Value of doing a PPI

btsave · btsave's Garage

Just a quick personal story. Recently I was about to purchase a 911 located in a large southern state. As the owner has threatened legal action if I damage his/her reputation, I cannot disclose the car or the owner, so please do not ask. Take this as cautionary tale.

Based upon conversation with the owner, it appeared everything was excellent, relatively low mileage, cared for, etc. Price was a little high, but based upon the condition, it was worth the money 25k range, so not a "beater". Plus there was only positive feedback on the owner. Nice person as well & he/she said they've been driving the car for 3 months & it had a clean carfax. On my wife's insistence, I hired an auto inspection firm (autoexam.com) to see the vehicle and do a PPI for me as I was not local to the area.

Was I glad! The inspector found the car had been poorly repainted (not disclosed) from what he believed was rose/pink to black, cut wires were hanging under the seats, modules were hanging out under the dash, overspray was evident on the wires, new carpet was hiding corrosion on inside linkages, multiple warning lamps stayed on as he test drove it, rear wiper didn't work, there were oil leaks on the undercarriage, an undercarriage shield was held on with bungie cord, & so on.

Oh, and this is the best part, the carfax indicated that the car came from an area in Louisiana which had been clearly identified as a flood area & had only been in the owner's hands since February 06. None of this was disclosed by the owner... even when he/she were specifically asked where the car came from. When asked earlier, the answer given was "from the south" & he/she indicated they had driven it for 3 months without issue.

When confronted, the owner said that my inspector was mistaken. Possibly, but would you chance it?

Best $169 I've ever spent.

Oh, car is now back on the market... with the exact same description. Maybe the owner was right/ maybe the PPI inspector was wrong...

Just a warning... get any car inspected prior to purchase.

allaircooled · allaircooled's Garage

Quote:

As the owner has threatened legal action if I damage his/her reputation, I cannot disclose the car or the owner, so please do not ask.

Does this guy or gal really have any grounds on any legal action? I am just curious because it looks like they got something to hide to me from what you wrote. If this happened to me I would tell everyone I knew that was looking for a 911 about this car and seller. I would hate to see anyone I know stuck with this potential pos. I guess this is a good example of why everyone on this board stresses getting a PPI so much.

btsave · btsave's Garage

I am not a legal expert, but in my humble opionion, He/She has no legal grounds whatsoever. I would love to have some of the lawyers on the forum give us their opinion on this.

"The Truth is the Truth."

That being said, there is nothing to stop someone from filing a frivolous lawsuit . Anyone can claim damages. If that is done, you then have to defend yourself, which will cause a loss of time and aggravation for the defendent.

The best one can do is try to avoid those sellers, we all know who they are, & to have a PPI done.

I have found that one way of determining a potential problem is when someone sells on a major auction site often, has multiple cars listed at the same time, and has done so for many years... but has a relatively low number of ratings. They will probably all be positive as this type of character will routinely threaten lawsuits when people complain or end auctions prematurely to avoid registered comments. Now, this doesn't apply in all cases, but, IMHO, looks to be the case in specific instances.

That said, I have bought multiple vehicles on line over the past several years, many without PPI, and this is the first instance of a possibly dishonest seller that I have run into. The amazing thing was the total lack of remorse, or, at the very least, an offer to substitute a similiar car for the poorly represented one... which, after another PPI, I probably would have readily accepted!

btsave · btsave's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by allaircooled
Does this guy or gal really have any grounds on any legal action? I am just curious because it looks like they got something to hide to me from what you wrote. If this happened to me I would tell everyone I knew that was looking for a 911 about this car and seller. I would hate to see anyone I know stuck with this potential pos. I guess this is a good example of why everyone on this board stresses getting a PPI so much.

I feel the same way, but I really don't want to fight with a "junk yard dog". I'm just a nice guy & life is to short to hassle with it... but I though that at least a cautionary tale would help others.

AFJuvat · 05:10 AM

Always.... always....always get a PPI.

The pictures were very convincing on the website.

Glad it worked out for you.

"You can only claim Victory when you have your Motorcars inspected properly, especially in hurricane states like louisiana or certain parts Of Texas."

AFJ
(foot-stomp, cough, foot-stomp)

allaircooled · allaircooled's Garage

I hear you. I just know with the quick decision making I can make sometimes that if someone was trying to scam me I would react to fast (what I stated above) without thinking it through. Would be a pain to go to court over something stupid like this.

allaircooled · allaircooled's Garage

Quote:

"You can only claim Victory when you have your Motorcars inspected properly, especially in hurricane states like louisiana or certain parts Of Texas."

I get it.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by AFJuvat
"You can only claim Victory when you have your Motorcars inspected properly, especially in hurricane states like louisiana or certain parts Of Texas."

Hahaha. Good one . . .

Ian

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

I wonder what your autoexam.com contract says about disclosing infomation to 3rd parties, and worry about that before I'd worry about the owner rights.

Your only contract is with autoexam.com as you did not buy the car.

I am not a lawyer, just thinking out loud.

btsave · btsave's Garage

since no specific vehicle was mentioned, I see no foul here. It would be different if a specific VIN was stated, or a particular individual. autoexam.com probably appreciated the vote of confidence. Plus customer testimonials are often shown on web-sites.

btsave · btsave's Garage

Just spoke with Autoexam.com, they have no problem with this type of disclosure. Again, no foul here.

Dude76 · Dude76's Garage

I bought a car this summer from a well respected pelican who decided not to disclose that the car had been hit from behind, and advertised it as rust free. The worst part is that the sellers profession is bodywork. Since finding excessive bondo work and indisputable evidence of a collision the seller has not responded to 3 emails over at least 2 months. The value of getting a PPI is priceless. I did not get a PPI because I thought someone would be honest, but I guess even good people do bad things sometimes. Please, don't end up in my shoes get a PPI, even if you are buying from your grandmother. It is worth the price just to know what is wrong with the car you are buying.

btsave · btsave's Garage

I agree, every collector car I've ever sold has had a PPI done.. in the one case where an issue was found, which I was not aware of, I corrected the item for the new owner, and after 4 years they are still happy with it! I guess the difference is that we do this as a hobby & not as a profession, so to us it's about the cars and to others it just about the money.

As an aside, keep an eye out for eBayer's who have an excessive number of bid retractions. This may be a sign that they are avoiding the potential for negative comments by removing the item prior to final sale on eBay.. or as a way to avoid paying eBay its fair share of the final sale price. Either way it could demonstrate the degree of unethical behavior of your seller.

porschenut · 03-08-2006, 06:34 AM

He has no grounds for legal action. What's he going to say to the court - "this guy harmed my reputation by exposing my fraud"?

Even if he did sue you, all the details about this car and his presentation of it would be brought to light and made public. Obviously he won't do that. He's just trying to intimidate you.

Jims5543 · 03-08-2006, 06:37 AM

What color and year was this car in question?

I do not think you would be doing anyhting wrong disclosing this.

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by btsave
Just spoke with Autoexam.com, they have no problem with this type of disclosure. Again, no foul here.

Will they let you post something writting - the actual report? I assume they use a standard scorecard of somekind. That's what I meant to say/ask - sorry.

btsave · btsave's Garage

I didn't ask them that.

My guess is that that would be a theft of service. If a client did that, no one else would need to contract with autoexam.com and would receive the same information. It would be the same as sharing a CD or DVD with friends and making copies. Not ethical.

The info I did share was general enough to be a cautionary tale without necessarily negating the future use of their services in the future on the same vehicle.

Get a PPI, avoid any car sold by questionable sellers and understand that you get what you pay for. If this car was 10k, it probably would have been a good deal even with a bad PPI, but for fmv of $25-$27k it was not worth it. By the way, I didn't even dicker about the price. The question of truthfulness of the seller is a whole other issue.

sand_man · 03-08-2006, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AFJuvat

"You can only claim Victory when you have your Motorcars inspected properly, especially in hurricane states like louisiana or certain parts Of Texas."

AFJ
(foot-stomp, cough, foot-stomp)

I'm a little slow this AM, but I get it, too! HAHAHA! Wink...Wink...Knod...Knod!

petrolblue83911 · 03-08-2006, 06:54 AM

Definitly agree, PPI is a must, a few years back I was about to buy a bueatiful 73 914 2.0, red on black, totally restored, new paint, new interior, new dash, engine re-build, tranny re-build-the car was perfect!

The guy was super nice, and I am sure was not trying to scam me but the PPI revealed the following,

-the car was actually 2 cars! whole front was welded on from a different tub

-the engine rebuild was ****, the guy cut the decks too low and the pistons were slapping!

-Best 200.00 I ever spent!

btsave · btsave's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by porschenut
He has no grounds for legal action. What's he going to say to the court - "this guy harmed my reputation by exposing my fraud"? Even if he did sue you, all the details about this car and his presentation of it would be brought to light and made public. Obviously he won't do that. He's just trying to intimidate you.

Well, it worked. I don't want to go through even a moment of more aggravation related to this. Buying a 911 should be fun, not a hemorage.

By the way, I am looking for a nice 1991 911, preferrably a C4, coupe, with mileage under 60k at fair market. Would prefer dark exterior, light interior. Would like to see service records and have the car available for PPI. If anyone sees one around let me know!