The 964 Buyer's Guide

How to buy a 964 (1989–1994) at auction without overpaying for someone else's story. The short version: know your all-in number before the auction, read the listing like a skeptic, and price the inspection items into your bid.

Your number is not the hammer

The hammer is where the costs start. Add the buyer's fee (5% on Bring a Trailer, capped at $5,000; 5% uncapped on Cars & Bids, which matters at 964 prices), shipping ($800–$2,500 for an enclosed cross-country haul), tax and registration in your state, and an immediate-service reserve. On these cars, a first-year reserve of a few thousand dollars is honest, not pessimistic.

Set the all-in ceiling, subtract the costs, and what's left is your max bid. If the bidding passes it, the car was never yours at your price. Let it go.

Four passes over every listing

Photos. Panel gaps, underbody shots, cold-start video. What's missing from the gallery matters as much as what's in it.

Paperwork. Service records, window sticker or build sheet, title status. A car with a file is worth more than the same car with a story.

Comments. Sellers answer direct questions in the comments, and the good ones answer with invoices. Read all of it, including what the seller chose not to answer.

The market. Run the car through the calculator here. The comp list on the result is the discipline: actual sales of the same model, body, and transmission at similar mileage.

The engine, briefly

Every 964 is air-cooled: the 3.6 M64 in the Carreras, a 3.3 or 3.6 single-turbo in the Turbo. The checks that matter are oil leaks and reseal history, the dual-mass flywheel, the distributor vent kit, and compression/leakdown numbers from a specialist who knows these cars.

The fuller version is the The 964 Engine Guide.

The PPI is the cheapest money in the deal

Get a pre-purchase inspection at a Porsche specialist who knows air-cooled cars. Ask for compression and leakdown numbers, where the engine leaks and how much, the state of the dual-mass flywheel, and whether the distributor vent kit is fitted. Budget the inspection before you argue about price.