My pre-purchase inspection non-inspection...
I posted this in the "Off-Topic" section but think it's better served targeted to my SoCal P-friends.

I bought my '05 Boxster S a couple of months back from a guy named Mike Sheynis who owns a company called Apper Level Management in North Hollywood. The paperwork for the sale was handled at Monza Motors in Studio City and they seem to be affiliated or at least on very friendly terms. He claimed to know not much about the car's history (he is a small-time car dealer/wholesaler). The CarFax came up clean. Before buying it I took it to TRE Motorsports, a local speed shop who seems well regarded on this site (and I think they used to be a sponsor here). When I talked with TRE on the phone before I brought the car in they described the level of detail that they claim they do pre-purchase inspections and they seemed pretty thorough. They looked the car over end to end and told me it was one of the cleanest they'd ever seen. So I bought it. The car had just shy of 20K miles on the odometer.

I take it to my local dealer recently for its 20K service and the service manager says, "wow, this car was in a serious accident." I ask how they know this. Here's the list of things they point out:

• hood has no factory sticker, thus has been replaced with a non-factory part
• front bumper/nose has no license plate mounting holes, thus has been replaced with a non-factory part
• some attachment bolts on front bumper/nose are missing
• rubber inserts at front hood latch and fuel fill are distorted, indicating that they were likely damaged and not replaced
• side marker light housing is damaged
• imperfections in the paint, front to back, show that the car was repainted in a non-dust-free chamber
• windshield is actually from a pre-2005 Boxster
• rear-wheel alignment is so poor that the cord is starting to show through at 20K miles
• leaks around water pump indicate that it has been replaced
• drive belt reinstalled incorrectly and is fraying and needs to be replaced
• fm reception is pretty poor, suggesting that the antenna was not re-hooked up correctly when the windshield was replaced

Additionally, the car only has one key.

So I tell the dealer to replace the drive belt, windshield, and tires and have the alignment done. They pull out the windshield and discover that the antenna booster is missing and the whole thing is miswired. I have them fix that as well. I ask for a second key and valet key to be made and we discover that the keys that are coded to the VIN through Porsche's database don't fit this car, meaning that the car's been re-keyed. The dealer arranges to have a key-cutter shipped from Porsche so that they can do it on-site (something that Porsche apparently never does). At this point I'm about $4K into this car's rehabilitation.

In contrast, I must say that the dealer to which I've been taking the car, Rusnak Porsche in Westlake Village, has been wonderful to deal with and has undercharged me for labor and has not charged me at all for some parts (e.g. the new side marker, new key head) because they feel for my situation and have put much under warranty that I know is above and beyond. In particular, Kim Hoover and Steve Ellis have been amazing.

In retrospect, I should have had the PPI done at a dealer, I know. I also know that there's no way that TRE would know about the missing antenna booster or the miswiring. And I'm not telling anyone whether or not to use any of the parties mentioned in this post, that is up to you ... I'm merely relaying my experience.

 

Mission Viejo Audi, I heard really shady stuff about them from serveral sources from Cars and Coffee and also my business partner got screwed by them.


Also Exotic Cars in Caesar Palace, avoid them at all cost....

 

Great thread for SoCal peeps.

 

Hate to hear stories like this. Too many criminals out there

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. Glad to hear Kimberley and Steve at Rusnak Westlake have been helpful; they've been great to me as well.

 

Bummer, sounds like a PIA.

Can you pursue a case against carfax?

 

Outfly, unfortunately apparently not. There are apparently too many ways to fly this crap under the radar and CarFax is very specific about what they're liable for.

 

Jex,

Did you actually see and inspect all the claims that Rusnak mentioned?

 

Care to elaborate please? Feel free to PM me...I sold a car to them about a year ago. And I'm considering purchasing a car from them right now.

Also, motion to sticky this thread as a guide for us?

 

Here's what I checked:
hood has no factory sticker, thus has been replaced with a non-factory part YES
front bumper/nose has no license plate mounting holes, thus has been replaced with a non-factory part YES
some attachment bolts on front bumper/nose are missing YES
rubber inserts at front hood latch and fuel fill are distorted, indicating that they were likely damaged and not replaced YES
side marker light housing is damaged YES
imperfections in the paint, front to back, show that the car was repainted in a non-dust-free chamber YES
windshield is actually from a pre-2005 Boxster YES - now that the correct one is on I can see the difference
rear-wheel alignment is so poor that the cord is starting to show through at 20K miles YES
leaks around water pump indicate that it has been replaced NO, but TRE noted "some residue" as well without going any further
drive belt reinstalled incorrectly and is fraying and needs to be replaced NO
fm reception is pretty poor, suggesting that the antenna was not re-hooked up correctly when the windshield was replaced YES - now that it is hooked up correctly the FM reception is noticeably substantially better
antenna booster is missing and the whole thing is miswired Kim Hoover emailed me photos
vehicle re-keyed YES - when Rusnak ordered the keys they did not work; second keys ordered from different Porsche parts depot did not work; when Rusnak cut the keys they work fine

 

Another one to avoid is Sports Trend auto, simply a bunch of criminals. And also if I were to do a PPI, I would never bring it to Mckenna. I had bad experience from these two companies.

 

Rusnak Porsche...That's where I got my car last year!
Wonderful group of people works there.
I'm truly sad to hear about your situation.
I would sue the person who sold you a car with a false description.