Page 3 of 4

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:03 am
by pcasanova
If it's apples to apples comparison between the 2, Car A wins as long as it has a clean PPI and DME.
- Rev 2's will happen, but having some time from the last time it happened to now is ideal.

Not that Car B sounds bad, this is still low milage. Actually, this would be the car I would pursue first, since chances are that "all the kinks" have been addressed since it has been driven

Any 15yr old car will need work.

As for the reports (carfax, autocheck, etc.), I've learned a lot recently about them. Might want to research this topic as well.
i.e. If you buy a car new and finance it, pay it off then decide to put it on your spouses name (let's say you moved out of state), that's 3 owners according to these reports. ;)

But I make more dumb choices than smart ones, so there's that.

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:14 am
by gnat
FRUNKenstein wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:56 am Get the lower mileage car. That's the first thing people look at. Yes, number of owners is a factor, but mileage is way more important. And frankly, with only 27k miles, I doubt that there would have been much maintenance done to the car, regardless of where it was maintained.
I would agree that any chance of appreciation is dependent on low miles, but since he talks about using it as a daily for 5-10 years I think he can pretty safely throw that out the window as it is going to be above the 30-50k sweet spot by the time he is done.

I also agree that there may have been less maintenance done on the 27k car due to the low miles, but that isn't a good thing for a daily car as more is likely to need catching up with to keep it running in good order.

For his planned usage and ownership time, I'd go with the higher mileage car if everything else is equal. I think he'll need to do less maintenance in the short term as he starts driving it and he won't likely ending up regretting driving it so much and "ruining" the value. The higher mileage car is the one he can get the most short and long term enjoyment from as a driver.

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:23 am
by gnat
pcasanova wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:03 am As for the reports (carfax, autocheck, etc.), I've learned a lot recently about them. Might want to research this topic as well.
i.e. If you buy a car new and finance it, pay it off then decide to put it on your spouses name (let's say you moved out of state), that's 3 owners according to these reports. ;)
I haven't seen them count the bank as an owner outside of leases, but then the lessee doesn't show as an owner. So all examples that I've seen as you describe would still be a 2 owner. Now I have seen where it gets listed as a 2nd owner when you register in a different state. Two of our cars were financed and both show (correctly) as single owner cars (the 996 correctly shows 1 owner as well, but no bank was involved for it).

Now damage reports, that's a completely different story. Our 996 has been in a few accidents (spread over it's life), all with insurance involved, most where police were involved, but it still has a clean CarFax. The P!g also had almost $20k of work done through the insurance (and a legal fight between insurance companies), but it too still had a clean report 3 years after the fact.

On the flip side, I've also seen CarFax erroneously report findings on a car that were untrue and they are exceedingly unhelpful to get it corrected.

It's certainly another tool in the buyer's tool box, but I wouldn't buy or reject a car on it's CarFax or AutoCheck report.

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:53 am
by pcasanova
gnat wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:23 am
pcasanova wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:03 am As for the reports (carfax, autocheck, etc.), I've learned a lot recently about them. Might want to research this topic as well.
i.e. If you buy a car new and finance it, pay it off then decide to put it on your spouses name (let's say you moved out of state), that's 3 owners according to these reports. ;)
I haven't seen them count the bank as an owner outside of leases, but then the lessee doesn't show as an owner. So all examples that I've seen as you describe would still be a 2 owner. Now I have seen where it gets listed as a 2nd owner when you register in a different state. Two of our cars were financed and both show (correctly) as single owner cars (the 996 correctly shows 1 owner as well, but no bank was involved for it).
Yes, my mistake. If FIRST WAS A LEASE.
gnat wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:23 am Now damage reports, that's a completely different story. Our 996 has been in a few accidents (spread over it's life), all with insurance involved, most where police were involved, but it still has a clean CarFax. The P!g also had almost $20k of work done through the insurance (and a legal fight between insurance companies), but it too still had a clean report 3 years after the fact.

On the flip side, I've also seen CarFax erroneously report findings on a car that were untrue and they are exceedingly unhelpful to get it corrected.

It's certainly another tool in the buyer's tool box, but I wouldn't buy or reject a car on it's CarFax or AutoCheck report.
You sir, have the gods shinning on you when it comes to this. My car was involved in a Parking Lot Accident (front bumper cover, local / small INS Company), in less than 30 days, poof there it is on CarFax.

I also agree, if you are going to Drive it as much as you can (DD or not), I would consider looking at Car B first, but that's me.

Many members here are veterans and have more experience / knowledge on this than me.

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:21 pm
by ipman
Good input here. I am leaning towards the higher milage one because of the records. I talked to the dealer today and while he could not give specifics, he did say that the 1st and 2nd owner were guys in their 50s who were Porsche enthusiast and anal about their cars. The GM has a box of parts for the 60k service that has not been done but it's included. The PO was going to do it and amassed the parts but then traded it it. That's a bonus as I'd do it and learn the car.

Others are in the mix as well, and I am not ruling out car A at all, but this one keeps drawing me from when I saw it a month ago.

I can't seem to find it now but somewhere this is a site where you can find a Porsche mechanic for a PPI. Does anyone have this site?

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 7:24 am
by FRUNKenstein
ipman wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:21 pm I can't seem to find it now but somewhere this is a site where you can find a Porsche mechanic for a PPI. Does anyone have this site?
I' m sure this isn't the site you are referring to, but you can start here:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=50

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:49 pm
by ipman
It was actually pcarshops.com, I found it :)

Little update, dealer came back on Car B and took 3K off, so now it is not apples vs apples. I am in a real quandary about this. Does this change the decision at all?

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 6:48 pm
by ipman
More fodder..... I did get some records for Car A. At less than 4K miles but 4 YO, it had a leak and they removed and replaced all the rubber seals, o-rings and pipes, al under warranty, but that was aa big job. I attribute this to sitting and being hardly driven. It also had both window regulators replaced at 13K miles which I find odd. And the spoiler drive kit was done at 11K miles.

The seals corroborate what was mentioned earlier in that there may be more maintenance to get Car A up to spec since it has not been used as much. I know from another vehicle I own, the PO let it sit for 3.5 years and it had/has some issues I am still working through.

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:09 pm
by ipman
Just an update. Made an offer on Car B last week. I gave them their asking price, but they did not want to take it to the shop I chose for the PPI, said it was too far. And the deposit would be non-refundable. Even after sitting for sale for 4 months. It was out of state too and I did not want to drive 15 hours each way and lose almost $2000 if I did not like it in person. I passed.

I looked at another Sunday, the PPI I got on Monday said it had been wrecked but the damage was TBD and would require the rear bumper to be removed to see if the frame was affected. I passed, that was $$ well spent. I got a PPI on yet another one I had been working on as well, that came back as good as possible for a 16YO car, I am trying to close the deal on that this week if I can get out to the left coast.

Side note- I can tell you and any other person reading this, not all shops/PPIs are equal. Some wanted $125 which seemed low up to $250 which I was OK paying. The low end was literally a scan of codes and visual inspection. Not even a drive. I found 2 shops like that. The ones I chose were very thorough with lots of experience, $199 and $188 respectively. You get what you pay for in this case.

Anyway, I am getting closer to ownership, hopefully a few days away.

Re: Buyers input needed

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 8:46 am
by pcasanova
Glad to hear.

Take your time. Agree that a decent shop for a PPI is @ $200 based on what I was paying for them. 1 was a flat hourly fee of $125/ per hr, 2 hr minimum, but yielded the most detailed inspection I had ever received.

Do keep us up to date. Best of luck.