I bought my 06 C4s last year as a clean car with no accident from a reputable porsche dealership. The car was certified as part of the deal. I was in the process of selling when I ran a carfax report on the car for a buyer and discovered the car was involved in rear end accident three months prior to my purchase. Before I bought the car, the dealership showed me a clean carfax and told me that the car was not involved in any accidents. After I found out about the accident report on the carfax, the sale fell through. I reviewed the CPO report and there was no notation of any paint job. I called the dealership and informed the sales manager about the reported car accident on carfax. The sale manager was surprised about the car accident and told me to bring in the car. He performed a visual inspection and pointed out to me that a section of the car was repainted. This experience sheds a bad light on the CPO certification process and Carfax reports. I think it is just pure fraud on what really goes on during the resale process. It is only marketing hype that gives profits to Carfax and dealerships. The sales manager is trying to contact the previous owner but has not yet heard back. This not a good sign. He is trying to work out a deal with me via repurchase, but the GM is only willing to give me low trade-in value+1k over. Any advice on how to proceed?

 

I wouldn't put any blame on CarFax, after all, Carfax brought this all to light.

If the POs accident was 3 mos prior to your purchase, the insurance/police paperwork was still being processed and that's why it didn't show up when you pulled a Carfax report at time of purchase.

 

I'd stick my guns and ask for a full refund or a comprable car you want...this happened a good friend of mine, he bought a CPO'd car and turns out half the car was painted the paper work was shodddy but at the end the Dealer did it right by swapping the car and infact getting him a better one. They also offered him his money back and clearly that was a genuine mistake. So give them a chance but get your money or a car that you are really sure about

 

There is negligence on the dealer's part because the inspection is suppose to determine whether the car has been in an accident or not. However, I don't know if you can take them to court. You'd have to proof that they knew about the accident and didn't disclose it.

Since you are selling the car, you should just trade it on another car. Get a good deal and let them auction the car off. They won't really lose anything by doing this. And you get a good deal. Otherwise, you are asking them to pay or refund which may be hard to do given you've had the car for months now.

 

I think this is the most likely option for me at this time. I was selling the car to save the money for a rainy day. I just bought an old house which needs lots of tlc. The sales manager seemed genuinely apologetic. He is trying to see if there are any cars out there for me that I want. I only added about 2k miles on it because I live and work in the SF city. The car is as close to the condition that he sold it me minus the depreciation of a year. This probably would not hold up in court (small claims <7.5k). The burden of proof is on me. However, my argument is that CPO certification should have caught this.

Lesson: CPO is not worth the premium that the dealership charges!

I looked at the new Cayenne S and I like it; however, I think it is overpriced at $80k equipped to my liking.

 

I don't think the dealership will offer me full money back and the CPO car that I bought was well equipped (original MSRP was $121k). It would be hard to swap another car that I want without me spending more money. The dealership has initially offered me wholesale + a small premium. The amount came out to be less than 8k difference from my no longer pending sale.

What type of car and previous relationship did your friend have with dealership? It seems like the dealership had some incentive to work with him. I don't know if I have that type of relationship given that there are ultra rich folks in the SF Bay Area that swap cars after 6months at the same dealership.

 

At a minimum they should offer to refund you the premium paid for the CPO warranty (without voiding the warranty). Other than that not sure what your "damages" would be other than diminished value on resale - always difficult to prove. Good luck.

Also I note you say "The sales manager is trying to contact the previous owner and he is trying to work out a deal with me. Any advice on how to proceed?" - in Texas when a car is sold to a dealer IIRC there was some disclosure that seller has to sign stating that car was not involved in any accidents. Either way, looks like dealer dropped the ball - didn't get all on the info on purchase and then obviously didn't have all the info to pass on to you. Question: would your buying decision have changed if you knew the car was in an accident but that the dealer was still providing a CPO warranty?

 

Absolutely not. I would never have bought a car with accident. The reason is that I bought my C4s to drive for a year or two and then sell it. I was trying to minimize my lost on depreciation and leasing was not an option at the time because we were planning to buy a house. I ended buying a house two months later and probably would have had a real hard time qualifying for a loan with the lease liability on credit history.

 

There was a post here about a month ago where the OP discovered some time after buying his CPO Pcar that it had 3 panels repainted, which wasn't disclosed. The dealer ended up swapping the car for another in his inventory.

So, I wouldn't discount what you can get from the dealer if you make a little noise.

 

Curious if you are willing to disclose which of the bay area dealers it is? Best of luck, and agree with the rest here about making more noise. Maybe threaten to speak to PCNA directly - I imagine the dealer will be concerned about PCNA finding out about this kind of a slip up. I'm guessing PCNA has some standards about doing CPO inspections and I doubt a major dealer wants that kind of attention from PCNA. Again, good luck.

 

Does CPO guarantee the car has not been involved with an insurance claim or been in an accident? On its face, I'd think all CPO is offering is to say the car is up to spec and guaranteed to be performing correctly and provide a limited warranty. If there was repair work, CPO would guarantee the repairs were performed to the right level. I don't see that a car could not be CPO'd just because it had been in an accident or that the dealer knew all there was to know about the car. Otherwise they would have to let it sit for months and/or do a background investigation on every car and that would really raise the cost of a CPO beyond the car being 'up to spec' in its current state. But then I've not looked closely at what CPO is specifically delivering.

 

I can understand that you feel violated by them.. but man, you've enjoyed your car for while now.. don't let it get to you.. if I found out mine was accident, I don't think it would make a big deal..
so long as the internals/chassis are in perfect shape, panels are interchangeable dude.
you don't even know how serious it was
I get my car resprayed every few months due to knicks and rocks and just ******* behavior.
hell, just yesterday a guy backed up right into me!.. he scratched my front bumper and moved it a little.. getting a new front bumper and my hood (trunk?) resprayed.. the car is fine!

 

I would like to withhold the name of the dealership until I get an acceptable resolution. I fear it may only complicate my problem. Reading on the forum and confirming with the dealership, CPO does not mean clean car. In my case, cpo does not mean accident free car. I guess that there have been other 6speeders that posted other similar stories where a known car with accident can still be certified.

The dealership may or may not care in my case whether I complain to PCNA. It is misrepresentation on the dealership part for not informing the buyer when asked whether this car has been in an accident and whether any areas of paint have been touched or redone. I would hate to take legal action if the burden of proof is on me.

 

That sucks! I am facing reality and trying to treat this as a hit and run. The insurance pays for it and the car is restored. In the end, the resale value takes a hit. I was so close to the sale that my state of mind is different. This forum is therapy. Thanks for the feedback.

 

legal action :/ ^
takes too long, and your car is fine..

it was a mistake, and like someone said, they probably genuinely didn't know because it probably hadn't shown up due to paperwork processing time.. They will most likely do right by you one way or another..

the guy probably sold it to them and when they noticed it was repainted, he probably told them some idiot keyed it..

edit:
yeah it sucks.. but whatever man.. **** happens... I was pissed for an hour because I have a date tomorrow and no car now lol
resale prices are never what you expect them to be anyways