When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Really? That's the first I've heard of this, seems like easy money to me.
Not really..many shops (service managers) think a PPI and CPO inspection are/should be the same thing, and price them the same (2.5 hrs). This of course does not include a extensive (8hr) engine analysis. Every car that came in our shop got a 25 point safety inspection whether it came in for a battery or oil change or turn signal bulb.(25 point safety inspection includes tire pressure, tread life ,brake life, fluid levels ,check for leaks, wiper blade life, all lights, horn, ect). CPO inspection is very detailed (but not engine analytic, just engine smoothness, noise,leaks, codes,overrevs) check list from Porsche for specs for tires, brakes, scratches per panel, paint repair ,(check paint thickness).fit and finish. A very exhaustive check list to be done in 2.5 hrs. CPO inspections are usually done on cars only a couple years old. There is a big difference on doing an inspection on a 2 year old 911 with 6k miles, and a 15 year old 911 with 110k miles ! A 2002 911 should indeed take 8 hrs to do a proper inspection to get a good indication of the future of the car.Throw in a buyer that wants a "good deal" and a seller that wants to sell a 110k mile 911 for "whats it's worth" it's not easy money and can be a big hassle. Unless i knew either they buyer, or the seller, or the car personally I hated doing PPI's.
Really? That's the first I've heard of this, seems like easy money to me.
With a Porsche engine rebuild pushing $20K, what shop wants to deal with a potential customer coming back saying: "You should have caught this before I purchased the car - you should pay for this!". Jake probably does an outstanding PPI but few buyers want to fork over the cash for that. Sellers also just want a quick sale, see the car go away and not hassle with a lengthy investigation of their cars' warts.
The higher the liability the less desirable the PPI is for the shop. An extreme case is guy looking at a 2 million dollar Ferrari. The shop believes they did a first class PPI but the buyer ends up needing an engine rebuild not long after. It can get ugly real quick with lawyers being retained on both sides (its happened many times).
Want a PPI on that 2008 Camry? Plug in the OBDII, give the tech an hour to go over the car and you're on your way for an hour's worth of labor.
Not only are they getting out of PPI's, they are getting out of work all together. Most shops now a days, give you a quote for the work, and then sub contract it out. So right after you drop off your car for service, they ship you car out to get it fixed.
This happened to my neighbor, and since I'm the nearby 'car nut' I had to go sort it out. Dropped off his 1 ton 4x4 Dodge at an indy for front end work. The shop quoted the job, then sent most of it to a different shop for king pins and alignment. Well, when he got it back, it was vibrating pretty bad. I crawled under there and found the bottom kingpin on the left side was backing out. Could have been ugly.
The PPI business is kind of no win. Either the seller will be pissed because you **** raped his car, or the buyer will be pissed that you missed something and the car comes apart after sale which will now forever be referred to as - MILSHAKE issue.
Yep, the PPI is risky business for a shop. They stand a high risk of pissing off the buyer by telling the truth, or the seller by telling the truth. Either way, in most cases any car that has an issue is going to have one of the parties involved being pissed at the results.
As for shops doing sublet work, it happens all the time. Shops try to do this with us, sending us cars for specialty work. I refuse to deal with another shop, I want to work directly with the owner, and won;t have it any other way.
In the aviation world, we many times use the required annual inspection as the go forward point for a PPI. The annual insp is a detailed look at a plane to insure it meets the standards of the mfg in all cases, except the additions or changes made via a Supplementary Type Cert detailing accepted changes and alterations to the plane as it was mfg.
There are also documented minor alterations that must be checked as well. In the car business they would be something like adding Al pedals, or changing the seats. But - the minor alterations have in all cases been approved by a FAA qual inspector, and filed with the FAA. However, having said that - each individual inspector has different levels of determination on what 'meets the type certificate' actually means. So, there's always some wiggle involved.
In the aviation world, we many times use the required annual inspection as the go forward point for a PPI. The annual insp is a detailed look at a plane to insure it meets the standards of the mfg in all cases, except the additions or changes made via a Supplementary Type Cert detailing accepted changes and alterations to the plane as it was mfg.
There are also documented minor alterations that must be checked as well. In the car business they would be something like adding Al pedals, or changing the seats. But - the minor alterations have in all cases been approved by a FAA qual inspector, and filed with the FAA. However, having said that - each individual inspector has different levels of determination on what 'meets the type certificate' actually means. So, there's always some wiggle involved.
Learnt about that when I took a helicopter ride over Melbourne not too long ago.
The amount of checks etc an aircraft goes through was fascinating.
Sorry, VERY FASCINATING! -> Caps just to keep the theme of this thread going.
04-09-2017, 04:47 PM
