Fess Up: Did you get a PPI before buying?

[lindbhr]

Yes.... The car was 1500 miles away and I needed another set of eyes and a leak down test on the engine. This kept he surprises to a minimum.

[Jbp]

3 cars from US to Finland and no ppi.
2 from ca and one from oregon.And been happy whit every car.
Descripsion on thees cars hawe been very god.
Still hawe contact with po`s.
-74 911s 3,3 turbo,-79 930 dp 935 turbo,-77 930 slant.

Jocke.

[86 ssinit]

No PPI no idea about Porsche just went to look at and drive. Drove it bought it. I saw and felt some rust in the front end thought it was no big deal but I was wrong car needed a new suspension pan and tank support. Had that done last year and the car has been great since than. Love the car runs great. I had owned it for a little over a year when I finally took it to a Porsche mech. Mech looked it over and said I got a great deal and the car runs perfect. Only problem is the ac so the top is all way off.

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by 86 ssinit

No PPI no idea about Porsche just went to look at and drive. Drove it bought it. I saw and felt some rust in the front end thought it was no big deal but I was wrong car needed a new suspension pan and tank support. Had that done last year and the car has been great since than. Love the car runs great. I had owned it for a little over a year when I finally took it to a Porsche mech. Mech looked it over and said I got a great deal and the car runs perfect. Only problem is the ac so the top is all way off.

Never did use a PPI before buying cars. Never had a surprise. Always bought from private parties and tried to figure out why they sold the car, how they used it and for how long. Just visiting their place tells me something about them and how they treated the car themselves. When I bought my 72 Targa in 1974 it impressed me that the prior owner opened his clean garage and the car was under a cover though he used it regularly. Like I said, never had had experience. Would I use a PPI in the future? Possibly.

[theclaw]

No. Seller had impeccable references. Here's my story,

Dealers are not all bad

Almost seven years later and I'm still a satisfied customer. Too bad Tom doesn't sell cars anymore. Only service.

[tpickstone]

...... but it was a 1969 911E that I bought from the old guy who bought it new in Bonn, Germany in 1969. He was a diplomat for the Canadian government so it was just his fun car and has very low mileage. Unfortunately he had lost all his documentation but he's 80 yrs old and I believed him when he said that it was always serviced at Porsche dealers around Europe as he was posted here and there. The last oil change sticker on the door jamb is from Milano, Italy and it runs and drives like a well maintained, low mileage car.
I could easily rebuild the motor if need be and still be happy with the car.
No regrets

[ChemMan]

I had ppi's done on a couple of 911's I was looking at a few years back. Saved me some serious money. I had one shop call me about 30 minutes into the inspection to ask if they could stop since the car was in such bad shape. Same 911 ended up on ebay and was described as "almost perfect" by the seller.
I had one shop buy the 911 they were doing the ppi for me on and then offer to sell it to me for more than the seller was asking.
The 3.2 carrera I ended up getting was being sold by a very reputable shop. The guy who owned the shop and did the rebuild had no problems with a ppi. I ended up skipping the ppi based on his reputation. So I bought the car unseen. Car was great. Exactly as described.

[clutch-monkey]

Originally Posted by ChemMan

I had ppi's done on a couple of 911's I was looking at a few years back. Saved me some serious money. I had one shop call me about 30 minutes into the inspection to ask if they could stop since the car was in such bad shape. Same 911 ended up on ebay and was described as "almost perfect" by the seller.

haha same boat as me. guy ran out of space writing the report haha.

[kramer747]

nope

[rgoodrich]

My Carrera had been serviced by my excellent mechanic since 1997. His client only drove it 250 miles per year. The car had been sitting in his shop for six months.
it fired right up, and after new gas it ran like a clock. With the service history by my mechanic, and the flawless slate blue metallic, i couldn't miss the opportunity.
So i guess this counts as a yes on the ppi.

[silverc4s]

I answered NO, but I did provide one when selling one of my 911's.

[Kaliv]

No PPI and the car had quite a few problems. But hind sight isn't necessarily 20/20. I doubt the owner would have dropped the price...so I either would have bought it knowing it needed some work or I would have passed up owning my first Porsche. That being said, I'm glad I own the exact car that I have.

[Reiver]

Originally Posted by rgoodrich

My Carrera had been serviced by my excellent mechanic since 1997. His client only drove it 250 miles per year. The car had been sitting in his shop for six months.
it fired right up, and after new gas it ran like a clock. With the service history by my mechanic, and the flawless slate blue metallic, i couldn't miss the opportunity.
So i guess this counts as a yes on the ppi.

Great luck and nice car.....the carpet looks neat but there is no better way to feed a fire than a nice carpet or pad...with oil in it.

[Hezath]

Buying a US car from Australia, I had a PPI done, it wasn't hugely comprehensive and it was done at a workshop that had done some work on the car. It was more so I could communicate with a few mechanics at the shop over the phone and read between the lines etc to get an idea of the car, just trying to ensure that the operation wasn't dodgy.

All went really smoothly in the end, and it gave me some peace of mind. Was impressed with everyone involved in the sale, inspection and transportation.

[Windsor4273]

No. I bought mine from my father-in-law who had it serviced by a reputable Porsche mechanic tho...

[john baldwin]

If the PO had objected it would have told me something. By him agreeing without hesitation I was pretty confident. My wrench pointed out things I wouldn't have seen or considered plus having a lift certainly helped. Nothing was found to kill the deal, but I attended to repacking the CV's and installing new boots right away. Knowledge is good and it cost ~1 hr of labor....cheap insurance.
Why wouldn't you at least ask?

[CountD]

Unfortunately, no...because there is really no time here in SoCal when a good to nice car comes up locally or on Craigs. There is absolutely no time to get any inspection done on cars when 10-20 people respond to an ad out here. You have to rely on your own wits - to do it yourself, and there is no way to ever do something as a leakdown. It's vicious out here when it comes to clean, rust free cars as there are so many people in the game now. You must do the PPI yourself, in usually less than 15 minutes...

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by CountD

Unfortunately, no...because there is really no time here in SoCal when a good to nice car comes up locally or on Craigs. There is absolutely no time to get any inspection done on cars when 10-20 people respond to an ad out here. You have to rely on your own wits - to do it yourself, and there is no way to ever do something as a leakdown. It's vicious out here when it comes to clean, rust free cars as there are so many people in the game now. You must do the PPI yourself, in usually less than 15 minutes...

Yeah, the same happened to me way back in 74. Came, right after it was advertised, saw the 72, test drove it for 15 minutes, and saw the records. I was the first respondent. The price was right. Did not want to let it get away. Paid deposit in cash. Never regretted it.

[dw1]

No, I trusted my experience and judgment.

I made out ok, but never again will I take that kind of risk. I got a few surprises, but not too many and not too serious.

But if had gotten a PPI on my current toy, I probably wouldn't own it now. Maybe I wouldn't own a 911 at all. And I wouldn't have found this community.

[NOLAsc]

No PPI, but the price was right, and it's been my daily driver for years. Only major issue was a broke valve spring.