My Phone Died and a I didn't buy a Porsche

So last Thursday a sales rep at our local Porsche dealer called and said he had a Boxster traded in that I needed to look at. I had mentioned to him that I was looking for one and he was keeping an eye out for a good one.

Well, I had planned to go Friday but it was crazy at work and I wouldn't be able to see it until Saturday. Saturday night my phone died. It was about 5 years old so not totally unexpected. I thought I would run by Verizon on Sat. morning and then go see the car. Who knew buying a phone is worse than buying a house. 2 hours later I left and headed to the dealer.

Just as I was pulling up it was coming back from a test drive. I missed it by 30 minutes. Now normally this wouldn't be that bad, but this car was so nice it's difficult to describe except to say it literally looked new. It was a '98 with 25k miles, owned by an elderly couple that bought it new. It had all maintenance done, including IMS and RMS, and looked like it had never even been sat in. There wasn't a mark or blemish on it. It wasn't even that expensive. I don't usually regret missing cars that much as there is always another, but I doubt there are that many nice early Boxsters left in this condition.

Oh well, the search for a toy continues.

Do you hear them now?

Priorities, Dave. Priorities.

I can commiserate--I once missed the chance to buy an E30 M3 for $5,400 because I didn't get to the seller in time.

PCA listings often have nice first gen Boxsters come up...worth a look!

I keep telling myself I really want another 240Z instead, but damn that was a nice car. And unfortunately Flightservice, I did hear them.

Funny thing about Boxsters, I've been looking at them for around a year now, and many are either total rats or very nice (usually with a price tag to match). There isn't much in between. It's shocking how many have crash damage as well. Most are into their 3rd or 4th owners, and lets just say maintenance wasn't a high priority.

racerdave600 wrote: Who knew buying a phone is worse than buying a house. 2 hours later I left and headed to the dealer.

Yea... There's a reason I made the choices that I did on my phone plan. If I never need to see one of the "big 3" providers again it's too soon.

That sucks about the car. Generally I try to keep the mindset that there will be other opportunities but it always bites when a nice one gets away.

racerdave600 wrote: Funny thing about Boxsters, I've been looking at them for around a year now, and many are either total rats or very nice (usually with a price tag to match). There isn't much in between. It's shocking how many have crash damage as well. Most are into their 3rd or 4th owners, and lets just say maintenance wasn't a high priority.

Pretty much like every luxury/sports car bought as a status symbol by non car people. The buy-in isn't too bad, but either no budget or no aptitude/regard for maintenance (my dad was an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" guy). Lots of 944s, 928s, mercedes and bmws have suffered greatly from these people. OTOH, a wonderful source of project fodder.

At least you didn't get to test drive it. Imagine test driving your lust, you start planning all the cool things you'll do with it in your head. And then you get to the haggling part and You realize this sucker isn't going to budge 100$. I was literally 100$ short. I called every family member and friend I could. No one could help me. I missed it by || much.

It could be worse: Last year, I was test driving a super clean '05 Boxster S. When I got back from the test drive, I was told that they'd accepted an offer on the car while I was test driving it!

Still not understanding why you needed a phone before a Porsche.

Yeah, should've just went up there first. They have phones there.

If I had known how nice it was I would have went there first. Most of the Boxsters I looked at were tough sells, so who knew it would go so fast. The Verizon store is about half way between my house the Porsche dealer, so ignorant me thinks I can walk in, and about 15 minutes later walk out with a phone. There is a reason my wife usually does that.