Zeus993

I think for me it was issue of taking the time and expense to fly out and look at a car. I thought with my 993 and one of my Spyder's that the official dealership PPI would be the stamp of approval. But the paint was crappy on the 993 and the Spyder had door dings where the salesman assured me there we none.

With my recent Spyder purchase I've been super happy to see the doors are clean! Thanks Gardiner!

But I'm seeing that in the future a fight and personal inspection is money well spent.

KNOW B4 YOU GO. We all want that "1 foot car" (looks great a 1 foot away Vs. 10 feet) right?

Zach L

Even CPO certification can be junk and really isn't a substitute for an in-person inspection. Recently went down to the new 7-floor local Porsche dealership to look at a CPO Cayman R for someone across the country. The car had a clean Carfax, but it had some horrible body work done on one of the front corners and the clear coat had the most awful and obvious orange peel. There's absolutely no way anyone viewing the car would overlook it, much less a dealership inspector.

P T

Hold on, can you tilt the buckets back? How?

andy7777

Shims on the rail. There's a company that makes them.

zygomatic

Also lowering brackets often have multiple positions for front & rear height, allowing you to tilt the seat.

Bxstr

This, this and this. I don't think people understand just how little CPO means. It is truly a warranty, a basic inspection, making sure consumables are (typically) above 50% remaining and that the car is up to date on service. Unless anyone wants me to discuss my horrible CPO experience and the loss of around $20k (indirectly, since I chose to purchase the car knowing some of the issues, but not all of them and then sold a year later due to inability to remedy), I will save you the time. But even if you're willing to lose a ton of money through the process, save yourself the headache, time and disappointment of dealing with a less than stellar car. Fly out after work on a Friday. Look at the car on a Saturday. Fly back on Sunday. Take it from someone that could use the extra $20k in their pocket and would have preferred to get the right car the first time. This was from a southern Porsche dealer that is a Porsche classic center, a Premier winning dealer and seemingly only has positive reviews.

AndrewLakes

Body damage is a big risk not looking in person, but you can trust the mechanicals warranty at least. I've saved 10k+ on both CPO cars I've bought sight unseen from things breaking that are covered, such as a new transmission to interior items not mentioned as broken when purchased (which they honored).

Miggytosh

I have purchased two CPO cars from Porsche and was happy to have the warranty in both instances. For the first I actually didn't need the warranty but I had total peace of mind during my ownership that the car was covered if any mechanical issues came up and when I sold it, the fact that it was CPO increased it's value. Side note, the dealer (service manager really) on that purchase won me over when we jointly inspected the car and although it had 8K miles on it and the tires looked perfect, we found an odd bit of rubber (kinda like a skin tag) on the sidewall and they immediately offered to replace both front tires, gave us a loaner and sent us to lunch. When we got back we were informed that when they had it on the rack they found a screw in a back tire and so they replaced all four. Years later that dealer has yet to let me down.

For the second CPO purchase I was looking for a very specific car (which is the reason I am on the Spyder/Cayman R forum) and found one, CPO, at a dealer out of state. In hindsight because it was out of state I agree with @Zeus993 and I really should've had it inspected. But I figured it's a CPO what could go wrong... Well I flew 3.5 hours the idea that I would fly in, sign papers, grab the car, and then drive my new glorious P-Car 2,000 miles home. That is not what happened of course. The car overall was in really good shape but you could tell the CPO process at this dealer was not as good as my first dealer. During the CPO process they replaced the front hood struts (yay), but somehow closed the trunk on either a strut or a tool leaving a nice convex dent on the hood. And although "technically" new, the tires on the car were 10 years old. The dealer tried to get out of both and although I had flown out with a plan to drive back I had to be ready to walk away. If I had the car independently inspected, I think these things would have been found. Luckily when I stood my ground and threatened to walk the dealer relented and paid to get the dent fixed, have new tires installed, and have the car aligned. Where the CPO came in handy immediately is that by CPOing the car they couldn't get out of replacing the tires. Later I found out the dealer knew about the tires but hoped no one would notice (so not buying anything from them ever again). The CPO came in handy to cover an AOS replacement (twice) and most recently for a bad front radiator fan.

Bxstr

agree that CPO is an excellent warranty. Mine had probably $10k+ in warranty work (for a single issue) until it couldn’t be fixed even by a regional Porsche tech at which point I sold the car and took that $20k loss I mentioned by trading in. So that’s how I view CPO now, a warranty, not a PPI.

Zach L

That's debatable given the higher upfront cost of a typical CPO car. It's basically a non-optional warranty built into the sell price.

Some believe that CPO = better condition vehicle and I just don't agree with that. Especially the older a vehicle gets, I find the best examples are sold private party. Not the case with all CPO cars, especially those less than a few years old, but usually the better car is bought from the enthusiast that babies it and has all maintenance records. If a dealer can satisfy the CPO requirements to any trade-in, they will. Even if they know it's scum.

The Duke

In 2020, I bought my 2010 CS as a CPO from an otherwise highly regarded Fla Porsche dealership. Like others, I was under the mistaken impression that the CPO process meant that I was getting a better car. Happily, my car is a peach, and it's not had any issues during my ownership, but the CPO process had nothing to do with this. My experience suggests - and the above backs it up - that if the process had started with a "bad" car, I'd be singing a very different tune!

AndrewLakes

I believe the comparison needs to be made of the same car as CPO from dealer vs non-CPO from dealer. The non-CPO car at a dealer is going to be worse quality than the CPO as there's a reason they didn't CPO it (read as expensive repairs, or reversion to stock parts they won't recouperate in the sales price - always ask why it isn't CPO, sometimes you can get a great deal if you're looking for one with many race car parts). I agree a private seller has a good chance of being better value, but not every seller knows their salad, so PPI required.

DaveGee

Silly low miles. Clean car.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...ter-spyder-18/

DaveGee

Zeus993

This is a nice Gen-1.

If we start at $100 USDs, and take $15K off for no LWBS, then = estimated $85K USDs?


Amended - I agree - $90K +

Bxstr

Time capsule. I think with the right buyers in the room, that could get to $90-100k.