Inspection needed for CPO used car?

Buying/Selling
1

I am considering to purchase a Porsche Boxster. I want to save some money so I am going with used car still under warranty route. I have searched and I have few options but all of them are out of state form. One is used still 1 year under warranty and another one is CPO (warranty is 1 year plus 2 years from cpo) which has 3 year of total warranty left.

Both cars are from Porsche dealers.

In typical circumstances one would pay to have used car inspected. In this case is it good idea to have car inspected given both are from dealership (I know dealers are NOT saints!) and still under warranty.

Reason I am asking this question is I don’t know anyone in that state and don’t know any mechanic there as well. Would any dealer even allow their sales rep take care for inspection and spend like 2 hours on that.

Buy from prosche dealer 1 in the are and take to porsche dealer 2 in area for inspection (that city has 2 porsche dealers)? Any suggestions please!

2

CPO means the car is certified to be a used car, nothing else. Dealers take a shot at what they think is a decent car and slap a Certified label on it. I can buy a rubber stamp with certified on it for $10.00 and certify an ice cream sandwich.

Read the warranty carefully, if it looks solid that says a lot. You can ask the dealer and even ask if they can recommend a local independent shop, there might not be someone local though.

Expect to spend $$$ over the years to keep it running.

3

Do a Google search for Porsche independent repair shops or clubs in the city where the vehicle is . Then call and see if they will go make an inspection for you . The club if thee is one will also be able to help . I can’t see a dealer letting the vehicle being taken to a shop with out some deposit to show real intent.

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4

This would make me nervous without an independent inspection.

Since you are (potentially) writing the check to buy the used Boxster, you get to make the rules. If the dealership doesn’t accept your rules, your option is pretty clear: don’t write the check.

IMO you’d be better off buying a used Boxster locally, and getting it inspected by a shop you trust, even if that means past its warranty. Newish Boxsters have a reasonably good reliability rating by Consumer Reports, right?

5

I’m with Volvo on this one . . .

whoever does the inspection for you had better be very familiar with the Porsche brand, Boxster in particular.

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6

Are these off lease cars? It’s hard to imagine a two year old car traded for another car.

7

Is the warranty good at any Porsche Dealer? Do you have one convenient to you?

8

If a dealer chooses to conduct business like that without following manufacture guidelines it will cost that dealer a great amount of money in warranty repairs. The burden of warranty repair costs on a CPO vehicle is primarily on the selling dealer.

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9

Having the CPO warranty by Porsche is good. I have bought quite a few CPO cars. I still inspect them as if I am buying a 10 year used car. If there is a problem present, I don’t want to go back to the dealer and argue with the service department over whether there is a problem or no, who should pay for it, etc.

Hell, even the two new cars I bought I did the same. On one new car I didn’t buy, the rear quarter panel was repainted. We had a bit of discussion with the dealer and walked out.

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Thanks
There are not many good options locally. I can buy 2013 Boxster locally vs 2016 CPO (3 years warranty left) out of state for same price. High price issues with Porsche usually are engine leaks or clutch issues. Just because my local trusted mechanic inspected a car does not mean it can’t have leaks in few years.

In the past I have bought new cars and I take good care of my cars. In general up till 5 year car feel new and nice. After 5 you start hearing squishing noises on bumps. So by buying 2 -3 years old car I still have new car feel for few years.

There is only 1 Porsche dealer in my area and they are 20 miles away from me. According to Porsche warranty is valid at all Porsche dealerships. So far I never had to use warranty on any car so i am not even sure how does this work?

11

You drive in, describe the problem, and they fix it. Warranty work is completely transparent to you. All the dealer needs to know is that you are the owner, and that the age and mileage are within required limits.

BTW, I asked about whether it was an off lease car because I’d worry about a car that new traded by a private owner.

12

Something to keep in mind is that warranty is not a cure-all for every problem. Many wear/maintenance items are not warrantable repairs nor are problems caused by abuse or neglect.

Just mentioning that due to the number of people I’ve seen who think warranty covers everything from A to Z.