Peter swallow

Hello Everyone,
I am really trying to become a Boxster owner but am having a difficult time finding the right car.
I've found 2 cars that look good on paper and wonder if there are any rennlisters in the vicinity who have a few minutes to check them out for me. It would be great to know if either are worth pursuing before I take a long trip to see them.

The cars are located in Stratham, NH and Scottsdale, AZ.

I know everyone is busy with their own everyday responsibilities but I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance.

PS

pdxjim

If you find any in Portland, Oregon, I can look for you.

Peter swallow

Thanks for the reply and offer to help.

I'm still looking..... The car that was for sale in Scottsdale, AZ has been sold. The car in NH is still available so I'm considering requesting a PPI.

Is it necessary to get a PPI on a 2005 Boxster S that is Certified and for sale at a Porsche dealership?

/PS

Macster

You have to learn as much about car as possible in as short a time as possible to know if car worthy of buying and if so its value to you.

A PPI certainly helps one gain the info/knowledge on the car.

But a PPI should be the last thing you do.

My advice is to try to get copy of CPO worksheet from dealer. You want to see what was checked and any comments.

Next try to find out where car sold and which dealer serviced it.

If you call PCNA customer service and supply VIN I think someone there can tell dealer car delivered/sold to.

Then call dealer and try to find out what servicing was done.

For example: Recently -- last Sunday -- I bought a CPO Turbo. During my shopping expedition and sit down with salesman I obtained some paperwork that showed what recalls and warranty work done on car and at what dealers.

I called these dealers and asked for what services and when were performed on car.

I found at one dealer last oil/filter service done 10/2008. Brake fluid flush done in 2005. Some issues with a rattle addressed and a fautly rear spoiler mechanism replaced under warranty.

No outstanding recalls.

Thus I learned a bit more about the car. (BTW, I looked at used Cayman S on dealer lot some weeks ago. Car put into service in Sept of 06 and while it has 10,000 miles on it has not had one oil/filter service yet.)

Also get a CarFax report on car. Absence of any bad news not proof car free of bad new but presence of bad news good enough to reject car outright.

Once you've done the above, if car to your liking, and you find no issues and then PPI comes in ok try to negotiate to have the due or nearly due services done.

For instance I should have had -- thus do as I say not as I do... -- car's oil/filter service done, along with brake fluid and alignment. I sort of thought and salesman didn't discourage this thinking that with CPO this would naturally be done.

Salesman told me it costs "thousands" to CPO car. Well, not it doesn't. Most CPO cars (but not all so you have to be careful) are fairly pristine cars which require nothing but a detail to bring to CPO condition.

My '03 Turbo with 9400 miles was pristine but required new tires. Old/original tires 7 years old. Dealer replaced these. Other than that... Nada.

However, as I learned car sort of due for oil/filter service, alignment (steering wheel not centered when I drove car and I knew alignment needed). I found out about brake fluid last being done in 05 after. But I checked fluid when looking over car and it looked very very fresh, so much so I thought it had been changed just recently.

Next up on agenda to have done is coolant flush/refill to get new anti-freeze in engine. Tech checked this during CPO inspection and coolant still protects car down to -30F but I'm as much worried about corrosion resistence as I am about freeze protection.

Then I'll have transmission and diffs fluid changed.

What you want to do is ensure car in excellent condition and absent any body/paint work, major work. And excellent condition means not only has car received some regular servicing but its servicing brought up to date like brake fluid, coolant (ain't no such thing as lifetime coolant no matter what Porsche says...), and alignment, etc.

You want to avoid paying excellent money for a car that is not in excellent condition and then spending more money to bring it to excellent condition.

There are a lot of used Boxsters for sale around the USA. Prices are very soft.

Remember: There is always another car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Peter swallow

Dear Macster,

You bring up some very important issues. I didn't realize there was a CPO worksheet available for review. I'll call the dealer today and ask that that document be sent.

Back to the question of whether a PPI needs to be done on a Certified Porsche: Doesn't the PPI check the same things that the 100 point CPO inspection checks?

Thanks for your input !

/PS

Macster

Maybe more. Depends upon what you ask for, what permission you can get from owner regarding what PPI inspector can do and what you're willing to pay for.

Some prospective buyers ask for a compression test of engine, or a leak down test. An experienced PPI inspector should not require this but only have to listen to engine start from cold, idle as it warms up, then take for a test drive to point engine/drivetrain up to full operating temperature then bring car back and listen some more to engine and check for fluid leaks, etc.

What a PPI does though is provide you with some sanity check that the CPO was done right and the car is being presented to you in an honest manner.

I do not know the seller you are dealing with but I'm sure it is 100% honest and can be depended upon absolutely.

Very rarely, once in a great while a dealer will fudge (read lie) about a CPO car's condition.

In this case the dealer's rep made just a cursory check of the car to make sure all 4 wheels attached, engine starts, and that's about it. The less the dealer has to do the car the more money it makes.

After you buy car then anything that goes wrong will of course be charged towards the CPO. Maybe. There is the possibility that CPO coverage will be denied. The argument can go like this: Dealer performed a *thorough* 100% inspection of the car according to CPO requirements. You have the checklist. Everything checked off as ok, good, perfect, excellent, no problems noted, and so on. Thus this problem arises from wear/tear while in your possessioni and thus not covered.

At least once, I've read of an experience of a purchaser of a CPO car that was later found to have some body/paint work done to the car. Enough that the car would not have qualified for CPO status but the CPO inspectioni missed the damage. I do not know how apparent, or not, the signs of damage and repair were but a good inspection should not miss this.

Sincerely,

Macster.