alex911s

Right now 2010's have dealer incentives... 20% discount minimum... boxsters and caymans

Allan Gibbs

Most of the articles I read on the 991 and 981 mentioned a Detroit (991) and Geneva (981) debut. One dealer when as far as telling me the 991 will debut at Detroit and be in show rooms around May- June. I figured this is why they had their conquest program where they'd buy out your last 3 months if you're coming from a competiting vehicle or buyout your last 6 months if you're a 911 owner and going to another 911. It doesn't apply to the Boxster though. That's just what I heard.

Byprodriver

For future reference "Executive car" is one size fits most sales speak for Used car including but not limited to: Press fleet, Photo fleet, service loaner, promotional display, & is highly likely to have received rental car valet type treatment. Inspect for the unexpected: damage in unusual places, parts missing, full throttle cold start warmups etc.

Macster

Yes.

Not too many months ago I spotted a auto carrier loaded with various small cars parked outside my work. No Porsches.

I walked outside to look the cars over and was talking to the truck driver. He told me he picked up these cars at a CA where some people had been invited to experience the cars on the track, some promotional thing.

Oh they were otherwise new cars.

I noticed right away the discolorered -- heat -- brake rotors. I snapped a couple of pics. I saw no body damage, no signs of any paint swaping.

The driver said he was taking the cars to a business that refurbishes the cars -- brakes, tires, brake fluid, etc. -- and then the cars would be returned to the various dealers from which they were 'borrowed'.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Allan Gibbs

Yikes. Thanks for the information. I didn't realize "exectuive" or "top hat" cars could be used as press cars. I did take a look at the Ruby Red Boxster S and couldn't seen any visible signs of damage. The car was lock and not PDI'ed yet so I couldn't test drive it.

I tried doing a carfax and found 0 incidents, however, I'm not sure if a executive car's repair needs to be reported since it's never been titled.

BSL

I have had "executive" cars in the past (really just employee cars), one of which my wife had someone hit her when stopped at a red light. There was no carfax report on that car, despite a repair bill of ~$25k.

Allan Gibbs

I beleive there's some type of disclosure document that car dealerships must provide to anyone who purchases one of their used car? It's suppose to disclose any issues that had happened to the car?

BSL

If there was major work, yes--my old car had a disclosure that the dealer and purchasing customer had to sign. Anything that would be considered warranty work, not so much.

Also, warranty start date is when the car went into service, not when purchased--even if not previously titled. Just something to check on.

Marine Blue

Is this a law which came into affect recently? I have seen tons of cars on dealership lots, some of which have signs of serious previous body damage which the dealer not disclose.

Due dilligence is absolutely a must when buying a used car, don't trust a used car salesman.

BostonDuce

NOT in Mass.

Pay particular attention to the paragraph headed "DEALER SALES"

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocatermi..._law&csid=Eoca

Most will make you sign a written disclosure at trade in, but then they can ignore it when they 'retail' it.

BD

Byprodriver

State law dictates $ limit of damage that must be disclosed & varies between new & used & state to state.

Allan Gibbs

Here's a follow up question and pardon my ignorance but I've never bought a used car before.

How can you determine if a car on a dealer lot is free from major issues? If I were doing a private sale, I could hire an independent mechanic to come along but I don't that woudl be allowed in a dealership.

Could I trust their service department to inspect the car - and since this car is a CPO, it's already been inspected. And since it's a CPO, should I even worry?

Marine Blue

You can have the car inspected at another dealer or mechanic to confirm if the car has any issues. You can also bring someone with you that has experience with finding paint/bodywork and have them look the car over before buying.

Technically if its a CPO the warranty should cover any mechanical problems but it won't help if the car was in an accident and poorly repaired.

Macster

CPO means certified probably ok.

My 03 Turbo with less than 10K miles was a CPO car and I found the battery didn't have the vent hose connected properly. Someone had taped the hose to the battery's top. Also, the alignment was not right.

I visited the dealer after hours to look over the car, in fact I visited the dealer several times for this purpose.

After hours, I looked the car over very thoroughly looking for any signs of body or paint work. I even got down on the ground and shined a bright light under the car. I looked at all wheel wells, panels, air scoops, inside the front bumper openings for signs of different colored A/C condensor or radiators, or if the condensor/radiator looked like it was new or old.

I checked the brake pad thickness -- by looking -- and checked the condition of the rotors. Hardly used. (In fact, the holes were full of brake dust/rust.)

Looked for signs of fluid leaks. All for a CPO car.

I didn't have it PPI'd anywhere cause I had satisfied myself the car was in fact in pristine condition. Oh, I did get a chance to look over the CPO paperwork and no overrevs.

With the VIN I called around and found other dealers in the area that had serviced the car and what services had been done and when.

After all this I was satisfied the car was worth visiting the dealer when it was open. Then when I did visit the dealer I checked out parts of the car I couldn't with the dealer closed and of course the car locked.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Allan Gibbs

Thank you. I'm having my A4 serviced there on Monday and will have a better look. One encouraging this is that they have two identical "executive cars". Same color and same options. The only difference is one has 3,500 miles and the other has 3,600 miles. So, I imagine when these cars hit a certain mileage, they're put up for sale (as opposed to it being in a wreck, repaired, and then put up for sale).