KarlJC

Did you buy it ?

My finders fee is very small

TommyV

No worries Seesnax re thread jacking!

Karl, not yet. I could use some encouragement from the forum.

I feel like the car at Elite Motors in SF is the right one based on mileage and options. I had a convo with the guy there yesterday. He did a complete walk around and described flaws that he could find on the car. It has the options I want and seems to have only minor flaws. It came out of the northeast and had 1 owner for the first year and then 2nd owner until it sold at auction. It looks like it's been in the dealer's inventory since Oct 31st. He offered to try to get dealer records on service. He says, by email and I had to ask him what's up, he went to the local dealership and also to one near where it was auctioned and had no luck. He kind of dropped it there. I talked to Pacific Motorsports today about doing a PPI. They have a good reputation and no affiliation and are nearby, but can't do the PPI until next Tuesday. Looking for advice about how to proceed. Make a firm offer contingent on the PPI? Offer a deposit for taking it off the market for a week? Find another shop? Elite says they have their own tech that goes over their cars. They have some of very high end cars including Lambos, Bentleys, etc. But most are $30-$50K. They are asking $30,800 and it's a very well optioned 2008 CTT with 75K miles. What is a reasonable offer? I will have to spend $1000-$1800 shipping it home. I tend to go on a searching binge when buy a car and get emotionally wrapped up when I find the one I want. I probably need to slow my roll a little. Appreciate any advice.

KarlJC

Good dealer sould take a deposit to hold the car for you until the PPI is done. Once PPI comes back use info to help you negotiate the price, all pretty standard.

What happened with this one ?
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ctd/5349994173.html

endless_corners

I'm wagering no PDCC.

KarlJC

Kinda looks like all silver controls on the 1 photo here but the Vin would tell us right

http://www.nextechclassifieds.com/listings/1117383/

TommyV

e_c is right, no PDCC. At least that's what they said on the phone. Can't tell from that pic.

I think I have a deal on the other one at Elite Motor Cars in SF. He agreed to a ppi and sent me high res photos of the worst flaws from up close. That and his reviews on Yelp helped. Now I'm going to try to find a shop that can do a ppi before next Tues.

Our deal was basically his asking and he refinishes the wheels, they had some curbing, and he pays shipping to my door. I went through all the other cars that met my criteria and this was a better deal than any of the others could end up at.

endless_corners

Why not just do a ppi at a dealer? Sonnen in Mill Valley is the best dealer in the bay.

TommyV

The selling dealership claims that none of the local Porsche dealerships will do a PPI. Hmm, I know of Sonnen, I'll give them a call and see what they say about a PPI. Good suggestions, it will give me a data point to sniff out any BS.

EDIT: well that was easy, I called Sonnen and the receptionist politely asked what I needed and when I said I wanted to talk to service about getting a PPI done, she shut me down. "We don't do PPI's and I don't have anyone to refer you to"

I asked how long that policy had been in place and she said about 6 months.

KarlJC

I had the same issue when buying my CTT, no Porsche dealer would do a PPI, found a Indy on Yelp with many 5 star reviews.

If you are worried about it being sold to someone else put a refundable deposit down on it.

endless_corners

There is a shop in Sac called mid town auto that works on P cars. Nico (the owner) used to be a tech at niello porsche. But Sac is probably too far away.

TommyV

I'm going with Eric Leman at Pacific Power Motorsports. I called him and mentioned a tech the dealer had brought up and he suggested John at Valhalla in Lafayette. John was blunt about the shop the dealer mentioned, called him bottom of the barrel. He also started trying to tell me how expensive these cars are to maintain. He was even farther behind and told me not to go to anyone around there but Eric. I emailed the dealer and told him PPI tuesday and I'll put down a refundable deposit if needed.

seankrider

For the record, Nico at Midtown is a dream Indy for any Cayenne owner nearby. Not only did he work at Niello as another P dealer in the Bay Area, but he drives an '04 CTT so he knows our beasts and their quirks cold.

Great guy too. Helps me prioritize my project to-do list to rehabilitate my slightly neglected '04 CTT.

endless_corners

Yeah Nico is great and does quality work. I wish he would let me bring my own parts. I usually go elsewhere for that reason. I get that a lot of shops need to make that markup but its hard for me to overpay for parts when i know what they cost.

Dan87951

It's hard to guarantee work for parts you have no idea where they came from. I don't blame him for not working on your car if you're not willing to let him get the parts so he put his guarantee on it.

endless_corners

I get it. But when I buy oem parts from say - ECS Tuning or pelican parts - I can be my own warranty. I'm obviously not the target market which is fine. I honestly don't slight a shop for claiming profit on parts. it makes sense to keep things simple. I just personally don't have room to overpay for parts unless the prices were closer.