I don't understand what your insurance is paying for, I thought the car had been fixed before you bought it and you just found out when you ran the carfax. If you are dealing with insurance, depending on your policy, you may be able to claim diminished value.

 

My buddy bought an 07 C4S Cab with 30K and change on it, he had it for 3 weeks before he found out the painted panels and all the incomplete paper work

 

Very unfortunate event. Hope this is a lesson to others to meter the paint before you buy a used car. I had one salesman tell me, "I don't think we have one of those". What BS. Of course they have one, it's the first thing they do to your car before you trade it. (My favorite story will be of a dealership that told me my hood was sprayed. Turns out they metered it through the clear bra...) Check the meter results on all the panels; the numbers will speak for themselves if the car has been resprayed.

 

I dont mean to hijack the thread - but how does the paint meter work - and what should I look for?

 

The way it was explained to me a paint gun measures thickness of paint. A car that has not had any paint work will have fairly consistent measurements all over car. It only takes a couple minutes and you can watch them check car. I would be surprised if dealer didn't put gun on car prior to taking trade. Good luck.

 

You are probably right. They did not disclose the repaint job when I asked. They even CPO'd the car on my request. I thought they would be honest. This is why I thought, if you buy cars from a dealership instead of a guy off the street, it would be more of a safer deal (quality wise). I felt that the car was clean after a CPO. I would not pay the price I paid for had I known otherwise. There are more good value from the sale section on this forum than at the dealership.

 

As others had mentioned, less is less a CPO problem and more of a an embarrassment for the dealer. Glad they're working with you to get you a few dollars.

 

That's just it. It's not worth the price you paid. Not only that, but your resale will take a hit as well! I'd either request a decent amount of money back or go the refund route...if possible.

 

I am in too much shock to know what amount of money is enough. I guess I would start with the amount I lost on the sale and work with the dealership offered trade in value. The trade in value was laughable and I have a long way to go. I don't think a refund is an option because it has been 11 months since I bought the car.

 

A paint meter actually measures the distance between the metal and the probe in mils (thousandths of a mm, I believe). Metallics and solid colors have different thicknesses, as do the paints of different manufacturers. All you look for is consistent readings all over the car. Very easy to use! Doesn't seem that they are available to the normal public - I checked a bit on the internet. However, every car dealer has one and most certainly, every Porsche dealer! Any dealer that does a PPI would use one to check for body work. Unfortunately, dealers are under pressure to move cars. Overlooking this is pretty surprising, but perhaps it is a very good job. They probably bought the car from a wholesaler and didn't take it in trade. If they took it in trade, they would have hosed the prior owner by telling them that the repair significantly lowered the trade in value.

 

I don't think it's fair to poo poo every car ever CPOed by Porsche because of one dealer foul up, do you? It is terrible that this happened, I think we will all agree with that, but let's wait for resolution. It sounds as though the dealer is willing to work with you rather than just shoving you out the door, I hope you can find a suitable solution to the problem.

 

Ask them to take the car back for what you paid.

You were shown a clean carfax at the time of purchase.

 

It is disappointing that Porsche NA does not require the dealerships to state whether there is paint damage or repainted panels. At least, from what I remember on the CPO inspection, there was no specific section. Porsche relies on the dealer to follow all guides. Apparently, the guidelines are too vague. If you look on the Porsche website, it mentions the criteria of quality as:

More than 70 % of all Porsches ever built are still on the road today. This record value speaks for itself. To give you maximum security when buying a Porsche, all vehicles within the Porsche Approved Certified Pre-owned Car Program must pass a demanding quality inspection. An obligatory checklist with over 100 quality criteria is used for this purpose. This way you can rest assured that your pre-owned Porsche is in perfect condition, both technically and visually.

If a dealership can certify a car with repaint or a previous accident. It is deceptive practice. The term perfect is bs. My gripe is that Porsche certification is too subjective to allow the dealership with discretion on what perfect is. Perfect condition would mean original paint and no accident to me. If it is repainted, it needs to meet a defined factory specifications for paint (although I am not sure how this would be defined).

It has only been a few days from my last conversation with the dealership. I hope that they can compensate me. It is comforting to hear other people's stories on how similar situations have been resolved. I feel that the dealerships have all the power and I am at their mercy.

 

FWIW, I called a local Porsche dealer to get a PPI on a car I was looking to purchase through a private party. I asked the dealer if they can use a paint meter on the car. The service manager said they couldn't because they do not have a paint meter because they do not have body shop on the premise and thus nobody qualified to use it. My question to him was, then how to they CPO their cars? He had no answer. Good luck and I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction.

 

Thanks for the post. This is exactly what I am saying about the CPO process. It means something different for every dealership and does not mean protection for the general public (buyer) as you would think (eg. initial quality from a certification). It is deceptive practice. Yes, I like the fact the original warranty is extended for a mechanical problems, but I am not protected from a car history of previous car accidents.