To PPI or not to PPI?

Hi Guys, very close to getting my first Porsche a low mileage C4S. I'm pondering what you think about a PPI - the garage is a well know indi that is recommended for doing PPI's so would you still get a PPI done? Cheers

in a word... YES. The seller should have no problem with it, unless they have something to hide. It's the best money you will spend.

its a no brainer - make sure you get the right inspector, do a search in here there are plenty of threads..

Yes, a PPI is important and should be used as a bargaining tool to bring the buying price down from the initial asking price. Remember that we are in a recession at the moment so it is a buyers market. Many cars sit unsold for many weeks, while negotiations proceed and the price inevitably falls back. Use this to your advantage. Good luck with your search

The general consensus is that a PPI is useful. Saying that it depends on you really and how the risk you are willing to take. Also how confident are you with your mechanical and overall car knowledge to go through the papers/history/car etc. Some of the PPI reports I have seen over the last year or so (and some of them came from what is considered reputable professionals) in my opinion are to expensive for what they provide and a lot of times come with very ambiguous statements that might put you off for the wrong reasons. I personally bought my car privately and did not use a PPI and if I do it again I would not use one either but that is my choice. And as the car from what you are saying is been bought from a reputable Indy then ask for a warranty Theo

Apparently the prices are picking up compare with 1-1.5 year ago and good cars go quickly Theo

I agree that prices do seem to be on the move and, as always good cars do sell quickly.This car sold within 2 days of being advertised! http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1573659.htm However, all this is relative and we are not out of the recession yet!

On my latest Porsche, I didn't get a PPI. Instead I spoke to the head mechanic at the local Indi (who used to be the OPC lead Porsche mechanic). He had just completed a service of the car and gave me the low down and his over all general opionion. My experiance is that PPI's are great, but things can still eventuate that even PPI's won't pick up. My best advice would be to get a warrenty, or self warrenty by putting some money aside each month to hopefully cover any unexpected occurances. Go into the purchase on the understanding that like all cars things can go wrong with it... and if they do generally the repair and maintainence bills will greater than your average car to repair. Be comfortable with that and you'll be just fine...

PPI's will only tell you so much but is worth having some kind of inspection... My story below: Coming from a 964 and already understanding what things could go wrong I did similar to Kiwi above. Got my local independant to give my prospective C4S purchase a detailed once over - RMS dry and no other leaks fpound. They checked pretty much everything else bar inside the cylinders - deemed not necessary as engine pressure was good. They noted it needed new tyres, brake discs & pads all round etc which I asked the selling dealer to replace prior to me completing the deal. They also did a couple of other things I requested like re-gasing the air-con, re-conditioning the leather and fitting my Becker stereo/nav unit etc. All this left me with a feeling of great customer service. Delighted with my purchase I went on my merry way and quickly racked up 2000 miles in about 4 weeks (not totally normal!) and I noticed it was burning a lot of oil under heavy load (passenger exhaust plume) and also 1 litre per 1000 miles or so... suspicious I went to three independants for advice. One suggested the oil separator may need replacing, one suggested trying thicker oil and the third suggested a cylinder compression test and more importantly a cylinger camera endoscopy. The cylinders were all at 250psi (good) but visual scoring of the cylinders was found on cylinders 4,5 & 6 which explains the excessive oil consumption and smoke out of passenger exhaust (they cross over from the block). I went back to the dealer (who I had bought two cars from only 4 weeks ago) and asked them what they intended to do to help put things right. They got a second opinion which matched my findings and now my car is in the process of having a complete engine rebuild with brand new crank cases, pistons, timing chains, gaskets etc... Fortunately for me the cost of this is being picked up by the dealer I purchased from - again great customer service and care. Moral of the story is always get an inspection - PPI or otherwise as there is nearly always "stuff" that needs sorting on new purchases. In this instance however a PPI would not have found the scoring without an internal visual cylinder inspection... which most PPIs don't offer. Pictures of the dreaded "cylinder creep" - ovalisation of the cylinders caused by lack of reinforcement around the top edge of the cylinders. This results in engine scoring which would ultimatley lead to engine failure:

Thanks for all your advise guys. I'm definitely veering on the side of getting a PPI and like the idea of using it as a bargaining tool, would also agree that prices do seem to be rising albeit slowly. The car itself does come with a 3month unlimited warranty(is this normal?) and will have a full service & Mot on purchase. Cheers

IMO the 3 month warranty supplied with the car you refer to won't be worth the paper its writen on...

If I remember correctly when you buy from a dealer they have to give you a 3 month warranty anyway but it depends what it covers Theo

To the original poster... Where abouts in the country are you? There are some very good PPI'ers out there. Can give you some good places to go to, but depends where you are based and also where the car is.

Sorry, but you are wrong there - for the first 3 months a dealer is legally obliged to sort any problems that existed, but were not specifically identified as not part of the deal at the point of sale. Some give you a 3rd party warranty for this, but that only protects THEM from part of their obligation and you are still covered for anything outside the terms of that warranty, by Law For this reason, I have never bothered with a PPI and have only bought from dealers that I felt / knew I could trust to put things right if they went wrong: In nearly 30 years I haven't been let down yet :thumb: I won't buy privately, personally - again for exactly these reasons. I know I pay a little more as a consequence, but I could tell you plenty of stories of what appeared to be perfectly good cars, being sold by seemingly decent people, that have gone bang on the way home! I may make an exception for someone that I know very well, or is a very good friend of a very good friend, but out of the paper / off the Internet... Sorry, but NO WAY! (Unless of course it is so cheap that it is still a bargain if it does go pop on the way home :wink: )

As said before, it's the best money you will spend on your Porsche and a defo no brainer. Doesn't neccesarily mean a great deal really. I wouldn't think of that as what you "fall back on". It's good to have, and you'd expect it from a dealer, but what happens after the 3 months, or 6/7/8/9+ months time? If you havent had the car independently inspected, you have NO idea what to look out for or expect. Full? Could mean anything. Is it a full LUBE service? Or a comprehensive 48'000 miles FULL service? The FULL bit is or can be a bit of a red herring. I would expect that regardless from a dealer. An MOT is nothing compared to a thorough PPI, I can assure you from experience.