Need an opinion on whether to bother getting a PPI on a CPO 2005 C2K with 32k miles.

Is it worthwhile or is it a waste of time/money?

The dealer that CPOed the car has an ok but not sterling reputation.

Thanks all!

 

As long as the car is CPO from a reputable dealer, I would not bother with a PPI. Is the car off of the original warranty already? If not, even less to worry about. Your risk is extremely minimal. Save your money.

 

Yes, there is 6 or 7 months left of the original warranty.

Thanks! Appreciate the input.

 

I would have him check the ECU for over-revs and provide you with a written report. I would also have him furnish the service records based on the VIN number...

 

No relationship with the "OK" dealer wouldn't be a waste of my money.
No relationship with the "sterling"dealer is a different story. Its still a used car.
At minimum do what Jr says.

Cheers

 

PPI costs hundreds - car costs tens of thousands - this one is a no-brainer

 

I would get one.

 

Guys, he is buying a CPO car from Porsche dealer. He has 7 months of the bumper to bumper new car warranty and then 2 years up to 100,000 miles of the CPO warranty. In order to get the CPO warranty the selling dealer has to do a fairly intensive inspection. After he takes delivery of the car he can take it to any dealer in the country to have even the most minor things fixed. After that he has two years to find and fix any major motor or transmission problems plus most other mechanical things.

Yes, a PPI might pick something up the dealer missed, but the odds of that are rather insignificant. And it would most likely be something that he could find in normal service anyway. In any case he has 2 years and 7 months to find it and get it fixed. There is no good reason to spend extra money on a PPI on this kind of car. If he was buying from a private party with no warranty, absolutely then a PPI is a great idea.

Having the dealer provide the service records that are in the Porsche system is a very good idea and most dealers will do that, although my dealer would tell you but refuse to print it out. The owner there won't let his service manage do that even after I bought the car from them. There might have been a time where I might have walked on the deal for that, but in hindsight they were 100% reliable and dependable otherwise.

 

I always get a kick out of this kind of thinking. A guy could have a lot of fun analysing this from any different numbers of angles (the rationalization of "needing" a PPI for peace of mind - not for any practical purpose).

Some people think other people are spend-thrifts (or irresponsible idiots) for buying cars without spending time and money on appropriate dilligence. Somehow, in their minds, it makes perfect sense to throw away tens of thousands of $ on a personal indulgence, yet it makes no sense to accept the risk of a few grand in repairs/maintenance.

In other words - I'm ok for throwing $100 grand into a fire pit, but I'm going to be damn sure to hire someone to count the money for me before I throw it in. It would be ridiculous to throw in $105 grand by mistake.

It's like all the whiners that gripe about paying $3 bucks a gallon for gas, yet grab a bottle of Dasani (at $5 a gallon) at the gas station cash register. City tap water bottled - this is a rational buying decision, yet gas prices are outrageous.

Of course you don't need a PPI - but if it lets you sleep at night - go for it.

 

If it were me, I'd opt for one.

A friend of mine bought a CPO BMW (I know, apples & oranges) without a PPI, despite my advice to the contrary. Five months later she goes in for service and the dealer finds shot front-end bushings, $600. She appeals to the service adviser, his manager and finally BMW NA, arguing that the worn bushing should have been discovered during BMW's "comprehensive CPO inspection". Nope, wear-and-tear, pay up. Had she spent $200 on a PPI, she'd be ahead of the game and would have had even more leverage negotiating the purchase price. Penny wise, pound foolish.

 

Aw, financial disaster. What, $40k on a bimmer? - $600 bucks for bushings? PPI woulda caught that?

Pound foolish is buying the bimmer when she could be driving a Hyundai. $600 on bushings, or $15 grand for a new engine is incidental compared to the intial buying decision.

 

Yes, you should get a PPI. Why? The dealer is in business for himself -- to sell cars. He is not there to represent you in buying a car.

I bought a car out of CPO once. It only had 6K miles when I bought it. I decided not to have a PPI done. Two months later, I had to replace the clutch. Guess what . . . not covered by original or CPO warranty. I had to pay. Not a deal killer, but still.

The bottom line is that there are many, many things that are not covered even by the original manufacturer's warranty. They might not be caught by the CPO inspection. Pay a little to have a trustworthy independent look over the car, if only just for peace of mind.

 

what i wonder is how truly thorough the CPO is....or are they pencil-whipped and the 1500 charge tacked on?
wheras a PPI from an indy shop may (expecially if you watch it done) be more "accurate"

 

The CPO inspection is a checklist that the dealers must run through before they can CPO a car. I am sure that most do it diligently. But the most important thing is that they are looking out for their own interests (nothing wrong with that), and simply determining whether the car is eligible for CPO or not, and if not what they have to do to bring it into compliance.

An independent, on the other hand, is being paid by YOU to look at the car as a whole and make a determination not only as to its mechanical condition, but also as to how it was probably treated by the PO based upon the condition of the car. It is not constrained by any CPO list. A good PPI will be able to say . . . this car is in ok shape but it appears to have been driven by an abusive driver. Or, they may point out that the car has had cosmetic bodywork done, which IS permissible under the CPO program and the dealer may not point out to you . . . .just a few examples.

 

Uh, how would a PPI have caught a worn clutch?