Not a bit.
 

I came to a stop after a 55 mile stretch of road. Maybe 5 cars in front of me at the light. I'd admit to braking late. Box truck behind me slams on his brakes and swerves areound me. Young gal in a Hyundai behind the box truck couldn't have seen the light and slid into me. Her front end was all mashed up with radiator damage. Me not so much, just scratches visible. Damage underneath to the absorbers and crossbar. Replaced with new OEM. How fast was she going when we hit? Maybe 15? Guessing.

The repair was better than new, bumperettes painted by Eric to match.Paint a perfect match (AS).

Buyer paid my asking price which was $1k below comparables because I live in a small town and no way would I sell it to someone here, just not that kind of place and no way to really advertise it here. So a 3 line honest CL ad and it sold in 4 hours with full disclosure.

So a known owner and a known motive which has been confirmed. Buy it.

+1
What are you waiting for? ;-)

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When I found out my car had an accident I got all nervous and stuff and contacted my mechanic. He said leave as is, car aligns fine, drives fine. He's porsche trained, head mechanic at local dealership and then went indie. I haven't though about it sense. These aren't Newman owned ferraris. Pretty darn close though. 😜

Where in Texas? I know a lot of shops throughout the state that I can recommend for a PPI

Thanks much, but I already got three recommendations from PCA right in the area.

The car is almost 2,000 miles away. There are two others local that I'm also looking at. I'm not in a hurry. If it happens this week, fine. If it happens in a month, that's fine too. If it happens in 3 months, that's also fine. I will own a Boxster soon, trust me. And it will be a good one.

Mike, the big difference there is that you know exactly what happened. This one I'm looking at, I don't know what happened, and my Seller doesn't know what happened. All we both know is that it shows "rear end collision" on Carfax and apparently it was fixed.

My Seller was told by his Seller, "it was a very low speed parking lot bump". I gotta tell ya, I bought two used cars this year, one for myself, one for my son. Several of the cars I looked at had a damage history on Carfax. Without exception, EVERY Seller said, ""it was a very low speed parking lot bump". So while I don't think they all were lying, I also don't think they all were being truthful. And in one case, it was a dealer who INSISTED it was a "very minor collision" and claimed they know this for certain because there is no record of an air bag deployment.

So yeah, I'm a little skeptical.

My 'new to me' 911 Cab has a couple of blemishes on one bumperette and a scratch on the drivers front fender from a screw up by me. I plan to have both repaired this spring. I also plan to take 'before' photos to document the work. The repair will not show up on Carfax but I'll be able to prove the extent of paint work done to the car one day when I decide to sell.

Smart move, and something every car owner should do because when it comes time to sell, Buyers are going to ask questions. If it's a very minor item like yours, and if you have pictures and a body shop bill, no prospective Buyer should care about it.

Nah, I disagree.
I'ma tell the buyer what I know. If he starts asking for before and after pictures of something, ANYTHING, on a $10k car, (or frankly, ANY car that is not, and never will be a collectible) then he's not a serious buyer. I'll tell him to hit the road.

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But a PPI would reveal all. Look around the tail lights under the coverings inside the trunk. Was there any sign of damage, them more than trivial. But if not, then it could easily have been a nothingburger.

Something that is easily determinable.

Good luck in your hunt, there are hundreds out there. Choose wisely.

Do you think you'd want a bodywork man to look at it, or would a Porsche shop doing a PPI be more than adequate?

Thanks, Mike. The hunt is part of the fun of it. And yes, I'll choose wisely.

BoxMann I understand your patience and desire to get a good car. I just have a different view than you. The car has already depreciated so any value when you want to sell it is going to be purely subjective between seller/buyer. Having a bodyman look at a 10 year old repair for is just not necessary IMHO. Maybe for a $50,000 vehicle it would be different, but at this vehicle age and price point, if the car checks out with a PPI then go for it. But as mentioned above, there are lots of cars out there

I've purchased about 20 used Porsches and BMWs in the past 15 years and I've never had a PPI done. To me, fixing the car up is part of the fun. My current project is a $3000 Boxster that was in a minor front end collision :)

JM,

Quite clearly, you're very experienced with used Porsche's and do a lot of major work on them. I'm not in that position at all. I've bought many used cars in my life and never did a PPI on any of them, and never bought a bad one, but I never bought a used Porsche before. Porsche's are a little different than Honda's and VW's. You miss one or two things on a Porsche and that could cost thousands.

Quite possible that after I buy a few used Porsche's over the next 5 or 10 years, I'll be more in your mindset.

Happy New Year, sir.

+ 1 more
 

I agree with maytag and brian on old car's value. I flew 700 mi to p/u 2004 s w/clean carfax only to have honest seller tell me he had hit a deer that summer that did not show on carfax. He gave me all the receipts from mb dealership that performed repairs. I did not get a ppi but he gave me all service records and i spoke at length with his indie mechanic before buying, and after owning the car for 1.5 years it has been a winner. Buyer took $500 less than asking price (cost of my plane ticket) but was not willing to go lower, so i got the car for what i felt was fair and about $3000 less than dealers were asking...

I have to confess I've bought used Boxsters both ways, with and without a PPI. Equally good. But that was 12 to 14 years ago. Today, I'd like a professional to give me his impression of clutch brakes, suspension, let alone engine. At the extreme, I'd want the pan pulled. I have the cash to completely replace anything just not the patience.

My PPI did include a compression and leak down test. That gave me confidence the insides of the engine was solid. It also told me I was going to need $1k in miscellaneous, a complete brake job, new tires and an alignment. That car visited the shop twice in the next five plus years. Once for a seal belt buckle (grounding TSB) and once for a hose leak. None of the items pointed out in the PPI and addressed in the first week of ownership was ever an issue. Thus my pleasure in ownership. How much was it the skill of the man doing the PPI? Well he did set up Porsches for racing and did have really expensive ones in all stages of tear down.