hausherrs

HA! Met a few of those, never works out....

If the guy dosnt know much about cars maybe the shop said "Rear main seal needs to be replaced" Owner says "How much will it cost me?" Dealer says "Nothing" Owner says "OK! Fix it!"... Never knew it would require the engine to be pulled....

gota911

.... and how is that a bad thing?

atr911

Amazing how this gets off topic but I'm going to chime in that some people are just naturally talented and shouldn't be judged for it.

As for the second metaphor, it's more common than you might think...

zander35

Thanks for all the responses. I'm going to move forward with the purchase. I had already planned to do a PPI at the local Porsche dealer, but it's the shop where the car's been maintained, and who replaced the RMS.. so not sure how unbiased the inspection will be. I plan to do a ton of driving this summer, so hopefully I'll work out any additional issues before the warranty expires. I have been considering an extended service plan through easy care for the next few years but at $2800 I'm not sure it's worth it. I want to be able to really enjoy this car without worrying though.

ADias

I agree with Dan. A 4-yo car with so few miles may have hidden ills still to uncover after the warranty expired.

Macster

Assuming the dealership has no fiduciary interest in the sale of the car, for instance there is not a new car sale hanging on the sale of this used car to you by the seller, the PPI ought to be unbiased. It probably would be unbiased in any case.

Since car under warranty any warranty issues the inspection finds will be money in the pocket of the dealer.

As for non-warranty items, like say if tires need to be replaced due to wear or age, get an estimate of cost of new tires with an alignment and then factor this into your offer for the car.

If you buy the car you have some time to accumulate some miles on the car while it is still under warranty. Not sure if you can rack up over 40K miles between now and December to take full advantage of the 50K mile warranty duration.

You'll just have to do the best you can do.

Budget for -- if not already done recently -- oil/filter service, brake fluid flush/bleed, coolant drain/refill (lifetime coolant is a joke), and alignment.

Check owners manual but in some cases spark plugs are scheduled to be changed after so many miles or after so many (4 IIRC) years. If it is 4 years then factor in the spark plug change as well.

Since you're using any outstanding or necessary services to adjust your valuation of the car there's every reason to go "by the book" and have the plugs changed cause 4 years is up.

Also, keep in mind tires even though probably not worn are nearing the end of the life, "life" being 6 years old. While you probably can't justify a new set of tires, factor in that the tires are close to their replace by date and thus will have to be replaced sooner rather than later. No need to share with anyone that you plan on driving the car alot this summer and will probably wear the tires out. You may have plans to do this but something may come up that you can't spend as much time driving the car and thus the tires will expire on time and not from miles and wear.

What you want to do is start out with the car's vital fluids all fresh and new and as much as possible put the cost of this back on the seller by adjusting your price down to take into account the cost of bringing these vital fluids up to date.

Sincerely,

Macster.