OPC

Anyone bought a used vehicle from an OPC to find it had one or two 'niggles' that would have impacted sale price (e.g. brake pad wear, switches not working, etc.). Reason for asking - do I need to get an independent inspection even if buying from OPC?

As I understand it from my OPC the used car are so thoroughly prepped before being sold these days, inspected by the RAC to make sure the standards are being maintained at all times and the penalties for failing an inspection are very harsh indeed. All these stringent measures are to make sure the used car buyer is getting as near to possible a perfect used car purchase experience. Well thats the spin [ ] Hence the extremely high margins now needed between trade and retail prices compared to several years ago [&o]

I'm not sure it would be money well spend, especially when the OPC will also give you a 1 year warranty. I thought the whole idea of buying directly from OPC and paying that extra premium is the peace of mind that the car has been inspected and if there are any problems you can go right back to the OPC?

A 996 from an OPC should have been prep'd and checked to ensure that it is in A1 working order throughout. If you've recently taken delivery, and something isn't quite right, then give them a call and they should fix it without issue. Most (but not all) other issues may be covered under warranty.

I can only speak of my experience with one OPC; some may be better than others, The general standard of prep for my own car was extremely high. Most cars will have respray work to remove stone chips from the front apron and alloys will be restored to new condition. Overall the exterior and interior were "as new".......this was a low mileage 3 year old car. The OPC will most likely move the car into the showroom where their spotlights will make it look stunning. This is where you need to keep a cool head and check out everything is OK. I missed several items that required return trips to the OPC to fix: 1. Remote Cd player dead.....bring a CD along to check it out. 2. Ashtray cover damaged. 3. Number plate light unit broken. All these problems were eventually fixed but only after attempts to "bodge" I don't know what dept in an OPC picks up the cost of post sale fixes but you get the feeling they will skimp if they can. All cars are supposed to have a geometry check before being sold. I discovered I had some uneven tyre wear on the front drivers side and asked the OPC if they could find the printout from the alignment check to see if an adjustment had been made. Was given a line about it being archived and not easily found. Since discovered that the Hunter alignment rig stores all the data on its hard drive so should have been readily available. Finally on driving off and getting onto a nice bit of motorway I open up a bit to find the steering shaking about something cronic due to wheel balance problems. Back to the OPC feeling somewhat peeved. All this is now about a year ago and as I said the OPC fixed all issues eventually but they were far from diligent in their pre sales prep of the car. You should also understand the the Porsche warranty is not all embracing. The following items are not covered, there are probably many more: Brake disks & pads Wheel bearings Exhaust PCM Hoses Header tanks for water & hydraulic oils Clutch Porsche should produce a detailed list of what is NOT covered to avoid any misunderstandings. Have had a major service done recently by the OPC and within a couple of weeks discover there is no oil in the power steering resevoir, this is a specific item for check in the service schedule. For this sloppy workmanship you pay well over £100/ hour . So if you take off your rose tinted glasses and treat the OPC just the same as any other car dealer you will be OK. There are loads of 996's around so take your time and you will find a good one. Finally all of the above niggles are forgotten when the rev counter passes 3500.... nothing better than the sound of a flat six heading for the red line.

Just to be clear - there are several items that may not be covered by a warranty after you have accepted the car, or develop once you have taken ownership - the car on delivery should be in full working order, and be as advertised. So if it's advertised as having PCM and a sports exhaust, it should have both items in working order!

Got my 996 second hand from OPC - the safety net!! Discovered on delivery that the plastic cover between the bottom and the back of the passenger seat (the bit that covers the reclining mech) had been snapped off and put back on using a garden tie for plants! They had even gone to the trouble of drilling a hole in the plastic so that they could tread the tie though it!! Got this rectified at OPC but it really opened my eyes and more to the point, made me wonder about any other botch jobs they had done!! I think that what "toals" has said is very true. These people are car deals - they just happen to have a Porsche franchise. Look at it this way, the same garage may have been Peugot or Citroen at some point.

Dillon, You're right, you shouldn't really do that. Drinking hot chocolate will only put inches on your waist. I find a nice cup of tea is better for you. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]