Hi All,
Ive been trying to buy a 914 fore some months now and am getting really frustrated.
On two occasions I thought Id agreed a deal with sellers here and then from that stage nothing, no emails nothing.
Am I missing something here? I accept that as an overseas buyer people may rather deal with someone local but all I need is to be told thats whats going on. Instead its as if the seller has gone to jail or something and lost access to email or been abducted by aliens!
I guess it may work differently between US and UK but surely if someone changes their mind its not a big deal to let me know?
Rant over, anyone selling an 914, preferably pre 74 and as original as possible. Ive got about $5500 burning a hole in my pocket and a Porsche-less garage
David

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.
~George Bernard Shaw

Sorry about your deals falling through... I hope another one comes along soon.

How about mine?? Bob Arnett

Bob - That cute gal on the car will find it difficult to keep a good tan living in the UK.

Is she OK with that?

;-)

Hey David:I think people here understand,but there are some extra tasks and cost with overseas sales.Its just a little more involved,not to mention, there are a lot of scammers out there.Do you know anyone here,that you can trust,that could help you broker the deal??? Maybe go look at the car,check it out,make sure its what you want.Preferably, someone who knows 914s, and there rust problems,and things to look out for.I would not buy a 914,site unseen ever!!!!I do not care, how good it looks in pictures.They need a full rust inspect,rockers covers off.By someone who knows what to look for.There are good cars out there,but its hard to find one really nice, for 5500.But there are some. Good Luck jaymann from PA

Here is one for sale in my hometown for 4,500.00
I could check it out for you, and help you ship this across the pond
Click to view attachment

Maybe you're doing it all wrong?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXz-HCcDUHY

As of late there have been quite a few scam artist cruising the used car circuit. I suspect this might effect some of your attempted purchases. BTW, when you do find one avoid the escro w scams.

Thanks for the tip! I was hoping not to have to go that far!!

I prefer ladies with big bumpers to 914s with them. In the English summer you have to sunbathe every day for a month just to get white

Sorry about that. It may be for the best so far. I have purchased two 914s and in both cases the sellers outright lied and lied and lied about the condition of the car. The last one I bought from someone I trusted because he was a fellow PCA member. Nope. A rust-free car does not require a new floor, trunk, inner and outer firewall, and longitudinal pieces. So I agree with having an intermediate here in the states. Someone that both parties trust. I am afraid that may mean a dealer or broker, but that may work too. Some of them do honest work, and expect to be well paid in return though.

I would be glad to help with inspection and shipping if you find one over here on the East. Probably best to look in the drier part of the country in the south west, though.

A complete running,"rust free" car for $5500 or less....
Thats your problem right there.
If it exists whoever finds one & knows better, isnt letting it go.

If you find one you like.....the bumpers can always be changed.
I'd be happy to look at anything in this area. I've got a yellow 75 coming up for sale in a few months.....but it's got big bumpers.

Jeff

It may have saved you from a bad 914, just keep looking & keep a WTB post in the cars classifieds on here. Specify whether the $5500 is including or excluding customs/etc. & shipping costs across the pond, as that can cut into the price substantially.

You can also set up for sale email notices off your searches on eBay (USA), check under Porsches in the classifieds at TheSamba.com, Lemonfree.com, etc., plus there is a Craig's List search & notice feature on here & over at 914club.com (the latter covers more of the USA CL listings).

Good Luck on the ongoing hunt!

Cheers!
Tom
///////

5500 Euros might be a better starting point for a rustfree original as possible complete running pre 74.

Thanks for all the wise words so far guys. I'm pretty sure, having been trawling the ads for a few months that I can get something I'll be happy with for $5500 or less. It's gonna be a case of compromise I know. Aside from rust I think the bumper thing is important as is being fairly original, I want it to be a 914 not a Chevy. My $5500 is to buy the car, I've got another couple of thousand for shipping in a different pocket. I e got a wanted Ad on here which I'm going to bump right now but please let me know of anything that comes up
Cheers!

Pretty sure that was mostly meant for me, sooooo you're welcome.

Mmmmm?

Okay, so your searching for a 70-74 914. Which model are you seeking, as well as the colour?

I buy a lot of them. And I broker deals too. More than half the deals I work that involve an overseas buyer fall apart. So yes, sellers might be skittish.
A solid 914 is now a $8,000 car minimum. 2.0 liter, low miles, original paint, no mods, etc all take the price up from there.
For $5500, you can find one with a respray, carbed engine and maybe some light modifications, probably wrong wheels, etc. minimal rust is as you only the most important.
Keep looking. You will find it. Or email me at randyfoulds@hotmail.com.

You have a good sense of humor about it. The sun tan thing was hilarious!

Eventually a car will come along. I would suggest you have any car you intend on purchasing inspected. BTW: there were a couple rollers for sale here for $ 3000.00 and they still had a very small rust issue. So $ 5500.00 now is a tall but not unobtainable order.

I guess there isn't anything decent in the UK for about 3400GBP. Seems like it would be a lot of work to get it shipped. How much does it cost and what is required of the seller to get it shipped. Also, how do you pay the seller? Paypal, wire transfer? If it doesn't take much, I might be selling my '72 914 if you're interested.
Regards,
David

It can be done for under $5,500, because I recently found one. But everyone who has seen the car agrees that it was a screamin' deal.

Many 914 owners don't know about resources like 914World. So you also should be checking Craigslist, particularly in the Southwestern United States -- California to Texas. That's where your rust-free car is likely hiding.

But seriously, good luck finding people who will trust you. If I were selling a car, I wouldn't bother with overseas buyers. Too much of a hassle. Find the car you like, and fly here with cash in hand. Or take one of the members up on their offer to broker the deal. That's probably your best bet.


PS -- If you have $5,500 burning a hole in your pocket, save up more money. Unless the fuel lines have been replaced, you'll need to budget extra for that. And there will be a bunch of little things that need doing. I would estimate that even if you found a solid car, plan on a couple thousand dollars in miscellaneous things to be done. But the fuel lines straightaway. And you're in England so you pay more for everything than we do. (Except health care.)

Ignore him, he's not supposed to post outside of the sandbox ...

The seller should have an easier time selling overseas. All you'd need to do is be at home when a truck arrives and give the guy the keys and Title paperwork. Money would be transferred electronically into your bank account.
The reason I've set a budget is that I want and expect to do a few things like fuel pipes, brakes, lights etc. when it arrives.
These cares are pretty rare over here as they weren't sold new in right hand drive and the few that were sold have rotted away in our wet weather.

In an ideal world and sort of in order, Title(salvage would be ok), structurally solid, not white, no 'custom' parts (spoilers, carbon fibre, neon lights, funky gauges etc) FI, 2.0 but1.7 or .8 will do, I'd rather. Flat scruffy original paint than cheap shiny respray, Fuchs would be great but steelies will do....
This is of course a wish list in an ideal world but I appreciate I'll need to compromise on some things, I'm expecting to have to do some work but I'm not looking for a full on resto project
What have you got?

Double your offer and I will let go of Betsy. "73 2.0 with 39,000 miles. I bought her from the original owner 3 months ago. She is all original except she has carbs instead of fuel injection but I will include everything to take her back to injection. Runs great, purrs like a kitten. She does need new front struts. Has new tires with less than 500 miles on them. Even the seatbelt buzzer still works as well as the light in the engine bay and rear trunk. The defrost lever still lights up also. Let me know if you are interested.


Shoe

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Click to view attachment

Here is a nice looking FI one about 60 miles from me.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/cto/3278015142.html

People in the UK don't receive 50 scam emails each day in their in-box? If we have a vacation house for rent, we get 50 scam emails a day: "I'd love to rent your vacation house in warm, sunny, beautiful Aspen, Colorado, USA for month of February. But only have legitimate cashier's check for $23,000. Please deposit check into your account and send balance back via Western Union. Check is drawn on 'Legitimate Bank of Moose and Squirrel' in St. Badanov, Russia."

Got a car for sale? Same thing. Over, and over, and over, and over. We're sick of scam attempts over here. And we've basically given up on any sale that doesn't involve a face-to-face handshake and cash. If I had a 914 for sale, I wouldn't bother selling to you unless you flew over with cash. Nothing personal. Not at all. I'm quite the Anglophile. But I'm still not bothering with any transaction that doesn't involve a handshake and the exchange of cash -- new $100 bills only, with the anti-counterfeit stripe and the watermark.

And if you're thinking, "Well, I'm wiring the money. What's the risk?" Banks here will zap money out of your account if the transaction was fraudulent. And it can take weeks for Interpol to notify our local bank that the funds were bogus. And then the money is yanked out of our bank account, with no recourse. It's happened to my wife and my brother in law. Luckily in small amounts.

I have an idea, since you trust the guy with truck to pick up your car and deliver it to shipper, why don't you wire him the money and then he could give the buyer cash in person. Otherwise, you just sound like a Nigerian scam artist. Also, from watching Wheeler Dealers, the 914 didn't seem that rare in the UK. Keep looking you might get lucky and find one in a barn.

From my recent experiences, if I jumped on a plane to come buy the car I want, I'd arrive to see an empty space on the driveway and no answer at the door. I appreciate cash is king but just not practical. UK ebay can go for weeks without a single 914 advertised and Ive just searched Craiglist here and not found a single one hence trying to buy in the States. Im happy to talk to sellers by phone or even skype to try and prove Im genuine, I will buy the one but its clearly going to test my patience. Youll notice from Wheeler Dealers the 'seller' bought the car back so all they did really was restore it for him Im guessing they couldnt find a suitable one for sale. Hope Sandy passes you by OK

Thanks David, She got closer to you than me. I have been trying to sell a truck for my family and have the same problems as the people have stated here. 45 days and only 1 person came to look at the truck. I can't believe the amount of scams out there. The last one I answered had asked me if I could garuntee that she would be happy with the truck. My reply was that I could not garuntee she would be happy if she saw it in person.
Now back to your issues. I have been trying to gather some cars to take east. I have found that these days the cars have picked-up some value. What I used to find for under $1K is now $3K.
There are no Rust Free cars here that I can find. The sign I put on the Scoutt II that I'm trying to sell says "Rusts Free, thats right all the rust is free." Something we all have to deal with, you more than us.
We had an event Sunday that I had hoped would produce something I could use as 2 cars I had not seen were going to be there and I found that I could not use them. One of them I could have had for free.
If you see something that you would like looked at here (LA area) I would be glad to do the PPI for you.
Good Luck with your search.

5500.00...... I think I want more then that Ned, I and others IN the Porsche world think its worth it, very solid!! No jack flex, long kits installed, PO was setting car up for weekend AX I think?????? Bob Arnett

Does it have to be in the US?
Steve (sclarke) has a rhd 2.0 here in aus that he has driven recently
Have a look in the classifieds
I haven't seen it but would be happy to look at it for you
Plenty of uk Vw guys pinching our cars so I imagine shipping would be easy enough
Just a thought

Offer to Paypal a $500 deposit to hold the car. That'll prove you're serious. That's how I did it at least. Paypal is the preferred method of payment around here because it's basically scam-free for the seller. (It takes a little trust on the buyer's part. But for the most part you will find that we're an honest group over here in North America.)

The seller didn't even want the deposit. Just my flight information was good enough for him. The fact that my flight was one-way was more than enough to prove to him that I was serious. He picked me up at the airport, the transaction was done in less than half an hour. (It took a few minutes to insure the car.) I was on the road less than one hour after my flight landed.

Incidentally, I'm suggesting you search Craigslist in the southwestern United States. All of them. That's how I did it. losangeles.craigslist.org, bakersfield.craigslist.org, lasvegas.craigslist.org, phoenix.craigslist.org, tuscon.craigslist.org, albuquerque.craigslist.org -- all the way to Austin, Texas. Even the small cities. There are dozens of them for sale in all conditions and at largely random prices -- beaters selling for five figures, pristine stock selling for four.

Have a map of the Southwest United States open in your browser and keep clicking "other craigslists in the area" every few days until you find the car you want. It took three weeks in my case. Be prepared for a large phone bill if all the seller provides is a telephone number. If nothing else, you'll learn a great deal about the American southwest through your search.

OR take one of the members up on their offer to broker the transaction for you. If I lived in England, I would go that route.

That one in Atlanta looks like a decent deal. I know lots of guys want to do full inspections, and ask a thousand questions. Frankly, at that price, unless its an obvious rust bucket, I buy it and deal with the issues as I find them.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/cto/3278015142.html.

I have a complete 71 but it has been stored for 15 yrs and it has minor rust .It is stored at Silts place (left it after the G&R swap meet. check with Silts about the condition he will give you the stright dope. At $1500.00 you can do a lot of work and know what you have when you are done

Thanks Bernie, message sent to Silts