long distance buying advice?

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by jlucas

The have done the certified inspection but don't want to actually certify it because they'd have to replace all the tires to one of the 4 Porsche approved ones.

I've been thinking about this and it seems curious to me. My 01S had tires that only had 2K left on them. I could see where tires would elevate the appeal of a car, but they're not a CPO warranty item so why would that be a reason to not approve the CPO? Also, why would they go through the entire inspection when they could immediately see the tires wouldn't pass? Are they hiding something else?

I would negotiate with them. Say you'll pay $1500 for the CPO w/o the new tires. That should give them a few $$$ profit on the CPO and give you some room to buy new tires - which you'll have to do if they don't CPO and you buy it. Since you're going to be not using this dealership for service, it's not like you'll be coming back to them for the warranty work if they CPO it (dealers get a lower $$$ rate / hr for warranty work than regular work).

If they don't want to dance, I'd look elsewhere. Bmuss is right, there are plenty of other options available. Here's a link to Porsche dealers nationwide. You can even look for CPO cars.

http://www.porschedealer.com/dealer/cgi-bin/locator_us_CI.cgi

[concept84]

Since I'm a first time porsche owner of less than a week this info applies to other experiences I've had with high-line lux or sports cars.

I've traveled thousands of miles looking at cars before, and I've had good and bad experiences. Every dealer is completely different, but what remains the same is that every dealer wants to see you in person.

I once drove almost 6 hours into CT from NJ to look at a very low mile S4 that was said to be in "new" condition. When I got there the car looked like it had been dumped in a river, there were knife gashes in the headliner, and the engine was all messed up. Needless to say I left very angry and didn't buy.

Other times have been very different and its the gamble you take when traveling for a car. Try searching around on the internet to see if others have ever had an issue with this dealer, and ask if you can have it in writing that they will buy you a return ticket if you don't purchase the car. If they are confident enough in their car to make that claim in writing, its probably worth looking at.