brucelee · 06-26-2006, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playboy

another thing, I can get insurance for the car but I know I have to get state permits to drive it through the different states. Can I get this at one place for all the states or do i need to get them at each state i go through? Where can the permits be purchased at?

Thanks for all the help!

If you buy a car from a CA dealer, the CA dealer should supply you with a One Trip Permit, which is legal within the US to allow you to get back to where you came from. However, I have no idea if Canada will honor such a permit.

playboy · 06-26-2006, 07:19 PM

oh cool. Im assuming that would be the same in texas. Canada will honor it until the nearest insurance outlet. I just wasnt sure about getting a permit in each state.thanks.