Scratched paint

Looked at a 99 yesterday, and while the price seemed in the ball park (about $40k for 32k mi), I noticed a lot of fine scratches in the paint. As if it was driven by a bush a little too close. Can anyone give me a ballpark figure for getting rid of these? It looked like they were mainly on the sides, but I'd probably just have the whole body done. And if you think $40k is too high, I should mention that it's from a dealer, and is CPO with a 2yr/100k warranty. Thanks. tom

I doubt anyone can give you agood reliable figure online. You simply must take it to a body shop you trust or a high end detailer to evaluate the scratches and determine a cost or how best to address them. Having said that, you would probably be surprised how much will come out during a quality detailing job. Good luck.

You have to take it to a bodyshop, but I'm guessing they are the kind of thing that will need wetsanding to get rid of and that will probably run you about $400-500 on a Porsche sized car in most places, and $700 in long island.

Usually a good detailer can buff out scratches as long as they are not too deep. Hard to tell without seeing them. Do you have any pictures? You should be able to buy the car a little cheaper. IMHO $40k is a little high even if it does have a CPO. Try a search, there were a few posts on pricing in the last few weeks.

40k seems high, even if there were no problems with the paint. Also, if those scratches could have been removed by detailing the caar, I would think the dealership would have done so. I bet they're in there for good unless you repaint the area and I would keep looking. There are a lot of quality used 996s on the market at that price point without such a problem. Good luck!

Oh, Ijust noticed it's a 99...40 is much too high. The CPO is a $1500 add on as far as the dealer's price is concerned, so imagine a non-CPO car (and they really aren't checked out any better, if it's at a dealer it's been checked out) that's a 99 for 38500, no way.

Call Matt Z at Detailing Dynamics Tell him Eric the Plug Guy sent you. He's the best I've heard in the area, a stand up guy and big part of PCA in that region. [phone removed] Mineola, not sure how far from you.

never buy a P car that hasn't been well cared for. If its got sctratches then I would be suspicious about the car. There are lots of subscibers to this forum who clearly love their cars and occasionally let them go to good home. Buy one of those.

Check out the For Sale thread (link below) by Yetis. He is selling a Seal Gray '01 C4 for $40K. He is located in Brooklyn, NY. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/268237-f-s-2001-996-c4-seal-grey-6-speed.html

To be honest it really isn't for sale at $40k: it's $41.9k! I first spotted it on Autotrader and it was listed for $39.9k. Thought about it for a couple of days and What?!?! It's now $41.9k?? We went to check it out anyway to see if I fit (I'm 6'4") and to see if my wife liked it. That's when I noticed the scratches. They hadn't washed it yet (we've had a lot of rain recently), so maybe it would look better then, but maybe not. Their ad also said that it was a one owner who just traded up to a 997. CarFax says it's a two-owner. So all of these anomolies, plus the fact that I really didn't like the interior color, ("beige", but looked more orangish) add up to passing on this one. I checked out '00's on Autotrader and they were around $40k, so maybe this is too high after all. Thanks for all the help. tom