adam_

Buy it now, then fly out- inspect it, pay for it.

Id worry about 'will the seller meet me at XYZ shop and allow the PPI immediately before I hand him a check' AFTER I am the winning bidder.

WHile some one above posted that some people that act impulsively may be 'better at evaluating the situation', such pop-culture psychobabble can also be explained by dumb luck and selection bias. We HEAR about the good deals- not so much their disasters.

Jason Weaver

As someone who has been the in market for one of these for the last 6 months and just bought one - this deal almost makes me sick to my stomach.....agreed - atleast 10k off the money....

kent

I bought over 10 cars and never did PPI.

nick49

I looked at dozens of Turbos over nearly a year period before I bought. I had a few guys here do a walk around inspection on cars of serious interest that were all across the country. Serious flaws on them all. I did have about half a dozen PPI done that uncovered issues that were not revealed by the owners for what ever reason. One car passed 100% and it was less than 500 miles from home. It looked so good, I handed over the cash before I even test drove it or sat in it or even heard the motor run. Numerous conversations with the owner made me feel comfortable and a P dealer CPO checklist for the PPI done days prior sealed the deal. 2 1/2 years later the car is phenomenal. I've spent less than $150 in repairs the whole time.

So, yup a PPI is essential. It can uncover much that the seller is not aware of. 2nd gear pop out or a noisey pinion bearing can cost a wad.

stilov

So far so good. No ppi, however...

I found my car on eBay. Only four pics, not great pics and about a 2 sentence description.

I figured, well no one will buy that given the ad, so maybe I can get a decent deal.

I spoke with the owner enough to feel good about the car, knew it was serviced by Pat Williams shop in TN.

The owner said he had a couple come drive it for a couple hours. They were from Arkansas. He told me I could call them. They did not buy the car.

I call him and talked to him for about an hour. Great guy, said he wanted the car but his wife didn't. She couldn't get used to the clutch. He told me about all the flaws. He told me about the seller. The seller was a guy that had a handful of cars and they weren't driven much. The local porsche dealer knew the owner very well as he had bought several Porsches. The car came with a pretty good stack if documents and I still communicate with the guy in Arkansas.

The whole reason he was selling was to buy an Aston Martin. (Which I didn't understand).

All in all, paid for the car, had it shipped to me sight unseen. Took a gamble.

So far, I had a finicky headlight switch... Which I cleaned and put back together. Oil pressure sender was finicky when it rained two times. I have a replacement part, but it hasn't happened again. I've put about 6000 miles on it and drive it daily.

There does seem to be a tiny oil seepage underneath, it's never dropped on the ground, and I'm not 100% positive where it's coming from.

Oh ya, and I had an o2 sensor code... Just replaced both sides.

I feel like I got a good deal on it too.

The NSX dude

I bought my turbo in CA, I'm in Nj and had a PPI done at a Porsche dealership. The car arrives a few weeks later, slightly overfilled with oil and it won't boost over .4 bar. The dealership said the car was perfect, it's was an 02 with 9k miles. The car was then sent to my local Porsche dealership where it took about 2 weeks to identify a MAF unit.

A PPI is only as good as the tech/shop who does the work.