Michael15

I know there are many variables to the question in the title above but let me try to narrow it down. I've recently had a vehicle go through a ppi and it was revealed that the car had been repainted.

There was no damage found at all and the shop that performed the ppi said the paint job was excellent but that it definitely was not porsche factory paint quality. The car is a 9 out of 10 in every other aspect and its not a "classic".

My question is how much should this effect the value of the car...5%, 10%? Appreciate any input!

OKB

as much as you can negotiate especially if you can see and point out flaws, tell the seller youll have to have it repainted

3Series

Why was in painted? Hail? Or rock chips? Was it painted the same color?

Michael15

The original owner had it painted and the current owner does not know why it was repainted. He was as shocked as anyone to find this out. No dents or hail damage from the looks of the PPI. It is the same color.

Current owner is not disputing that the car has been repainted. It was just news to him also. He has been excellent to work with and I seriously believe he had no idea about the paint.

SpeedyD

How much of the car? It would make a huge difference if entire car (which is what you've implied) vs. the usual areas that get rock chips...

Mumbles

If the current owner cannot verify why it was painted, I would not consider buying a car of that nature.

Michael15

Yes the entire car has been repainted. The PPI folks said because of the color and its difficulty to match it was their guess the owner repainted the whole car as opposed to specific area.

Also the carfax report did not report the car had been repainted. Not sure why?

johnireland

The issue that stands out for me is your statement "the paint job is excellent...but not up to Porsche standards." Over a car's life there can be lots of reasons to repaint it. I saw a silver tt that had been vigorously keyed by vandals. There was no other solution but to repaint the whole car. I'm not sure that any repaint would equal the factory job...but it could certainly be "excellent" and therefore good enough. Time is the only test that will matter. Perhaps negotiating half the price of you having to have painted again at some future date would be fair.

BIG smoke

But what is the car? Year? Model?
$1ooK I'd care
$4oK I'd care less

SpeedyD

Carfax misses things, which is why you get PPIs done (as you did here, with very useful results/info).

Here's my thinking. If the current owner truly didn't know it was repainted, they didn't do their own homework and that's their problem, not yours. You can't be 100% sure of their truthfulness either...

Now, the result is a fully repainted car. The first question is was there any noticeable damage... I would have a bunch of alarms going off in my head for a private sale, where you have no clue why it was repainted. There are many hypotheticals that would make me "okay" with that... some jerk maybe ran a key across multiple panels... or someone poured acid on it ... or xxxxxx...

The problem is not knowing or having documented information on those. Now, if you went to a Porsche dealer for the PPI and they say it truly is otherwise perfect (no structural damage, water damage, etc) at least you might have an interest in the car itself. I know you got the OK from the PPI, but not all PPIs are equal and some things merit further digging...

If you determine the car is otherwise okay, then you need to consider A) how much of a discount will you take and B) will you have to spend any money to correct for the paint job itself.

There should be a discount for the uncertainty around the paint job, and any further discount for you having to fix the issue. Was the car priced smack in the middle of what you'd expect otherwise btw? If it was priced lower, it may be a sign the seller had prior information... If you get that impression, I'd just walk away because dishonest seller is not worth the trouble.

I'd say a discount 10-15% is around the right amount (assuming the above holds and you have confidence that there are no other issues)... If you knew WHY it was repainted, I would say a smaller discount is warranted, and only if there are reasons to believe the paint job is not perfect.

There are plenty of very, very expensive cars that get repainted and take virtually no hit to value -- but the paint jobs need to be done correctly. A bad paint job will cost you in the future either at resale or correcting for it.

Good luck!

SpeedyD

Agree -- if you know the reason, and the paint is excellent, I would not discount it nearly as much.

A discount is still warranted, unfortunately.

speedracerf4i

Is this a rare color/option/trim car? If not, why not walk away if you think this will bother you? Peace of mind cost more than the discount you think you can get.

I just bought an 09 997.2 C4S with only 14,000 miles 2 months ago. The PPI and carfax was spotless. The car looks as if new. After driving 1,200 miles from Seattle down to Los Angeles the front of the car accumulated a few stone chips. Being picky an all, I ordered a bottle of Dr. Colorchip (good results) and discovered that the front bumper may have been repainted. I took the bumper off to see what's behind the bumper and did not see anything unusual. Maybe the past owner had some chips filled in or maybe it was a small fender-mender. But this still bothered me to no end.

nwGTS

This may help.
I recently had my entire car's paint corrected by my detailer. He showed me the paint meter readings that indicated Porsche from the factory is VERY stingy on the amount of paint used and that correction can only be done once to the car. He recommended that if ever again after this correction there were ever any scuffing, marring, oxidation or other paint damage that required compounding that I get the panel resprayed because there will not be enough paint to simply buff out the scratch.

Not 36 hours after the correction was complete some dingleberry in a Home Depot parking lot banged my rear bumper with a cart (no note or anything). So, I had to have the entire rear bumper cover resprayed before my detailer could go at it. My car is L041 black which is easy to match though.

Point being, if this car is over a few years old, it may have been so damaged (Porsche has one of the softest paints in the industry I'm told) that a respray was the only way to get it back to showroom condition or even passable condition.

If the PPI came back with no new panels, welding, filler etc. I imagine that was the reason.

Chrono

Preposterous.

toona

Is it possible the PPI guys are wrong?