Preowned question
 

Looking at used Boxsters at my local dealer, about half of them are Certified Pre-Owned. Should I infer that there is something about the non-Certified used Boxsters that should be avoided? Does that mean they didn't make the cut for some reason?

If I did go the CPO route, would an independent PPI be neccessary, or is the dealer's evaluation enough?

Joe

I'll let someone more knowledgeable about Certification for the CPO cars.

On the issue of a PPI, you're considering the purchase of a very expensive car. Throw a couple of hundred at it by having a solid inspection done along with a 4 wheel laser alignment (too see if it's been wrecked and not repaired properly). If I were you, I'd also insure that you discover how many stage 1 and 2 redlines the engine has endured just for your own knowledge as a baseline... and to see how the last owner(s) treated the car. If it's been stage 2 redlined a lot or recently, you can walk away. You find this out by having it hooked up to a OBD reader from Porsche.

(BTW, the alignment is a personal thing for me because my car had a bent subframe in the front and a bent strut in the back from a curb hit + spinout that was never shared with me when I was buying the car. Evidently, the previous owner let it get away from him and a regular PPI would not have discovered this).

Hope this helps!

BTW, I would only buy a CPO very low mileage Box S next time around. I've had it with Porsche's "high performance plastic" parts that wear out far too early. Porsche can pay for them under a 100k warranty next time around. Love the car, but hate some of the crap they bolt to the car in the name of saving a few ounces here and there.

The CPO warranty is something that the dealer purchases from Porsche. To do this, the car has to meet criteria that Porsche sets, ie, only so old, only so many miles, no frame issues etc, parts up to snuff.

When a dealer buys a car that meets Porsche's criteria, they do their own inspection and decide if it makes economic sense to do the CPO. This would require that they bring all wearable parts up to speed, tires, brakes, etc. and they pay Porsche the fee of around $2000 for the warranty.

They then add about $5K to the price and buff the baby up.

That is about it.

You can draw your conclusions on value of this process. Sometimes, if a car is not a CPO car, it is simply a matter of the car being too old or having too many miles.

Other times, it is an issue of the costs required to bring the car up to standard, weighed by the dealer's thoughts on what the car will bring.

Good luck with your decision.

"If I were you, I'd also insure that you discover how many stage 1 and 2 redlines the engine has endured just for your own knowledge as a baseline... and to see how the last owner(s) treated the car. If it's been stage 2 redlined a lot or recently, you can walk away. You find this out by having it hooked up to a OBD reader from Porsche."


I have been having fun with my Durametric software/OBD reader, I checked with them and it looks like it will sorta tell you how much the engine has been in at and beyond the rev limiter. The software gives you the number of ignitions the engine has been at the rev limiter (Range 1) and beyond the rev limiter (Range 2). I am not sure how this information on number of ignitions as a measure of time at redline differs from the information from a Porsche OBD reader.


Ed

:cheers:

Thanks for the responses.

I have learned a ton from this forum , but most of all I have learned the necessity for a PPI! I guess a PPI is only as good as the mechanic doing it though.

The CPO thing sounds good, especially with the longer warrantly, but I'm not sure if its worth 5k. I'm probably looking for a 1-2 year old car, and adding 5k would take a bite out of the preowned savings.

Joe

Is there any documentation that comes with the CPO?

Richard

Torpedo: Another route to the same result is to buy outside the Porsche network. A) P-dealers value cars a helluva lot higher than a used exotic dealer who thinks they're not really that special... B) A 1-2yr old car is already covered... and as long as you still have some factory - you can buy an external for another X years elsewhere.

I bought a near-perfect 01 with 4mos of factory warranty from a Chevy dealer in CT - it came from P-Leasing. A Urologist had put 12k on it. I had my P-dealer do a Cert. Inspection for $100..just to see - and get a base-line established - then bought an extended that gives me cash back.

The one key thing about these cars vs. a BMW, Merc, etc. is that there are soooooo many options....and that's where you may (should) know more about the car than the dealer. He sees the price he paid at auction - not the fact that there can be a $10k spread between two cars painted the same color. This Chevy dealer didn't have a clue about the options on the two cars he bought that day at Manheim. I did.

j i m


....the 997 I got in Cleveland in Nov. was P-Cert. (good dealer: Porsche North Olmstead)


Lancelot: There's a whole, big packet - mostly the same Welcome-Wagon stuff you'd get with a new car. Haven't read it all yet...

Wetstuff

Do you get that when you take delivery of the car or after in the mail?

........came in the mail a few week later. I suspect the Porsche website details most of the pre-owned info..

j i m

Jim

Thanks. I recently purchased a 03 boxster and I was getting a little worried. The dealer said it was CPO, but I have not seen any paperwork on this and unless it's in writing I don't beleive it. It was on the sales contract but no package. Mercedes gives you the package when you take delivery of the car. Since this my first Porsche I was not sure about the porcedure.

Richard

Porsche is very sloppy about this process. Perhaps they should hire someone from Lexus.

Every car maker should hire Lexus as a customer service consultant!

Agreed. But they still don't make a car that delivers exciement like the Boxster.

plus Japanese beer sucks! :)

I bought a CPO 2005 Boxster about 8 months ago. I received a paper detailing the CPO details from the dealer at the time of purchase, then received a nice tin with more CPO info about 2 weeks later.

If you didn't receive either, I would definitely call your dealer or Porsche corporate.

It's a relief knowing that I have a 6yr / 100k warranty after reading some of the horror stories on the internet. I'd like to try to hit the 100k mark before the 6yr mark, but that's very unlikely.

Thank you all for you input. I received the CPO package in the mail last night. I feel much better knowing that I now have two years of coverage and that the dealer did not screw me...much. :D

Richard