A lot of people have a side hustle. Some people buy things on the cheap and resell them online. Others buy broken down used cars, repair them, and sell them for a profit. The latter is a form of car flipping, and it’s a relatively cheap way to make a little extra cash if you know what you’re doing. When you have deeper pockets, however, flipping cars is about buying limited-production models like the Porsche 911 GT3 or the Ford GT, letting them sit until demand and value go up, then selling them for huge profits. Well, Porsche has had enough of the practice and will begin vetting buyers of its limited-production GT models.

In an interview with Car & Driver at the launch of the 2018 911 GT3, Andreas Preuninger – the Head of GT Road Car Development at Porsche – said, “I personally like to see my cars being used. That’s what we build them for. They are just too good to be left to stand and collect dust. I don’t like this business of people buying our cars to make money on them. That was never our intention. The purpose of limiting a car is not for it to gain value. We don’t want to be laying money on each car’s roof when they run out of the factory.”

Keep reading for the rest of the story

It’s an ongoing problem

Let’s talk about the 911R for a moment. It’s a beautiful car, and quite honestly, it's a GT3 without a spoiler on the deck. It has 500 ponies under the rear hood, can make a run to 60 mph in about 4 seconds, and likely tops out around 186 mph. Here in the U.S., it goes for some $185,000 brand new. But, there’s something really great about it because it’s offered exclusively with a manual transmission. Then the GT3 came to fruition, and 911R collectors went nuts because a manual transmission in the GT3 could lower the value of their beloved 911Rs. Of course, some of these people really are collectors and will hang onto and enjoy them for a long time. But, probably not all of them – as some look at them as investments.

A perfect example of this is happening in Australia right now. To put it simply, Porsche Australia jumped through all kinds of hoops to import a 911R for a customer. Now, not even a year later, it’s for sale with a sticker price of $900,000 with just 68km on the odometer. It joins two others that are for sale for close to the same price, neither of which have more than 600km on the clock. It’s kind of like ticket scalping, but with cars. This is the kind of stuff irritates Porsche, so it is going to start watching out for customers that are known to be resellers. If someone has a history of flipping a limited-production model in the past, Porsche may turn them away.

In the same interview mentioned earlier, Preuninger also said, “If you’re flipping cars, then I think it’s understandable that you won’t get on the list for the next car if we have more demand than supply. It’s not a punishment but a strategy: to supply the cars to the customers who will really use them. I think that’s just fair.”

And, maybe that’s the case, or maybe deep down it really is punishment. But, what do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

Read our full review on the Porsche 911 GT3 here.