Pre,Purchase,Inspection,Some,T car Pre Purchase Inspection - Some Thoughts
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Youve madethe decision to buy a car and for one reason or another youve decided topurchase used rather than new (Maybe the horrific first years depreciation andsales tax adding up to $25k+ bothers you a little?). In Arizona and a few otherstates, all private party vehicle purchases are sales tax exempt so buying aused car from an individual is very tempting. Whether you buy from a dealer orprivate party, it is imperative that you protect yourself, even if the car isstill under warranty. The PPI page on our website goes into more detail as towhat we check but here are a few other thoughts. One of themost significant concerns when looking at a car thats still under factorywarranty or not, is whether its been involved in an accident. Although usingCarfax and other reporting agencies is a prudent step, they are not foolproof.There is always a lag between the time an insurance company pays out for aclaim and when it finally reaches the report- sometimes up to 12 months. Also,in this culture of giant deductibles, its possible that a repair was paid outof pocket and not through insurance. In these cases there may be no record ofpaint or body work. Our PPIincludes inspection of paint finish and whether there is evidence of collisiondamage. Rule of thumb is that if someone can tell that its been to a bodyshop, then its probably going to affect value (but not necessarilyperformance). It is amazing to see how many one, two, & three year old carsstill under warranty, have had body damage or paint work. (Just visit any highend body shop- recently I saw a new Ferrari 458 Italia with the left door andrear quarter wiped out. It had 100 miles on the odometer!) This is obviously adouble-edged sword as unfortunate things happen and when its time for us tosell our cars we certainly dont want to take a bath just because we had ourfront bumper re-sprayed because of stone chips. Besides bodyand interior esthetics we also look at evidence as to how the car has beendriven. It is not unusual to find newer Porsches that show over revs in thecomputer (Probably from a missed shift or early downshift). Going beyond theredline 200-400 RPM (or more!) takes a toll on the engine and could adverselyaffect long term service. Again, even on a car thats under factory warranty,you want to be careful that it hasnt been abused. Our Autologic and Porschesoftware diagnostic test equipment enables us to track hours, misfires,mileage, and other significant events that happen in the life of Porsches,BMWs, and Minis. While it isextremely difficult to manipulate odometer readings on most late modelvehicles, this is not the case for older cars. One model that we are especiallysensitive to is the Porsche 993. These cars have enjoyed some very goodappreciation over the last few years and were finding more and more anomalieswith the mileage readings. We had a situation recently where a buyer had a 993sent over from a North Scottsdale dealer for a PPI. Upon removing the speedoand verifying that the date stamp matched up with vehicle production date, wenoticed that the bezel had been removed and reinstalled (poorly). That initself is not a huge concern as these vehicles are notorious for breaking theplastic odometer drive gear. But if a speedometer has been worked on thereshould be proper documentation to go along with it. A proper paper trail isimportant to verify that there are no holes in the history and the mileagestated is accurate. Note: Thebuyer in the above mentioned situation didnt purchase the car because thedealer couldnt/wouldnt provide proper history. The sales manager stated thatthey knew nothing about the speedometer. (Later on we found out that they notonly knew, they were the ones that sent it out for repair!) Again, its notunusual for odometer repair; just make sure its properly recorded in thehistory. Speaking of993s Ive got to get this one off my chest: Over the last 3-4 years, thismodel has appreciated significantly (much like the pre-74 911 models). One ofthe reasons for this is the fact that many enthusiasts and collectorsunderstand the value of the last bullet proof air-cooled engine (once a top endrebuild has been done!), A/C that works, great drivability, and other criteriathat pigeon-holes them squarely into the collector car category. Becauseenthusiasts and collectors generally take better care of their cars than theaverage owner, overall these cars are better cars than they used to be. Whatsteams my beans is when a seller tries to take advantage of this increasedmodel appreciation but hasnt kept the car maintained, and significant repairsare needed. A top notch 993 should command top dollar but a sub standard carthat has been abused and neglected should be priced accordingly. One cant havetheir cake and eat it too. A seller cant expect to get $30k for a car thatneeds $20k worthe of work when a pristine example sells for $40k. For almostfour decades Becks European has been delivering objective and accurate prepurchase inspections- to the point where some local dealers would rather steeryou somewhere else. If a dealer wont allow you to have a professionalinspection done by the company of your choice, prior to purchasing Run! As thebuyer, you have every right to contract with a legitimate professional toproperly evaluate and determine value. You might hear comments like Weve hadbad experiences with them and wont send our cars over there. The reality isthat they didnt sell a car because of a bad report and they werent willing toremedy the situation. They would rather attack the messenger instead of takingresponsibility for their problems and see to their customers best interest. The otherprevailing attitude that we encounter is the its not a new car; its going tohave problems syndrome. The moment we start to grade on a curve because of acars age, is the moment where customers start questioning our integrity. Wehave one standard: New or better than new (restored collector cars). Whetheror not its new or used, 200 miles or 200,000 miles, our standard isconsistent. Using this method there is no confusion; we simply leave room fordiscernment and objectivity by the buyer. A customer pays us to use our experienceand expertise to report the facts. We dont use a sliding scale and we dontshow favoritism toward sellers. Every vehicle should stand on its own meritsand a comprehensive inspection should reflect that. Imagine if we used asliding scale on a 73 911RS? If we gave allowances for deficiencies justbecause the car is 40 years old, how would one know the difference between a$150,000 car and a $300,000 car? All of thisto say: Caveat Emptor Live withpassion, drive with passion.FrankBeck
Pre,Purchase,Inspection,Some,T