Expert Porsche Sales Specialists

How to Shop for a Used or Pre-Owned Porsche

If you’re in the market for a used Porsche and especially a vintage one, there’s a bewildering number of places to look and searches you can perform. It’s easy to get caught up and dispirited by the thousands of listings or promotion marketing by companies trying to shift any kind of used cars. You don’t want just a car; you want the perfect used or pre-owned Porsche that fits your budget and purpose.

Things to Consider When Buying a Pre-Owned Porsche

Buying a used Porsche represents an investment – one that could appreciate given time and circumstances. Undoubtedly you want to uncover an excellent, genuine version of the model of your choice. If you’re seeking a collectable model, then identifying and investing in a prime example requires specific knowledge, skills, and patience!

Mitigating the Risks of Buying a Used Porsche

For the Porsche virgin or first-time buyer, your first purchase can be scary. There are plenty of horror stories and what if scenarios that can cause anxiety. So, understanding what you’re buying should be a key factor in your decision making.

Porsche is a high-end manufacturer, so the care of the Porsche you buy will be more expensive than most typical car ownership costs. For the later models, spend some time researching the chassis or model you want to buy. See our buying guides and common problems for some practical advice.

Feel free to contact us with questions or concerns about a specific model.

Advice For First-Time Used Porsche Buyer

Ignorance is bliss and nobody is selling a bad car – at least they don’t know they are or choose not to find out! It’s your mission to learn as much as you can about the Porsche you want to buy.  The more knowledge you have, the better buying decisions you can make. Sometimes you just have to take a punt and go with your gut feeling to grab a bargain. Everything is fixable so long as you’re aware of the risk. Some things to consider:

• Why is the car for sale?
• Who is selling the car, and do they have a history of Porsche sales?
• How complete is the maintenance service history?
• What repair work has been completed?
• Did the car take part in HPDE?
• For low mileage cars – what is the age of the tires, fluids, brakes etc?

How to Get a Pre-Purchase Inspection

We believe it’s essential to have the Porsche you want to buy inspected by a third party. Why wouldn’t you? The best thing to do is take the car to a local recommended Porsche specialist and have them thoroughly examine the car. If you don’t see a local specialist listed, contact us for help.

From a pre-purchase inspection obviously, you want to know if the car is as good as advertised. However, one of the most important things to learn from a PPi is what maintenance expenses are due on the Porsche you plan to buy. What are the likely maintenance services due and their cost? When will the car need brakes or tires? See our maintenance guides for the model and go through the maintenance service questions to better understand the service requirements on the Porsche you plan to buy.

How Will You Drive Your Porsche?

The purpose you buy your Porsche for should have a significant impact on where to source it from. There is a significant difference in the likely seller of an everyday driver Macan versus a collectable classic or GT car. Below we recommend some of the best sources for where to identify the models that match your purpose.

Where To Source a Perfect Used or Pre-Owned Porsche?

How to Buy a Porsche for Everyday Use or Late Model Low Mileage Examples

It seems obvious, but commonly overlooked, the Porsche dealer network has some of the best used vehicles. Well serviced models are often traded-in or go back to the dealerships in one way or another. Porsche has an excellent resource in the Pre-Owned Portal, which enables you to search country wide for specific models, going all the way back to 1955.  Porsche dealers also offer a certified pre-owned program for later models.

Buying a Used Porsche From an Auction or Online Listing

Buying from an auction is considered more risky, however, it can be more fun and rewarding. There are a number of auction websites dedicated to the sale of used cars. Anything goes on most of them!  However, below we list the auction sites that feature high quality cars and more quality control of the vehicles for sale.

PCARMARKET is an online auction aimed exclusively at buyers and sellers of Porsche cars. By only focusing on Porsche, PCARMARKET produces higher quality vehicles with significantly better details than other auction sites. PCARMARKET features different types of auction such as Reserve, no Reserve and Blind Auction formats. A good deal of the cars listed also come from the specialists we’ve listed above.