Fleeced! (?)
 

I'm feeling fleeced. So I bought her right at KBB for "excellent" (2001 with 42K miles). I didn't inspect it beforehand because I was over the moon about finding the color I wanted and it came as a dealer trade-in for two lexus'. Guess the guy let it all wait and passed it on.

Came back with $6k worth of work it needs:

window rollers
brake pads (3% left!)
bearing
extremely dirty filters

then all the standard 45000 issues.

any words of consolation or am I just a sucker?

:troll:

just keep writting the checks....hey its only money

Consider it payment for this (see highlight above).

Keep reminding yourself of how much you like the color combo and how it drives, and its all worth it.

I don't think you have a bad car. I do think that $6000 seems high for these repairs if these are the main things wrong.

Buy the brake parts and do them yourself. Very easy job and lots of how to write ups available.

Air filter dirty is a very easy and cheap do it yourself. Oil change is also simple.

I would leave the bearing to the shop as pullers are probably necessary.

Don't know what window rollers are??

You best buy will be a manual if you are at all mecanically inclined. Not to mention the satisfaction of doing the work yourself.

No sucker here. Your new car is 10 years old.

I guess "fleeced" would depend on what you paid for it. I would expect to spend a few grand fixing up a 10 year old Porsche and would factor that into the purchase price.

And don't think that this will be the end of it - you're just getting started. Check out RandallNeighbor's saga for some insight on the potential costs of owning an older P-car.

All worth it for the perma-grin you get from driving it. What Extanker said.

Enjoy! And show us some pics!

Mark

You're not alone. Almost all the recent "new" owners here bought theirs without being inspected or seen in person.

I was compelled (not forced, mind you) to spend nearly $10k on mine when bought sight unseen. :ah:

It could have been much worse for you. My lesson was far more costly than yours.

you are not a sucker, just someone who might have leapt before looking. with that said, do as much of the work yourself as you can.

i am learning that it is actually kind of satisfying to be driving something that i have done the majority of work on, even with the sweat and blood i have lost.

who do you trust more? you or some stranger who has 10 other cars to work on before he can go home.

save some $ for the big stuff you can not do yourself and just have fun. in a few years you will not feel like you got fleeced or that you are a sucker, you will only remember the fun you have had...

Yup, I'm one of those. Bought on Ebay, sight unseen except for photos. Turns out it had a broken motor mount, needed three tires (his photo of the tires was of the one good one), and needs new CV boots plus the brake fluid flushed, all according to my "post" PPI. But I'm happy. Got if for a good price ($12.5k) and what a joy to drive. Too bad the weather is going to be crappy here for the next 8 months.

Wait! don't let the dealer fix it. All that stuff is pretty easy DIY for about $800 in parts. The only fleecing going on is the service writer who quoted $6k for repairs. Kindly thank him for his advice and get it out of there pronto!

Not the dealer...
 

Not the dealer in town. But apparently willing to charge me an arm and a leg for most of what I can do myself. Thanks!

Time to get down and dirty.

Similar story here. Spent 12.5k for the Boxster. $600 in repairs paid so far with another $4k pending when I get the car back from the mechanic hopefully by the end of the week. I am not surprised or upset about the repair costs, at least up to the total so far, but I really miss my car.

+1

The pain is 30% money and 70% not being able to drive it!

All part of life; the hard part. PPIs are so important when buying these type of cars. It is a little money and hassle, but in the end well worth it.

Now that that part is over, if this is the worst thing that happens with the Boxster, it will be a great car. I can’t agree more with the above advice on DIY on the small things. Even if you don’t want to tackle the bigger thing, go for the filters. These type of things are easy to do and will save you a lot of money.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Whenever I buy a used vehicle I change all the fluids and filters unless I can confirm it was done recently. This is normal preventative maintenance and establishes a baseline moving forward. If the brakes are pretty far along I would also change the pads and rotors. Other maintenance items such as belts, tires, spark plugs will be inspected and changed as needed. All of this can be done DIY with simple mechanical knowledge, basic tools, and a Bentley manual. This method has served me well in owning nearly 100 vehicles in my lifetime.

I paid $15,700 for my one owner 2000 S. NO PPI here either. I went to South Florida to personally inspect the car. Extremely nice and all original...no mods. Had to have red interior. After inspection and driving the car, I knew I would be spending about $2 and that's for a full 60K maintenance, new tires and replacing all 4 rotors and pads and servicing the the TIP. DIY everything except the tires. :cheers:

if your motor blows it will cost as much as you paid for the car to fix. you will spend thousands keeping this car up. just the reality. these are basically disposable cars not made to be driven past the warranty. only for those with disposable incomes to throw at them. that's just the way it is....

02box, your comment is true for owners of 97's like me, but not for 2007+ owners. Their cars are worth far more than a $12k motor swap.

Conversely, I met a guy with a 2000 base model this morning at the dealership (I was getting a tech check for the De this weekend).

He said he's put 50k on the car since new ten years ago driving it weekends and pretty cool days here in Houston (of which there are about 20 a year) and has never done a thing to it except change the oil annually and the brake pads once during that time.

He was at the dealership because he put a new battery in the car over the weekend and the top cycle got off somehow. The dealer fiddled with it and fixed it in the drive bay.

We all need to hear stories like this from time to time to balance out the horror stories.

BTW, my car has run like a top and been totally repair free for two years now. Of course, I replaced just about every single part on the car except the passenger radiator and the body work, but I'm just sayin'...

I agree. but this thread is about a 2001. mine was a 2002. biggest waste of money I've ever had. I wish I had found this site before I bought my car. my opinion is, if you can't afford one that is under warranty you cetainly can't afford one that isn't.

"disposable cars not made to be driven past the warranty"??? ???

02, you're so full of it. I'll bet your eyes are brown. So you got a lemon - big deal, that doesn't mean that all Porsches are. Every manufacturer has their share of lemons right off the assembly line. If you're going to be that bitter then you should just buy a bus pass and forego car ownership all together.

These are very special cars, and it takes a certain kind of person to own, operate, and appreciate them. We spend bucket loads of money on our cars because it is our hobby and our passion. I don't begrudge a nickel of what I have spent on mine, and I would buy another in a heartbeat.

nope, blue eyes. I'm entitled to my opinion which I stated without being nasty.

i bought a 09 cay new because it was time to slow down....i didnt get fleeced on that issue.. :matchup: :D

Your last statement above is spot-on in my opinion and one worth repeating to anyone who will listen. Not an inexpensive, low-maintenance car to keep long-term. Porsche really cut corners on the 986 throughout the model years, but with each year they got a little better. My Porsche tech buddy tells me though that the newer 987's (07 and up) are built much better and aren't nearly as much of a repair hassle as the old ones, but then again they aren't as old either! Time will tell.

02box, you really should sell your boxster soon though. Get rid of it if you think it's the biggest waste of money you've ever spent. Life's too short to drive a sports car at which you shake your fist when you think about it or see it in the garage.

This weekend I will have my little black money-pit at the track for another DE and I will be once again reminded why every replaced part is worth its weight in gold. The 986 is hands-down the best track car ever built (in my not so humble opinion).

If you're handy, DIY saves a LOT of money...

I've owned my Boxster for only about a month, and I've been educating myself about the car online. I've found there are MANY MANY MANY resources available in terms of how-to articles and websites that give you step-by-step instruction, including big color photos on almost any non-major service.

And I'd call all the things on your list non-major (Brake pads, wheel bearing, window mechanicals...) They are just really expensive if you have a Porsche technician do the work.

It sounds more like $1,000 worth of work if you can do the basics yourself.

Please watch your language and your attitude. There is no need for this kind of communication.

:)

Fleeced? It is not the dealer's job to inspect the car on your behalf; that is your job, as in, "let the buyer beware."

That said, this happens all the time, as we guys seem to fall in love with women and cars that we don't fully "inspect."

Hence, the divorce rate and the auto repair business continued success.

Cheer up! This site has the best members on the INET (IMHO) and we will help with info as best as we can.

And, welcome to the club.

:)

How do we convince our girlfriends they need to have a PPI done before we commit to the relationship?! On the other hand, if this were true what a dream job that would be!

Think of the possibliities! :D

I suspect that just like shopping for boxster a testride is more like a date, if you want a PPI spend some time with the girlfriends parents.

the apple never falls far from the tree. Theres you PPI,


----if when she's at home and lets her hair down and she's really ********************y with her parents; bet you she'll be the same when married... guys are no different

i spent enough time with my wife's folks before we got married that i knew what i was getting into, yes she now has put on a few lbs, just like the old bird, but shes' stuck with me over 25 yrs, not trading her in, took to long to train her ... i mean get me trained :D

i spent quite a few years road testing girls,got some hot ones and some really used lemons. now days if i went for a spin i might get vapor lock of the heart and i`m past warranty. not to mention that your dipstick can get a fatal dose of bad oil now days :eek:

My car is a '01S. 58k miles. I am the third owner and have had the car for 5+ years.

I did a PPI before I bought the car. It told me exactly what I needed and the condition of every part. Cost me $2k to get the car in shape but the car had 42k miles on it and I knew it needed a 45k service and probably brakes so I factored all that into the offering price. When the PPI came back and confirmed all that, I bought the car, added fluids and an alignment to the service to be performed and told them do the 60k service so I'd know where I stood from a preventative maintenance standpoint.

Since then I've averaged about a service incident a year. 3 were for seat belts or airbag lights until they got it right. One was an O2 sensor. One a air leak. One a shifter linkage sensor needed a spray of electronic cleaner. Of those 6, I've gone to the dealer for 4, done one at a local muffler shop, one at an indie. Of those 6, I paid something for only 3!

I also have an '01 Acura and a '02 Honda CRV of about the same mileage. Of the 3 cars, the Porsche has had fewer problems, been cheaper to own/drive/maintain, cost less for the equivalent part (!), and got better mileage. Never left me stranded.

Yes cheaper even though I give it upgrades like PS2 tires and Optima batteries that I don't give the other cars (they do get the best Michelins too but theirs are $400 cheaper).

I do some of my own work, get some done at cheap mechanics or oil change places where I'm essentially paying for the lift time. I buy my parts online and use OEM parts wherever I can (in all the cars that is true) as opposed to Acura/Honda/Porsche labeled parts that are really the same part...just marked up.

My '99 Boxster (totaled after about 5 months) was flawless and cost me no $ over the 5 months beyond the mods I took off after I totaled it.

Are these experiences representative..probably not. I got lucky, do preventative maintenance and pay attention to what my cars tell me. I have a modest set of tools.

My today projects were a last ride before the winter put-away in the Boxster, then clean and condition its leather. For the Acura, I read its codes (none) so I'd know what I was expecting when I visited the dealer next week for it's "maint required" visit.

Just as my experience is a small sample, so Randall's was/is too. My experience/costs could change tomorrow. I hope his does too but for the better.

I'm just one of the few that posts positive experiences.