What is this box worth?

[mr.borrie]

Thanks guys, I think I do need to get back on my feet a little.
I just want to get a Porsche and it seems this is a change for me to obtain one for little money.


My judgement might have got clouded over the years of buying Volvo's with problems and fixing them in a few weeks and drive them years with no problems at all. With Porsches there is a huge difference in parts prices that can make working like that be dangerous.

What difference can a PPI make though, will they give a warranty if they failed to spot something? I would doubt that..?

Maybe a bit more information on how this boxster was offered. I posted an topic on a dutch Porsche forum that I was looking at Boxsters in a lower budget and some work would be fine for me. When I wrote that I was more thinking about worn brakes, or suspension stuff though since the engines are new to me.

That's when the seller contacted me, he has not been using the Boxster for a while now and thought that this car would be a good one for me as I was looking for one that has some work on it.

The seller was upfront about the error, its a 2500 repair. So that does sound like a variocam replacement a 1000 euro parts alone repair.. pretty serious.

So if I where to proceed with this "gamble", I do see it like that. I would be needing to not pay more for the car than it would do in spare parts and a broken engine. I don't really know how much that would be. I have seen boxsters with engine failure for sale around 4K but no clue what they fetch in reality.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by mr.borrie

What difference can a PPI make though...

Are you willing to gamble an amount that could be equal to or more than the value of the car? If so, then buy it today and end of disucssion. Otherwise, a PPI is meant to mitigate that risk to a reasonable extent.

For example;

First, let's start at the low end of the cost spectrum - the air oil separator, water pump, and/or battery/starter might need replacement. Unless you know what to specifically look for, you'll miss this and end up with repairs anywhere from $250 to $1,200.

Next, let's consider some mid-range repairs like suspension components, bushings, wheel bearings, CV joints, and/or a/c compressor. Unless you know specifically what to look for, you might end up with repairs from $500 - $2,000 in addition the the cheaper stuff above.

Last, let's consider the worst case and consider the engine (it has a $2,500 CEL right now), transmission, and/or clutch. What if that $2,500 CEL turns out to be something more serious? What if you don't happen to notice that small glitch when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear indicating that the 3rd gear synchro is worn out? You could easily be looking at $1,500 - $5,000 of repairs in addition to the cheap and mid-range issues above.

At the end of the day, its your money and its your choice, but spending $300 on a PPI is the best money that you'll ever spend.