texredr

As some of you know, I have been searching for the right car for awhile. I will check the regular sites and will occasionally look at completed Ebay listings just to see what sold and what did not. Obviously, if it's something that interests me, I usually have it in "My Ebay" settings, however, there are times when something sells so quickly, it never even it made it to my radar. Which brings me to this little beauty:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2001-...item3384be18ef

I suppose this type of car pops up every so often (ie. price, mileage, condition, good Ebayer, etc). , but I can't imagine it happens that many times in a year. Looking at the forensic evidence, it looks like this car sold in a matter of ten minutes after it was placed on Ebay.

So I pose the question. Based on what you see in the listing, would you take the chance and buy without the ppi? I have to say I might just do it and I am a pretty conservative guy (banker by profession).

Who knows, maybe we'll get the guy that bought the thing to chime in... If he/she is out there, I'm a little envious!

theporscheguy

I wouldn't be envious of someone that doesn't do his/her due diligence. Advertisements can be very deceiving so its up to you to protect yourself, and as a banker I'm sure you understand all the ramifications of liability. I would encourage you to complete a PPI by a reputable facility of your choosing and learn all you can about the perspective purchase. If you decide to move forward with a quick purchase you can always agree prior to purchase that a successful PPI is a contingency upon purchase. Good luck and have fun with the chase.

rmc1148

I would follow the above advice.

Macster

There are some people who follow their gut feeling and do alright.

The experts believe it is because these people are quicker at assessing the situation and the honesty of the seller, reading the signs I guess.

If you are a person who often goes with his gut feeling and does alright skipping the PPI may be ok for you.

"02996ttx50

i would buy a turbo porsche without a ppi ONLY if i knew its provenance or previous owner.. and i have without issue. currently @ 106.5k miles issue free, and fast as all getout. GL!

blockhed

if the person feels good over the phone and face to face and has all the details and nothing contradicts I skipped the PPI. It has worked out 2 ouf of 2 times so far, good honest sellers do still exist. Then again if my gut tells me the person is "odd" I just skip the car and don't waste money on PPI.

CincyScott

+1. You can also only do that if you have a) the budget or b) the skills to fix what might ail it. A bargain is only a bargain if it doesn't bite you in the a$$ later. Most folks aren't inclined to buy a car that needs work.

I consider myself to be overly honest when selling, but when I took my car to have a DME report run for someone interested in it, they found it had a problem I was unaware of (litronics leveling issue). So, even the most **** owners don't catch everything.

Bruce Anderson (RIP) of Porsche fame always said buy the nicest best Porsche you can afford...in other words don't stretch your budget to buy a questionable car when a "lesser" model may be a way better car.

C2 Turbo

Already sold

gillie

A ppi may uncover problems the honest seller didn't know existed. This could serve as bargaining chips
for a fairer price. The $300 is well spent to check a high-performance machine that's a dozen years old.

Gut feelings might be ok in a friendly Texas-hold'em game but not here.

jumper5836

I agree and also add, that if you know the place it was serviced it at. Also a good history of service records.

I've only ever did one PPI on a Cayenne S and it passed with flying colours but then had everything go wrong with it. My Cayenne Turbo, I didn't bother with a PPI. It was fairly low mileage and I knew the coolant pipes hadn't been done so I knew I would have to do them. No surprise they burst a year later. When we brought the car in for servicing at the dealer we asked to get it stamped for the service. We found out that it original was from that dealer and had been serviced there by the original owner since it was new. They stamped all the previous services that were done on it and it was good knowing it was so well taken care of.

judd944

That car sold for about 10k too low.

Kevin

There is risk in every purchase. I wouldn't hand cash over in any car sale without looking at it or at least having someone that you know look at it.

If this sale is infact legit, it's about $10K low for retail sales. They most likely got a quote from a Porsche dealer for trade in.. Even with the wing and fuel sender, it looks like a great car. Front radiators, water pump, looks like green coolant.. When and "IF" Plugs, clutch, with the slave and accumulator were changed.

A plane ticket would be a prudent investment in a sale like this.

Misplacedyankee

I would PPI that car. I did not PPI mine, but mine had 9K miles only 2 owners and was sold to me with a full Fidelity Platinum warranty and had most records. It proved a winner, but I did speak to owner a bunch before buying. The only reason I did not PPI was due to fantastic warranty. I did check carfax etc. and the 2 owners checked out fully to story.

Mtrboatvr6

Had a PPI done on mine, even though the seller was a good guy and my "gut" told me so. He had absolutely no objections to me having one done (generally a very good sign of nothing to hide) and promptly delivered it to the shop I chose. After they were done with the PPI he asked if I wanted the car at the agreed upon price. I told him that if the PPI checked out I would buy the car. The thing I wasn't expecting was the seller taking care of the cost of the PPI for me! I think he was excited because he found a buyer that would love the car as much as he did.

All said, was it worth getting it done? Yes in my mind. It makes me sleep better knowing I took the extra time to look after my investment and prize possession.

King_James

Do a PPi if you can but its not the end all be all decision. Lots of guys have run into major problems after PPIs too, not everything can be found / seen by a ppi.