Pre Purchase Inspection
 

This is my first post on this website. I've been looking for a Boxster for the past couple of weeks and have found one in town that has the engine/transmission I want, is the right exterior/interior color, and has the options that I want. It's cheaper than it should be going for which leaves me wondering why. It's listed for $20,000 when, from my searching, should be going for more around $25,00.
I've heard about this Porsche Pre-Purchase Inspection but the closest dealership is in Rocklin (I'm in Sacramento and so is the owner). I'm going to look at the car and talk to the owner tomorrow to ask about records and everything. Does anyone know anywhere else closer to Sacramento that will do a quality inspection similar to a Porsche dealer? Also, does anyone have a ball park estimate of how much the inspection costs?
Thanks in advance. I'm excited to get into the Boxster world but am also not in any hurry.

You didn't really disclose the year, mileage, trim nor options associated with the "$20,000" boxster, so it hard to tell if it is a "too good to be true" deal. I am not from CA, but PPI's from what I have seen have been in the $200-250 range.

Hope this helps.
:cheers:

I've heard about this Porsche Pre-Purchase Inspection but the closest dealership is in Rocklin (I'm in Sacramento and so is the owner).

I'd be careful of that place. I've had nothing but BAD experiences with their salesmen,but their parts & service counter have always been more then happy to help.

I'm going to look at the car and talk to the owner tomorrow to ask about records and everything.

Awesome! Have fun.

Does anyone know anywhere else closer to Sacramento that will do a quality inspection similar to a Porsche dealer? Also, does anyone have a ball park estimate of how much the inspection costs?

Salano or Salaro Motorsports(don't remember) in Rocklin is making a name for themselves around here with Porsches. I know Silverstar Recycling(Porsche dismantler in Rancho Cordova) is working with them on engine transplant stuff.
It wouldn't hurt to give them a call to see if they would inspect it.

You may want to see if Frank's Automotive will do an inspection.

$200-$350(includes compression test) is a fair price to a PPI,my Pops just paid $200 for a PPI on his c2 at IPB-Autosport. I wouldn't go back there for anything other then PPIs,Ron Kain likes charging the max he can hour wise for labor.

Let me know if you have any more questions. I'm in Sac and there really isn't much around here for Porsches,let alone Boxsters.

Thanks for the replies. The car is a 2001 Boxster S with around 81,000 miles on it. It has the critical options like litronic, turbo twist wheels, premium sound, and the owner states that service is up to date. I will be meeting him later in tonight so check it out.

Sacramento shouldn't be that different than the bay area, I'd imagine. I don't think this is a car that would "go for $25k" in this area/market. If it had 20k less miles, then thats a different story.

Fair Price
 

Not sure where you did your price research. I just ran the specifics you gave through Kelley Blue Book ( kbb.com ) and it came out to around 20K. Might even see if you can talk the guy down a bit if that was his opening offer. Other than that you should have a sweet new ride on your hands. Congrats!

Thanks to everyone that replied. I can see that the Boxster community has great people in it. Hopefully, if I get this one, I will have the opportunity to meet some of you.

I found the car......hehehehe.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/car/430483920.html

Mileage is kinda high but if it's in good condition,it's in good condition.

:cheers:

I'm curious, if it's possible to have a compression test as part of a $200-$350 PPI, why is it typically so expensive to have the plugs changed as part of the 30,000 service?

Because the dealership & shops CAN charge that much.

The pros have the nice stuff,lifts,air tools and such. It takes them 1/2 much time to do the work compared to us D.I.Y.ers...........but they go by a hourly rate system so if they take only 1.25 hours to do the work,they charge for 2 full hours.

Yes, that's the car. Talk to the owner yesterday. Very nice guy. Babied that car and barely drove it. Very clean. Still deciding about it but I'm leaning towards getting it.

Nice, it even has sport seats. If the car drives well then that is a helluva lot of car for 20k.

I agree. If the car is in good condition and has been maintained properly (with records!), it should be a good buy.

Good luck!

On the topic of PPI costs, beware of Beverly Hills Porsche/Audi (DUH). $600 for a 986S PPI + compression test. I was momentary insane by the positive results of the test to realize how ridiculous the testing costs were.

Gee, I wonder if it would have been less if they found a lot of non-warranteed stuff to fix:P

-David