[sugarwood]

FRIDAY

I go to work. Finally, in the afternoon, the mechanic calls with the PPI results. In between meetings at work, I am trying to make sense of what the mechanic is telling me. The car had not been driven much in the last few years. There are no major issues, but a handful of smaller issues. (clogged washer jet, no high beams, old tires, loose fan belt, warm A/C, mild battery tray corrosion, etc) So the PPI doesn't give me a black and white decision. I am too inexperienced to quantify the issues. What's major? What's minor? For example, is the battery tray repair a big deal? $1 or $1k or $10k? One central theme was to avoid a nightmare "over my head" exotic money pit at any price. I don't know how to proceed. Buy? Walk? I still have not resolved if I genuinely want a 911, or if I have gone this far because I won't have another chance.

Meanwhile, seller is getting twitchy, and no way he’s letting the car stay at the Euro garage over the weekend with multiple buyers wanting to see the car NOW. As we talk on the phone, the seller ups the ante and insists he wants the car sold this weekend. I am concurrently trying to pacify the seller, deciding if I even want the car, and try to determine a comfortable buy price buffer for my risk-averse nature. I did not want to overpay.

The seller insists on getting his car back today, regardless of what I decide. The garage closes at 6pm. Ok ok, I will take him to get his car, either way. After work, I'll pick him up at his house, but I still don't know if I should buy the car. I decide I will buy it, but only at a certain lower price range, as a safety buffer to rectify the PPI results. I don't know how negotiable the seller is going to be. This is his pride and joy.

Before leaving work, I call ahead and make sure the local bank branch has sufficient funds for my withdrawal. I leave work, head to the bank, and get the Al Capone treatment described above. I'm now driving to the seller's house, and not sure how this will play out. I call him while driving, I start to explain the various PPI flaws over the phone. He wants none of it. He insists the car is perfect. I have to convince him I am not a liar or scammer (conspiring with the garage to lowball him) I am on a very tight timeline, as the garage closes at 6pm for the weekend. I get to the seller's house around 4:30pm, and tell him I have cash. I want the car, but not at full asking. He give the perfunctory "Ok, knock off $500". That was not the number I had in mind. (In hindsight, a few years older now, I would not be as hung up on price getting in the way of a good solid car). I respectfully and delicately negotiated a lower price based on PPI results. We shake on it. I then drive both of us to the garage, in Friday rush hour traffic. We get there just before the 6pm close, and pick up the car. He follows me home in the 911, and parks it in my garage (poor DD gets evicted!). We step inside, do the paperwork, and I drive him back home.


In summary:

* Entire transaction occurred during the work week. There was no waiting for the weekend. There was no margin of error competing with flippers. That car was going to be sold by Friday, one way or another. If I had childcare duties, or commuted downtown, or had any bank liquidity delays, I would not own the car.

* Antsy trigger-happy seller who was insulted by a PPI since he thinks his car is a 100 point concours museum piece.

* Other buyers waiting in the wings, in a bubble flipper market.

* About 48 hours start to finish, and a keeper 911 is tucked away in my garage!
...WITH PPI
...WITH buy price that is below market

After that whirlwind 3 days,
it took me a few days to even bother registering the car.