seemyad

I am waiting to take delivery of a 2011 Cayman with 44k miles. I reached out to a couple of Porsche indy shops regarding a Pre Purchase Inspection aka PPI. I received one response thus far:

"I charge $350 plus tax and you get a thorough six page report on the car with compression test of the engine and scan of every electrical control unit"

Is $350 a reasonable charge for this service. Please factor in I live in a higher cost of living area, Bellevue WA.

Thanks.

daylorb

I think it all depends on what comes with the 6 pages and who is doing it. Porshe dealerships do a light PPI for under $100, and I think the full PPI from the dealer I was quoted was around $300 back in June.

I used an independent once back in 2010 and it was $350 and the inspection was amazingly thorough. Have you looked up the shops Yelp ratings/etc.?

JB

RWPinNC

As a new Porsche owner, I think I can respond with some knowledge. I have paid for three PPIs in the last month or so. The first two resulted in my ending the deal.

I paid $250 to Inspect-X a mobile PPI service. Their normal charge for a Porsche is $350, but they had a tech close to the car. PPI include codes, test drive, detailed inspection and photos with a 20 page standard check list. Worth every penny since my reasons for rejecting the car were more detail and maintenance oriented.

Second was a standard in-shop PPI for $200. Basic inspection by competent tech.

Third was $270 by a specialty shop in Orlando area; very good review, but short report. Very involved and had a lengthy conversation about car. High confidence level.

They are charging you something for the addition of a compression check, maybe an extra $100. Others may wade in, but I'd be doubtful if a compression check at 44K would be meaningful if the maintenance was up to date.

Hope this helps.

eddielasvegas

That seems a bit high to me. $200 +/- $50 should get a through PPI.

IMO a compression test is not needed on a 987.2 with 44k miles. I believe a leak down test is a better indicator of internal engine health.

Good luck,

Eddie

Pep!RRRR

IMO the price is fair given the thoroughness of the inspection. Keep in mind that if any significant problems are found you will have the option to walk away or to have repairs made under the warranty. A good PPI will save you much more than the cost.

Marine Blue

I recently paid $280 for a PPI which was resulted in the purchase of my Targa. Having said that I literally received a 45 minute discussion with the mechanic with his findings and then a three line email containing the compression and leak down numbers. A six page report would have been nice considering the cost but at this point it doesn't matter because it was enough to verify original paint and mechanical condition.

I would ask the person doing the PPI to also do a paint thickness check of all the panels to make sure there's been no bodywork.

Good luck!

Dave in Chicago

I paid $300 for the PPI on my '05 987S in Dallas area two years ago. Super professional and completely accurate 2 years and 22,000 miles on.

Getting the right folks to inspect is, in my opinion, as or more important than a small variance in cost. The scan for over-revs is pretty helpful. Turns out my car's first 28,000 miles must have been driven by the gentlest driver on earth. :-)

Would do it again in a heartbeat.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

Dave in Chicago
'05 987S
'92 968 SP3
'88 944 NA

4PTZERO

$350 is high, I've been looking around doing these as well, it's generally $280 - $300, but not $350.

DBCGOLF1

I understand the price of a PPI in part of the car search, what about if I'm buying a car from an authorized Porsche Dealer? Do I still need the Pre-purchase inspection?

Thanks,
Dave

TMc993

Generally, Porsche dealerships will not allow a car to be removed from their premises for anything other than a brief test drive (With a salesperson onboard).

tomhartzell

If the car you are buying from a Porsche dealership is a CPO car with a warranty from Porsche, I wouldn't worry about getting a PPI performed. When I bought my CPO Cayman S five years ago, it came with a 2-yr warranty. The only things I ever needed replaced were the water pump and belt. Would do it again -- the warranty is from Porsche, and you could get the car fixed at any Porsche dealership as long as it wasn't one of the consumable items. (i.e Lights; tires; etc.)

If the car wasn't a CPO car you could ask them if they could put CPO coverage on it; this usually increases the price of the car by $3K or so. They can only do that on cars that are relatively new. (i.e. 2013+??)

The Duke

Depending on the model and year, you may want to ask for more than the standard PPI. For ex., if you're looking at a 987.1 with an M97 engine you may want the security of having a bore scope performed to check for bore scoring.

Last May, I bought a CPO 2010 Cayman S MT from a dealer.

As part of that process, the car was put through an ostensibly exhaustive examination. I did not elect to go any further as the car came with a 2-year factory warranty. The car also had a well documented service history.

So far I have no reason to doubt the wisdom of that decision.

Racer Boy

For the Seattle area, that's probably the going rate for a PPI. The cost of living in this area is nearly as expensive as San Francisco.

What shop gave you that quote? I live in Seattle, and am pretty familiar with the independent Porsche shops. It looks like the car is at a Carmax, so hopefully they will be cool with you taking it to get a PPI.

What year is the Cayman? It looks like it isn't a S, so the bore scoring shouldn't be as big a worry, but if it is a pre-2009 and it's an S, definitely get it bore scoped! I was going to buy a 2006 S, and the scope paid off because the bores had some major scoring.

plafondles

I guess I got hosed since I paid $500 for Porsche San Diego to perform mine. At the time I thought that a small price to pay since the car came out of the inspection fine and it gave me piece of mind since I had to fly across country to buy the car.

The Duke

FWIW, I vote that you give yourself a break! This seems like the high end of the pricing threshold, but not crazy!