anyone know this car in Huntington, NY?
04-12-2004, 06:47 PM
#19
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To all,
Thanks for all your input. It is a great thing to have this resource available when shopping for a car.
I did go look at the car on Saturday morning. Had a nice drive up from S Jersey to Long Island. Miraculously no traffic on the BQE!
Unfortunately, although I came close, I decided to pass on the car. I believe it sold on E-bay later that day for $31,999.
The car was exactly as all who commented on it said. It drove and ran very well. Everything mechanical seemed just fine: it ran smooth, steering and suspention tight, transmission was good but the second gear synchro might have been slightly soft. Brakes were good but might have needed a bleed ( not quite as firm as some I've driven). I could detect no oil leaks under the engine ( the heat shield was still there so I couldn't see much), however, the left muffler was wet with oil. All in all I felt pretty good about the car mechanically even though there was no time for a PPI.
Cosmetically the car was straight, and no paint that I could see. There were some minor scratches and dings. The front valance was pretty badly scraped from repeatedly hitting the pavement (like PO had a very steep driveway or something) but there were no other gouges or scrapes on the underbody. The red interior color was not a problem. I actually kind of liked it! The interior wasn't very clean, however and I thought it showed more wear than a 38K car should. The aftermarket CD changer was very poorly installed and was stuffed loose in one of the storage bins. Rear seat delete was awesome! I had not seen one before and thought it was great. I'm suprised more 993's weren't optioned that way.
The biggest problem was the windshield. It had indeed been replaced badly. What a hack-job! There was so much wind noise from the mis-aligned seals that I thought a window was open during the test drive. There was also big blobs of sealer oozing out on the inside. Also, there were no inspection/registration stickers so I think the job was done very recently. The dealer said he would be replacing the windsheild for free to buyer and work guaranteed to be correct (only after I pressed him on the issue: he didn't volunteer it).
I was not deterred by any of the above, and was getting pretty excited about the car until I started asking the sales manager more about the history/records. Then the red flags started to pop up. A very nice man, but I simply could not get a straight story out of him.
Could I see service records? No. But I would get the records with the car when I picked it up. Evidently the car had been serviced by a local independent shop and he didn't have the records yet. Keep in mind the dealer had the car listed for 10 days already on e-bay. Plenty of time to get records on site IMHO especially when others on rennlist had already inquired about them days before.
Did your shop do a mechanical inspection and make sure the car was properly serviced (I was concerned that 30K service)? Oh yes! My mechanics put $5000 worth of work into the car to make sure it was perfect.
Oh really, that's quite a bit of work. Can I see the records of the work your people performed? No, we don't record that work. We just do whatever is needed to make it perfect.
You said car was a one owner car. Did PO trade it in on something new?
No. We bought the car outright because it was so nice. This was the craziest story yet. I've never ever heard of a new car dealer buying a car just because.
Round and round we went for another 1/2 hour. The more we talked, the worse I began to feel about the car. I just didn't have the time to check everything out for myself and I didn't feel at all confident in what the sales manager was telling me. It was like I was at one of those sneaky "Auto Toy Store" lots rather than a Premier Posche Dealership.
In the end, I told them thanks, I'd have to think about it and left. The sad part is if they just would have been honest, I probably would have bought the car. It appeared to be exactly what I've been looking for.
The search goes on, which is half the fun anyway!
Thanks,
Doug Davis
Thanks for all your input. It is a great thing to have this resource available when shopping for a car.
I did go look at the car on Saturday morning. Had a nice drive up from S Jersey to Long Island. Miraculously no traffic on the BQE!
Unfortunately, although I came close, I decided to pass on the car. I believe it sold on E-bay later that day for $31,999.
The car was exactly as all who commented on it said. It drove and ran very well. Everything mechanical seemed just fine: it ran smooth, steering and suspention tight, transmission was good but the second gear synchro might have been slightly soft. Brakes were good but might have needed a bleed ( not quite as firm as some I've driven). I could detect no oil leaks under the engine ( the heat shield was still there so I couldn't see much), however, the left muffler was wet with oil. All in all I felt pretty good about the car mechanically even though there was no time for a PPI.
Cosmetically the car was straight, and no paint that I could see. There were some minor scratches and dings. The front valance was pretty badly scraped from repeatedly hitting the pavement (like PO had a very steep driveway or something) but there were no other gouges or scrapes on the underbody. The red interior color was not a problem. I actually kind of liked it! The interior wasn't very clean, however and I thought it showed more wear than a 38K car should. The aftermarket CD changer was very poorly installed and was stuffed loose in one of the storage bins. Rear seat delete was awesome! I had not seen one before and thought it was great. I'm suprised more 993's weren't optioned that way.
The biggest problem was the windshield. It had indeed been replaced badly. What a hack-job! There was so much wind noise from the mis-aligned seals that I thought a window was open during the test drive. There was also big blobs of sealer oozing out on the inside. Also, there were no inspection/registration stickers so I think the job was done very recently. The dealer said he would be replacing the windsheild for free to buyer and work guaranteed to be correct (only after I pressed him on the issue: he didn't volunteer it).
I was not deterred by any of the above, and was getting pretty excited about the car until I started asking the sales manager more about the history/records. Then the red flags started to pop up. A very nice man, but I simply could not get a straight story out of him.
Could I see service records? No. But I would get the records with the car when I picked it up. Evidently the car had been serviced by a local independent shop and he didn't have the records yet. Keep in mind the dealer had the car listed for 10 days already on e-bay. Plenty of time to get records on site IMHO especially when others on rennlist had already inquired about them days before.
Did your shop do a mechanical inspection and make sure the car was properly serviced (I was concerned that 30K service)? Oh yes! My mechanics put $5000 worth of work into the car to make sure it was perfect.
Oh really, that's quite a bit of work. Can I see the records of the work your people performed? No, we don't record that work. We just do whatever is needed to make it perfect.
You said car was a one owner car. Did PO trade it in on something new?
No. We bought the car outright because it was so nice. This was the craziest story yet. I've never ever heard of a new car dealer buying a car just because.
Round and round we went for another 1/2 hour. The more we talked, the worse I began to feel about the car. I just didn't have the time to check everything out for myself and I didn't feel at all confident in what the sales manager was telling me. It was like I was at one of those sneaky "Auto Toy Store" lots rather than a Premier Posche Dealership.
In the end, I told them thanks, I'd have to think about it and left. The sad part is if they just would have been honest, I probably would have bought the car. It appeared to be exactly what I've been looking for.
The search goes on, which is half the fun anyway!
Thanks,
Doug Davis
04-12-2004, 07:06 PM
#20
Rennlist Member
Sorry to hear that Doug. Seemed like a nice car, but that proves that honesty is the best policy. Their loss.
Your car will turn up soon, it's just the beginning of the season, not that the weather has been that great anyway.
Good luck and enjoy the search!
Your car will turn up soon, it's just the beginning of the season, not that the weather has been that great anyway.
Good luck and enjoy the search!
04-12-2004, 08:53 PM
#21
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Doug ~ sorry it did not work out. I actually emailed Jason (the salesman) after the car met reserve on ebay and asked him if the car actually sold......no response from him. I kind of find this unusual since they may have other cars for sale in the future that I may be interested in.
As I mentioned previously, I found the whole service records story very strange.
Maybe a good thing you passed on it.
Brian
As I mentioned previously, I found the whole service records story very strange.
Maybe a good thing you passed on it.
Brian
04-13-2004, 01:58 AM
#22
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Quote:
The search goes on, which is half the fun anyway!
Doug, I think it's the major part of the fun... I searched for almost a year for a 993 cab and purchased a beauty last December... but I still search Autotrader, E-bay, Cars.com and the internet, in general, daily. I guess I'm just reinforcing the good judgement I used in buying the one I did...
The search goes on, which is half the fun anyway!
Doug, I think it's the major part of the fun... I searched for almost a year for a 993 cab and purchased a beauty last December... but I still search Autotrader, E-bay, Cars.com and the internet, in general, daily. I guess I'm just reinforcing the good judgement I used in buying the one I did...
