winthorp

First post after lurking for some time and it's not a good one...

After being absent from driving a Porsche for almost 2 years (had a 2008 Cayman for 4 years before my current car, a 2013 Audi A6 2.0T Quattro) I got the green light from the wife to purchase my dream car: a 997.2 C4S.

It didn't take too long to find a great car at a local dealership: a 2010 C4S with only 4,000 miles. Only problem was that it had an accident on the Carfax. After doing some research on Rennlist I decided that this is not a something that would prevent me from buying the car as long a I can get full details on the accident, what repairs were done and records to prove it.

The Carfax stated "Accident reported. Vehicle involved in a sideswipe collision. Involving left side impact. With another motor vehicle. Airbags did not deploy".

Initial contact with salesperson #1. He states that his manager told him that it was "a very minor accident."

Follow-up from salesperson #1: "...it was side swipe damage and only affected the paint and door, definitely no frame damage."

Based on this information I made an appointment to look at the car. It was drenched in rain, but looked mint from what I could tell. I did spent quite some time checking out the driver's door. It looked fine and closed perfectly. We then went on a short test drive. The car drove great expect for some vibrations that we thought might be caused by flat spotted tires. I was excited and decided to make an offer.

Even though the car looked mint I asked to see records for the accident repair of the driver's side door. They had none, but salesperson #2 promised to get those for me (I made seeing them a condition of my offer for the car and also told them that I would do a PPI).

A couple of days later more accident details from salesperson #2. Here is the list of all the things that were replaced: the door, the front fender, the quarter panel, the rear bumper skin, left-side mirror and both left side wheels.

A very minor accident...?

What is worth to note is that this dealership serviced the car (one owner) from day one. All replacement parts were bought from them and the repairs were done by a local body shop. It's truly troubling that nothing would have been disclosed from their side without my continued prodding for repair records.

What I've learned is that a) Rennlist is a fantastic resource for buying a 997 and b) it really (really) hurts that this deal fell apart, which ultimately tells me that getting into a 997 is truly the right choice for me.

Jubert39

thats bull ****. Id be pissed. Did you confront them? See what they say? And to me, replacing a door and a fender is fine. But a quarter panel? Thats welded to the chassis. Can it be fixed? yes. The cheap way? bondo. (which in this case would be a no go). expensive way? by cutting the entire quarter panel, and replace with a whole new quarter panel and repaint. (which in this case wouldn't be minor). IDK, im glad you moved on...

Charley250

If I was you I would ask for a lot of photos of before the work and during the work.

Like Jubert said previously, quarter panel damage is not a minor damage. If you want to repair it with the right way (no bondo) you need to unweld the quarter panel from the car like this:






And weld a new quarter on it:






Good luck in you search for your dream car!

myw

Imo that minor fix after parts and labor (albeit dealer pricing) is 20-25K worth of repairs.... Definitely not minor and has a serous affect re resale on these cars.

BIG smoke

No proof of repair = no sale to you
Don't get sweet talked now, only to find out latter your new car is a dude.
You'll never be able to re-sell her.

My car had two tags. A bent rim/tire and control arm from a pot hole. One trailer hitch into the hood in stop and go traffic. $4k and $12k. I bought the car from the original owner. I know it has a new hood, and some painting on the nose. Priced accordingly, I can live with that. There are lots of great cars out there. You can find the right one.
The dealer/sales person has to share (you hope) what they know. If they don't know, or don't really look. They are not lying when they don't tell you what they don't know. Trust no one.

winthorp

Thanks for all the replies.

I did confront them, told them I'm in shock and that if I would even consider buying the car it would have to be at a substantial discount. They said that there won't be any discount, even though the car was in a major accident and had its entire left side replaced. I guess they will tell the next customer the same thing they initially told me...

Thanks for the pictures on the quarter panel repair. Overall it looks like what you repaired is almost exactly the same as done on the car I looked at; only on the other side. Amazing job you did (I checked out your thread as well)!

Overall cost for the repairs was $17,000 based on what I've been told. Not sure what the impact on resale value would be, but I'd guess at least 15-20% based on all the things that had to be replaced.

What really left me stunned was that they did not disclose this information without major prodding from my side. When I sell my house I have to disclose all major flaws by law. I can see that sometimes dealers do not have a full history of a car they sell, but this was clearly not the case in this case.

myw

it's some double-standard-for-dummies bs. the porsche dealers will pretend and keep a straight face acting like 15-30 grand damage has zero impact on resale value or sell-ability.... yet when they are on the buying end of a car with that sort of history they will be gasping for air in shock, before offering 50% of your asking price (naturally!!!)

USMC_DS1

You did well by sticking to your guns and not buying their story. The honeymoons period can be short lived... living with and then trying to sell a storied car afterwards is another thing all together. GL with the continued hunt for the perfect 997.

BIG smoke

Always be suspicious. A carfax can take months to get registered and catch up to a car and vin. My personal secret? Hand wash the car yourself. You can tell a lot from a personal soapy wash. Never buy a car after your first drive. Walk away, your too full of OXYTOCIN, and can't think straight. Like saying, "I'll take it".

my first 911

Can you tell us what car and dealer this was to save anyone else on Rennlist from going thru the same thing!!

cairo94507

I hate dealerships that are not honest. They deserve to be publicly flogged.

C2 Turbo

If I was you, I would pass on the ^ car regardless of the price.

BTW, I have a friend in VA who might be interested in selling his Atlas Grey '07 997 manual with 7 or 8000 miles.

He is the second owner and has owned the car for 3/4 years or something like that.

The car is in mint condition and the guy is a straight shooter.

If interested I can hook you both up.

LMK

winthorp

I didn't initially post the dealership name as I wanted to get some feedback first.

The dealership is Larson Porsche just South of Seattle. Here is the listing for the car (a Meteor Grey 2010 C4S):

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...ngId=370204059

Just looking at the listing pictures hurts. Seeing Russell on the picture hurts too as this goes against anything he stands for.

C2 Turbo, thanks for the offer, but I'm looking for a 997.2 C4S and prefer to trade-in my A6 (as we get a tax credit in WA).

Chaos

Has to pay for his divorce

ilko

Lame! Here is the VIN of the car in case an unsuspecting buyer decides to google it at some point in the future: WP0AB2A93AS720082.