Art Boone

NJ Porsche Dealer (Princeton)is charging $180. for a PPI. I thought $180. was high so I am contacting other dealers just to compare pricing.

Does a PPI follow a standard procedure or criteria.

Bill Gregory

Art,

That's not a bad price, lower than some I've seen. However, unless that dealership has a good 993 knowledgable mechanic, I'd suggest the money could be better spent at an independant that touches 993's on a regular basis. I'm not aware of any "standard" PPI criteria. You're asking the mechanic to find any faults. I've seen PPI's that are no more than looking the car over and checking the oil level, to others that drive them and poke and prod. In addition, some want a compression and/or leakdown test done on the engine. This isn't the place to go cheap, unless you want a less thorough inspection.

Luis A.

Tony Callas of Callas Rennsport in Torrance CA just quoted me $400 for a very thorough 4 hour PPI including draining the gearbox to assess its condition plus compression and leakdown tests. I didn't think that was unreasonable given the time involved and the quality of his work, according to those of you here who have used his services. What do you all think?

Luis

993Widebody

I recall paying about $200 for a PPI at a dealer.
As I recall, there is a standard Porsche PPI checklist...

mpm '95 C4

All depends on the amount of time they spend. Older the car (an the light on records) the more time you should spend doing compression test etc.

Time = $$$

Sachin Misra

I paid $315 for a PPI on a 96 C4S with 20K miles at Napleton Porsche in Westmont.

It was well worth it as it uncovered $3,200 worth of fixes that needed to be done (including the clutch) which I had done for free as part of the deal.

Jeff96-993

Those prices are not out of the ballpark, however they do make you check out cars really well before you even consider taking them in for a PPI. No sense in spending that amount of money if you don't think the car is in great shape.

With that said, one of the things I've always done with every PPI is to have the dealer put the car back up on the rack and show me everything they checked, and everything they found. You become quite knowledgeable very quickly.

jw97C2S

If you are searching for a 993 that is paintwork/bodywork free, as I was, I would suggest requesting the tech start the inspection with the body and terminate the inspection if paintwork is detected. This saved me the full expense of many PPIs.
Jim

Art Boone

thanks for the comments....$180 quote from Princeton is based on a two hour inspection. I'll ask for a checklist before the inspection....I'll add the compression and leak down test if the car checks out reasonably well during the two hour inspection.

Jim's comments on paint/bodywork are also noted....can a dealer's service shop tech detect paint/bodywork issues?? I'm sure any bodywork brought into a dealer is sent to an outside shop.

jw97C2S

Art

I've had several Porsche dealerships perform paintwork inspections in the past. Only one dealership so far has declined the paintwork inspection portion of the PPI. The 993 I eventually purchased was isnpected by a bodyshop and then by a mechanical shop (dealership not available).
Jim

DC from Cape Cod

Is it customary to have the PPI done before making an offer or should you make an offer that is subject to an acceptable PPI?

brandon

Phil (our resident expert on the nuances of bargaining) can probably give you some even more thorough advice, but...

I had PPIs done on a couple of older cars by independent shops (3-4 page checklists - very thorough - cost about $150 - $200 each).

I didn't make an offer on either car because I felt there were to many variables (i.e. wasn't sure what the PPI would find)

Walked away from both cars. Too many BIG problems.

With the 993, it was a known 1 owner car, all records, 30k service done. I pre-negotiated the price, and put closing the deal subject to a PPI (if something major would have been found, then I would have asked that it be rectified as part of the price...or would have walked)

My thoughts are:

If you think there might be significant issues that will affect value, wait for the PPI results and use them to bargain.

If you don't think there will be significant issues you can likely negotiate in advance without losing any advantage, and then use the PPI to protect yourself from truly unexpected surprises.

Lastly, always ensure you can walk away if things aren't working out with the PPI

Art Boone

The dealer confirmed that a paint check is part of the PPI. I asked him to do the paint check first and let me know the results.

Also confirmed that Porsche does have a standard checklist for a PPI. I'll try to post the form when I get it.