Autohouse West and the PPI from hell - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

dblaalid · 03-28-2012, 07:07 PM

Back when I was looking for a 986, I found one online (cars.com) at a SoCal dealer called auto house West (AHW).

This is 1. Why you should ALWAYS get a PPI, and 2. Why you should never shop from AHW AND discourage your friends and family from going there as well.

I found a car I was interested in:
2002 Porsche Boxster Base, $14,445 - Cars.com
Sorry the link is so large.

I current live 200+ miles away so I did a lot of my searching and deciding via phone. I found this car and called and asked many things but one thing specifically - If the car was at stock ride height (it does NOT appear so in the pictures, but it could've been a perspective thing). I was told explicitly that it was all stock, and that it was in good shape. So I had Hergesheimer Motorsports (the best SoCal 986 guys I know) do a PPI and get back to me. Mind you during this time I had put a small deposit down just to hold the car (about 1k) under the premise that it was stock and I was very interested in it. Needless to say I got my deposit back.

Check out this report and try not to die of laughter (or anger I guess):

thstone · 03-28-2012, 08:27 PM

Wow! That might be the single worst PPI that I've ever seen - drop links cut off? Cardboard used to tighten the fit of the front hood? No cats?

And yes, the guys at HRG are great.

Irish Stout · 03-28-2012, 08:29 PM

Wow! All I can say is WOW.

Topless · 03-28-2012, 08:37 PM

$250 well spent and a bullet dodged. Whew!

wvboxst3r · 03-29-2012, 03:34 AM

Had a similar experience in Columbus,Ohio. Wife was looking at a Audi TT and talked back and forth for three days emails, pics everything. We put deposit on car and then drove up to purchase. What a shock, wife was so pissed- it had a door ding (we was told on phone it was the lighting in the room on the pics) that was thru the metal and was starting to rust. That was the best part, the car went down hill from there.

The good thing about this trip- on the way back home we found my new Boxster.

Johnny Danger · 03-29-2012, 05:02 AM

Smart move ! They're sharp people at Hergesheimer Motorsports .

jcb986 · 03-29-2012, 05:17 AM

You surely can see it was lowered...those guys never put it on a lift to see what was what. And, I bet they didn't care...they just wanted to turn it and make some money. A major headache avoid by you.:dance:

DFW02S · 03-29-2012, 05:37 AM

I'm impressed, a dealer that conducted an honest to goodness PPI.
Never seen one so thorough!

SeanZ4 · 03-29-2012, 06:39 AM

Stories like this make me not feel so ouchy about buying my 2000S from a Porsche dealer. I felt that I paid more for it there than if I were to buy it from an indy. It came with 3 pages of maintenance items that had been performed before they put it up for sale. They also gave me a year bumper to bumper wtty. I tested it a couple of months into ownership. Cam tower seals started leaking. They replaced them and all seals in the area, no questions. Gave me a new Benz as a loaner for 2 weeks too! Scholfield Porsche of Wichita.... (no affiliation)

dblaalid: thanks for posting this. What a nightmare!

AndyA6 · 03-29-2012, 06:51 AM

Wow, another PPI story.....

Boxster_S_girl · 03-29-2012, 08:57 AM

Wow! I'm impressed by the thoroughness with which the PPI was performed! When I bought my Cayenne, I had a PPI done at Pasadena Rusnak. I was pleased, but it was a standard inspection, which wasn't a bad thing since the Cayenne was obviously immaculate.

But this?! Wow, the detail!

I'm hoping a 986 solo or spec car is in my near future. If so, I just picked my shop!

dblaalid · 03-29-2012, 12:50 PM

Yeah the guys at Hergesheimer will have my business for the remainder of my Porsche ownership (the rest of my life). They are very nice and incredibly knowledgable when it comes to the 986.

RobbieKnobbie · 03-29-2012, 02:17 PM

Interesting that the free car fax on the dealer link shows the car to be accident free and all on the up and up.

Ghostrider 310 · 03-29-2012, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieKnobbie

Interesting that the free car fax on the dealer link shows the car to be accident free and all on the up and up.

Pay cash at the body shop and it never gets recorded. Show me the carfax remains what it's always been, a weak measure of a car's integrity.

fivepointnine · 03-29-2012, 04:58 PM

my car had some hail damage in the past so it required some paint work, my carfax says "involved in a natural disaster" lol (still a clean title though, not branded)

surf40 · 03-29-2012, 05:05 PM

dblaalid, I see you are from SLO. Are you planning to drive to Lake Forest every time you need work on your car? Isn't that about a 5 hour drive?

dblaalid · 03-30-2012, 12:04 AM

It's about a 4 hr 10 min. I usually make it in about 3.5hr though. I have other reasons to head back down there (friends, family) other than the car.

Major work that requires immediate attention I will consider a transport service or the local porsche guys at SGS. Other minor things I will take to Hergie's shop. They said they'd even put me back up on a train (there and back, and cover it) if it was going to take a while. Can't deny customer service like that.