PPI mechanics and remote buying - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

ylow_bxster · 09-08-2011, 03:51 PM

Hello all, I'm new too, and also looking for a boxster. The problem is I live in rural Missouri and now boxsters are around, so I have to buy one without seeing it (mechanically). Everyone mentions a proper PP inspection, but how do I find one when the car may be in Florida or Utah? Is there a traveling group like inspectmyride.com for Porsches? I'm very nervous about buying a car that I will only fly to once I've bought it.
I'm looking at a 2001-2004 used Boxster, probably an S model (I very briefly test drove both while in Denver and the base seemed sluggish compared to the S, though it could have been that individual one).
I am amazed at how many 10 year old Boxsters can be found under 50,000 miles! Don't people drive them? Is it a bad thing to find a 10 year old Boxster with 30,000 miles on it?
Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered. I'm dedicated to getting a yellow Boxster and will post pics when I get one (hopefully in the next couple of weeks, once I can decide).
Mike

97 Boxster · 09-16-2011, 01:01 PM

Good luck with the search. From what I have seen with low mileage boxsters the issues generally start once you go from 3k per year and start putting 10k plus on it. According to others I have seen on the forum this tends to be their concern.

Not sure where or who to have check out your future purchase so i apologize for not helping there.

Best of luck.

p freeman · 09-18-2011, 09:35 PM

]I'm currently working on purchasing a boxster in florida. I am having a Porsche dealer do the PPI. cost to do the same inspection as they would for a CPO is $210. I'm also having the filter pulled and check for metal I'm having the sales manger look over the interior/exterior to see if it's front line ready or if it needs detailing. I will use the results of the inspection to negotiate the price. Hope all goes well. :dance:

ylow_bxster · 09-21-2011, 06:38 AM

Thanks for the responses. Yeah, it seems easier than expected to find a suitable shop to do the PPI. Most car dealers already know of one nearby. I am looking at a very low mileage 2001 boxster at the moment (from a huge distance). Driving it home will be farther than it has driven in a long time! So I'll be quizzing the mechanic a LOT about it. Good luck on your buy Freeman!

p freeman · 10-02-2011, 04:20 PM

follow up .
I passed on the car I was looking at in Florida. Thank heavens I had the PPI done at a Porsche dealer. Owner said the car was in very good condition.Just a couple small scratches . The dealer went over the car quite well. This small scratches were enough that the dealer recommended repaint the rear bumper because of the damage done to it $600. The Sport Chrono was broken and needed to be replaced $700. A lot of differed maintenance. It all added up to $2500. When I asked him if he would take care of those items he replied he was selling the car as is and it was just minor maintenance. The seller is a plastic surgeon and I expected more integrity than he displayed. No sale to me … so the hunt goes on.

2003S · 10-02-2011, 05:59 PM

Good call, I had a similar situation with a dealer, and walked away from the deal. Two weeks later, found an individual seller who was willing to make the car right before selling it to me.

There are plenty of honest people out there who want to do the right thing.

mikefocke · 01-05-2012, 12:30 PM

In your situation I'd email Pedro and have him find you a car and do the PPI. Lots of cars in FL and few know the cars as well as he (his has more than 200k on it...many of them track miles).

You can find him at PedrosBoard.

But consider if you want to own a car like this in an area without lots of other P-cars supporting a dealer or two and a few independent mechanics.

thstone · 01-17-2012, 04:25 PM

I have bought two cars from eBay without ever seeing either car myself. Each time I hired a company close to the car's location to do an onsite PPI for me and I made the decision based on the report.

Do a search for "automotive pre-purchase inspection" in the closest big city to the location of the car, e.g. "automotive pre-purchase inspection Springfield, Mo.". In big cities, you'll have a lot of options. In rural areas, it can get harder.

jsmith · 06-17-2012, 10:39 AM

hi guys,

been lurking here long and about ready to bite the bullet. i am looking to find a local porsche mechanic and i have a question. i have read the the "iwantaporsche" site several times and one of the pointers there is to check if the engine has been redlined a lot (in other words trashed). do the mechanics with the pst2 computer check for this? how big a deal is this really?

thanks

BrokenLinkage · 06-17-2012, 02:42 PM

to jsmith - PST2 will show over-revs, is very simple to check, and should be done. I'm no authority, but as I understand it, over-revs in range 1 are of no real concern, just means rev limiter kicked in to protect engine on a late upshift. Range 2, however, is a significant red flag, usually means a missed downshift with mechanically forced over-rev and strong possibility of damage. PST2 will also allow you to tell when this happened, and if it was only short episode (ask mechanic number of ignitions in range) that happened 50 hours of operation ago, with a normal checkout now, you MIGHT choose to overlook it.