Selling my 997 privately - what work to prioritise?

[FionnMac]

Hi all,

So it's come the time to sell my 2005 997 Carrera 2S, after 3 years of owning.

I had a recent service done at RevolutionPorsche in west yorkshire, and received a £700 quote for work. Mostly replacing brake discs/pads, and one or other small bits. I've also had a pretty mental £3k quote for cosemtic work to sort out a few paint scratches and 2-3 alloys that aren't in good nick. (Obviously I've not looked after it as well as I could have, but at least one of them was a hit and run on me while parked!)

I paid £22.5k for the car and have put 23k miles or so on it, to put it up to around 78k on the clock.

Does anybody have an idea of which work I should prioritise, that is economically worth me doing?

The bodywork quote is from Road&Race, Manchester - if anybody knows a cheaper option in the north-west/yorkshire that would be much appreciated!

Many thanks in advance

 

[T8]

In your position I'd get the advisory work done and add £500 to the asking price.

Let any prospective buyer knock you down for the cosmetic stuff.

 

[cheshire911]

I'll put a different perspective. If you spend £700 and the car looks a scruffy example, and given there is plenty of choice out there of your model with similar mileages, there will always be a group of buyers who take one look at the car and walk away. I did tit to a few tatty examples i saw. It just shows a car that's looking rough, an owner who perhaps hasn't really looked after it and bodywork is a big expense as you have discovered.

The Road and Race work will be top-notch as they are Porsche-approved and the job comes with a lifelong warranty. You can shop around and perhaps spend a little less or a lot less to tidy it up cosmetically and pile it into the next sucker to pick up the brake work. I think if you do the brakes and the car looks tatty, you are going to get knocked down heavily on price let alone some buyers walking away when they see a car with dings.

An alternative is not to spend anything and sell it. You might just get a guy who knocks you down a little on cosmetic work and doesn't have it inspected who doesn't know about the £700 brakes bill.
This option depends on your conscience and moral compass. I certainly know of cars at an Indy where a service showed £3k+ of work needed, the owner declined, sold the car and returned three months later in a newer example and proclaimed he sold it and the first guy to see it bought it and without an inspection!

 

[Scholester]

Sell it as is - you won't recoup the money spent on making it shiner again.

Be honest in your advert that due to the fact the recent service has advised works to the brakes is required to the tune of £700, you are open to sensible negotiation on price. Include a photo of the service bill with advisories to back up the fact that you are an open and honest seller.

Cosmetics are just that so give it a good wash and polish and get writing the ad - good luck.

 

[wasz]

Don't do anything unless the brakes were MOT advisory if you are selling up.

A buyer might not notice, if they do go halves with them in negotiation. They aren't going to get a perfect car privately.

As a trade in for another car, they likely won't check it that thoroughly anyway.

 

[KJD]

Perhaps get the wheels refurbished £400 and a good detail/ machine polish another £300/400 will see a massive improvement in appearance of your car without a massive outlay.

You have just had the car serviced and had identified another spend of £700 which you may be able to reduce this cost a little depending on the cost of parts labor etc so for say £1400ish you potential make the car desirable, easy on the eye and mechanically up to date.

Worth considering perhaps.



:thumb:

 

[MNC911]

If it looks tatty you'll have difficulty in selling it or you get tatty offers which you won't like. However the next owner will want to put the car right or in best condition possible.

Don't shaft a buyer by not telling them what the car needs on a recent report. That's properly bang out of order if you were to be dishonest. The choice is yours whether to sell as is, or spend to assist selling.

Don't shaft someone over a few hundred quid, it's just not the decent thing to do. :thumb:

 

[basildon993]

I sold my 993 privately earlier this year. My advice would be to take lots of good high res photos of the car, you might not use them all in the advert, but they can be sent to any prospective buyer.

Be honest in the advert and include as much information as you have, details of service history with mileage etc, where the services were carried out. Detail any mods you have made to the car if applicable. You may as well be honest, because if the potential buyer has a PPI carried out they will find out everything anyway!

Be realistic with the price if you really want to sell. What cars are advertised for isn't necessarily what they sell for! I had to drop 2k when selling my car, but I needed the sale ASAP.

Be nice to everyone that contacts you. That person you thought was a time waster may come back the next day with the cash.

With regard to the 'what work should I do' question, I would only do essential safety stuff, my car needed new rear tyres which I fitted prior to advertising. Non critical stuff is a matter of choice. The buyer of my car didn't mind the stone chips, scratches etc as we wanted a mechanically sound car to drive around Europe in. When it came to the deal he had found a couple of faults that needed rectifying, leaky cam cover, broken exhaust strap, so I agreed to get these done at my expense so that he was happy with the deal.

Good luck with the sale! :thumbs:

 

[DucatiRob]

How about buying the brake discs and pads yourself and either fitting them or getting a local garage to do it, save yourself £££s as its only an hour or so labour!

Cosmetic stuff can always be negotiated but if you have it done yourself you will almost certainly not recoup your money!

 

[basildon993]

Oh I forgot to mention, for the cosmetic stuff get a couple of quotes to show the prospective buyer. They will then have a good idea of future costs if they decide to get the work done. :thumbs:

When Selling my 993 I mentioned it needed some bodywork done, the next question was always "have you had a quote for the work?" Helps with budgeting for the buyer.

 

[SamUK]

Hi all,

So it's come the time to sell my 2005 997 Carrera 2S, after 3 years of owning.

I had a recent service done at RevolutionPorsche in west yorkshire, and received a £700 quote for work. Mostly replacing brake discs/pads, and one or other small bits. I've also had a pretty mental £3k quote for cosemtic work to sort out a few paint scratches and 2-3 alloys that aren't in good nick. (Obviously I've not looked after it as well as I could have, but at least one of them was a hit and run on me while parked!)

I paid £22.5k for the car and have put 23k miles or so on it, to put it up to around 78k on the clock.

Does anybody have an idea of which work I should prioritise, that is economically worth me doing?

The bodywork quote is from Road&Race, Manchester - if anybody knows a cheaper option in the north-west/yorkshire that would be much appreciated!

Many thanks in advance

£22.5k for the car 3 years back? was a v good price..i dont think you will loose much..but all depends on the body work aswell..

how much are you hoping to get for it?

have you checked for similar cars to see how much they are up for? i know iv seen some for sale for several months!

 

[Floydsolo]

A few scratches & 3 wheels refurbed £3k!!! LOL I'd be looking elsewhere mate.

 

[Thefinn]

I agree with the other chaps do the brakes yourself they are really easy on the 997 and Euro car parts has 25% off at the moment or look on fleebay for the parts.

If it's a bumper that is scratched you might also find a good condition second hand one that is cheaper to swap than getting the old one painted. If not I normally get a panel sprayed for around £250 - 300.

If you want the wheels tidied up you can have them painted rather than powder coated which is cheaper.

 

[matsmith749]

I would get the work done as suggested by Revolution (maybe get the brakes sorted elsewhere), have the wheels done for £50 a pop, then get a decent detailer to spend a day on the car.

You should then be all clear with a nice looking motor for well under £1k that has everything done as advised & looks well presented.

That would be my view.

Matt

 

[MarkGolf]

Guess it depends what you want back from it?

How much would you like for it in its current state?