if you ever buy a car thru ebay - MUST READ!!!

[wilfred]

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=41191

or here's the copied & pasted version:

Segment 1 of the Porsche from HELL part 1

So I’m looking at 996TT’s on Ebay and find a low milage (13K) 01 for sale in Reno by a dealer. I call the guy up and I offer him $72K. ( The Ebay Buy-it-now price is $75K, lowered from $77K). He says he’ll take $73K. (I asked him lots of questions about his association w/ Porsches and I learn not only is this guy legit, but his family is VERY wealthy and has a collection of over 40 rare Porsches, including 1 of 3 Formula 1 cars. I make the deal contingent on a personal viewing of the entire collection.) Okay, sold, says I, contingent on passing my inspection and a PPI by an authorized Porsche dealer. He says that’s fine, but that he wants me to officially buy it thru Ebay. He lowers the Buy-it-now price to $73K and 10 minutes later I log-on to Ebay and “buy-it-now” for $73K. I can hardly stand it…I just bought my first Porsche and it’s a TURBO! YeeeeHawwww! I send the guy $2K through PayPal and tell him to get the PPI from the local Porsche dealer and that I’ll call him back after I book my plane tickets.

Since I live in Monterey County, I look into flying out of SJ, but I finally get some cheap tickets from Southwest Airlines out of Oakland to Reno—one way. I call the dealer back and tell him when I’ll be arriving the following weekend. He says he will pick me up and that the car is at Bill Pearce Porsche for inspection now for the PPI.

The day before I fly out to Reno, I call him up and ask how the PPI went. He said no problem except for a missing screw in the ashtray and worn windshield wipers, which were replaced. He says he’ll pick me up at the airport in Reno upon my arrival. He also mentions that if for any reason I don't like the car, he'll make a full refund of my Paypal deposit. I’m all set.

…To be continued.


Segment 2 of the Porsche from HELL part 1

As I get off the plane in Reno my phone rings and the dealer says he’s waiting at the curb in a blue 996TT cab. I jump in and we roar down the street. We drive up to a huge gated facility that must be the size of half a city block. He punches in the code and the electric gate swings open. We idle in and finally stop at the back side of the last of what appears to be 3 huge steel construction warehouses that must be approx 30,000 sq feet each. He unlocks the door, goes in and rolls up a huge garage door. Inside this side of the building is beautiful garage with a HUGE Porsche crest on the wall. There are 3 lifts and the place is clean. Most importantly, there’s my car. He fires it up, backs it out and gives me the key, the code to get back in the compound and directions on how to get to the freeway. First I inspect the car. It looks perfect. The paint is excellent and the interior flawless. It’s 100% stock.

I get in and fire that mother up. The full-leather strikes me first as a wonderful improvement over the base 997S I drove back home at the dealer. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. And through town I go to pick up the freeway. I find it and the real fun begins. I’ve never driven a car that accelerates like this. I drive about 5 miles and turn around. On the way back I get it up to about 100mph and although the car feels like it’s just starting to breath, I’m just too scared to unleash this baby. Off the freeway I stop at a gas station and inspect the car again. It looks good. Back to the compound I go.

When I get back I ask the guy about the car collection he spoke of. To the side of the garage is the remainder of the warehouse, which is 4 times the size of the garage. He turns on the viewing lights in this, carpeted, climate controlled portion of the warehouse. WHOA, there must be at least 40 cars in here… and they’re all Porsches! There’s a brand new CGT. There’s six 356’s in a row all original. One of them is one-of -a-kind. One of them is one of three. There’s formula 1 car that is one-of-three that the guy says the factory is trying buy back from him. Porsche owns the other two. There must be twenty 911’s from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. All the cars have a plaque in front of them detailing their manufacturing and racing history. At the end of one row of 911’s is a… tractor? A PORSCHE tractor. A private viewing of a collection like this is overwhelming and I just keep on walking around while the guy goes back into the garage. I mean, have you ever been in a climate controlled room by yourself w/ forty rare and classic Porsches. Son of a gun. I finally wander back to the garage and he says some of the cars are in different parts of the country for shows. He also mentions that the cars are due to be dusted, which he has done at least once per month. Imagine that.

I review the PPI that he had done at Bill Pearce Porsche. It looks fine but I want to buy an aftermarket warranty through the dealership based on their PPI. So the guy calls them up and they say yea, just come on over and they’ll sell me a 4yr 50K mile $100 deductible warranty. So we jump back in the blue 996TT cab and to the dealership we go.

To be continued…


Segment 3 of The Porsche from HELL Part 1

We get to Bill Pearce and we wait around for while before someone can help us with the warranty purchase. It winds up taking an hour to get the paperwork done and another 30 minutes before they can get the right phone line plugged into their new credit card machine to get an approval on my credit card for about $3K. The warranty company is a big outfit called Universal Underwriters. With warranty in hand, we jump back in the turbo cab for the drive back to the compound so we can finish the deal. We get there and I write the guy a check for $73K and he gives me a bill of sale. He tapes a temp registration in the window and I’m off for the long drive home to Monterey County.

I make it home and garage that baby. I keep walking into the garage and saying “this thing is a work of art.” A week later, I get an email from ebay saying this is my last day to apply for the “free 30 day 1000 mile $500 deductible warranty” on my car. But why? I already have a 4 year, 50K mile $100 deductible warranty that I paid real money for. Well, OK, I’ll “apply” for it even though it occurs to me that the only result will be for my email address to be handed out randomly to a zillion spammers. I put in the info, print out my “official warranty,” and put it in my new Porsche file. A couple weeks later I realize my temp registration is running out and that I have to get it smogged in CA before I can re-register it. So I just call the local Porsche dealer, tell them I’m a big shot with a 996TT ;-) and can they smog my car? They say no problem--bring it buy this Thursday morning and we’ll have you out of here in no time. So, the proud 996TT owner shows up right on time to get the smog certificate and then head over to the DMV. I’m walking around the showroom waiting when the mechanic comes over and says it might take a bit longer because he wants to put my car up on the lift to inspect something.

15 minutes later the service manager and mechanic come get me and take me out to garage underneath my idling car. The service manager says “you hear that noise?” What noise?, I say. The loud knocking noise, he says. You mean that’s a problem? I thought all Porsches have lots of engine noise, I say. Well, they do, he says, but not like that noise, which is coming from the base of the engine case. Well, I say, what does it mean? We walk back in the showroom and he says it could be a cam-chain-tensioner or it could be serious enough to warrant a new engine. A NEW ENGINE? Are you serious? Thank God I bought that primo warranty!

So, Mr. Service Manager, when do you want me bring it back in for further inspection? Well, he says, if I have anything to say about it, that car is not moving until we remove the engine, crack the cases and look inside. Whoa! You must be joking! This car was just inspected 300 miles ago by an authorized Porsche dealer and here’s the warranty they sold me to prove it! He took my warranty info and the PPI paperwork and asked me if I needed a ride. A ride? Yea, I damn sure need a ride. I’m not walking home after paying $73K for a car that you won’t let me drive. He called the shuttle as I limped over to the parts counter and asked how much does a new 996 turbo engine cost? Installed or in the crate?, was the reply. Installed, I guess. Hmm, about $35K. Gee, thanks.

I proceed to call the service manager daily for the latest update and a week later, we had the final verdict. The cam chain sprocket was loose on it’s shaft and had filled the engine with metal shavings. It was just a matter of time before other internal parts destroyed themselves and the engine seized. I visited the dealer and saw my baby in zillion pieces on the garage floor. The mechanic gave me the scoop. That thing over there is your transmission and all these parts strewn all over the floor are what used to be your engine.

When your $73K car becomes a $108K car it’s sure nice to know you were smart enough to get a warranty to pay the difference. The service manager said he would have the warranty company inspector review the damage ASAP and approve the engine replacement before anything else could more forward.

To be continued…


Segment 4 of the Porsche from HELL Part 1

Later that week I call the service manager (SM) and ask if the warranty inspection guy has looked at the car and approved the new engine. The inspector from Universal Underwriters (UU) had reviewed the damage and agreed that the engine was irreparable. But the final approval for the new engine purchase by the dealer from Porsche factory had to come from the honcho’s at UU because it was so expensive. The SM said he expected a call from them tomorrow. Tomorrow came and the SM called me. He said UU said my warranty was invalid. They said Bill Pearce (BP) did not have the authority to issue that warranty because they didn’t complete the special UU inspection report that UU requires. Further, they had not even received payment for the warranty that BP sold me. Of course, I hit the roof. What the Hell am I going to do?

I call UU and they tell me the same thing—that Bill Pearce shouldn’t have sold me a warranty. As it turns out BP didn’t even forward my money to UU until 3 weeks after I bought the warranty. Good grief. The finance guy at BP won’t even talk to me except to say “it’s out of my hands and you have to talk to UU.” Well, if the warranty is invalid, then where the hell is the money I paid for it?—3K? At that point, they agree to refund my $3K. How’s that for an honest car dealer? I also spoke to a couple people in the service department who said too much and then were told by their boss at BP not to speak to me anymore. I conclude I’ll have to sue these bastards to recover the cost of a new engine.

THIS IS THE PORSCHE FROM HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then I remember that silly 30 day, 1K mile ebay warranty I applied for, printed out and put in the Porsche file. I gave that one page document to the SM and he called the phone number on it and requested a warranty inspector come to the dealership to see the damage. So, the new inspector reviews the damage and agrees the engine is irreparable. AON risk services (the insurance company that underwrites car warranties for ebay) AUTHORIZES THE PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF A BRAND NEW $30K ENGINE. So that makes me happy after a week and half w/ a brick in my stomach.

The engine that was installed was not a remanufactured engine. It was a brand new 2005 turbo engine straight from the factory with brand new turbo chargers, air conditioning pump, alternator and exhaust. The whole thing came wrapped in plastic wrap, bolted to a big metal palate and encased in a big cardboard box. It was awesome.

But BP is still not off the hook in my opinion. I paid them for the PPI, paid them again for a warranty and then they screwed me. So I had to sue them. My best friend is an attorney and a Porsche enthusiast, so we sit down and figure out my costs, i.e., cost of not having the car to drive for 2 months

1) Insurance bills for the car while inoperable
2) Cost of another vehicle to drive during that time
3) Refund of the PPI costs that they screwed up.
4) Ten hours of my time at $250/hr trying to manage this nightmare.
5) $500 deductible on the ebay warranty.
6) Cover the cost of a NEW 4 yr, 50K mile $100 deductible warranty.

They responded by offering to pay the $500 ebay warranty deductible only. I couldn’t believe it. These sons of bitches at Bill Pearce! My attorney said I could sue them in small claims court in Reno and that the state of Nevada allows plaintiffs to represented in court by counsel. He said we’ll just go up there and rip the shorts off these idiots. So we get the small claims court paperwork sent off. Then, when BP realizes I’m not taking any prisoners, they call my attorney and say they’ll send me a check for all damages if I sign a document that says I won’t sue them further. Ha! I won! They’re damn lucky they didn’t have to fork over the cost of the engine.

I finally got the check in the mail from BP for damages. And I finally got my turbo back, with a new engine and a new warranty ;-). Porsche also warrants the new engine for 2 years, unlimited mileage.

So that’s my story of the Porsche from hell. I drive it a lot and it’s just awesome. It’s my first Porsche and sure hope no one has to go through what I did, but at least it worked out for me.

[wilfred]

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=41191

or here's the copied & pasted version:

Segment 1 of the Porsche from HELL part 1

So I’m looking at 996TT’s on Ebay and find a low milage (13K) 01 for sale in Reno by a dealer. I call the guy up and I offer him $72K. ( The Ebay Buy-it-now price is $75K, lowered from $77K). He says he’ll take $73K. (I asked him lots of questions about his association w/ Porsches and I learn not only is this guy legit, but his family is VERY wealthy and has a collection of over 40 rare Porsches, including 1 of 3 Formula 1 cars. I make the deal contingent on a personal viewing of the entire collection.) Okay, sold, says I, contingent on passing my inspection and a PPI by an authorized Porsche dealer. He says that’s fine, but that he wants me to officially buy it thru Ebay. He lowers the Buy-it-now price to $73K and 10 minutes later I log-on to Ebay and “buy-it-now” for $73K. I can hardly stand it…I just bought my first Porsche and it’s a TURBO! YeeeeHawwww! I send the guy $2K through PayPal and tell him to get the PPI from the local Porsche dealer and that I’ll call him back after I book my plane tickets.

Since I live in Monterey County, I look into flying out of SJ, but I finally get some cheap tickets from Southwest Airlines out of Oakland to Reno—one way. I call the dealer back and tell him when I’ll be arriving the following weekend. He says he will pick me up and that the car is at Bill Pearce Porsche for inspection now for the PPI.

The day before I fly out to Reno, I call him up and ask how the PPI went. He said no problem except for a missing screw in the ashtray and worn windshield wipers, which were replaced. He says he’ll pick me up at the airport in Reno upon my arrival. He also mentions that if for any reason I don't like the car, he'll make a full refund of my Paypal deposit. I’m all set.

…To be continued.


Segment 2 of the Porsche from HELL part 1

As I get off the plane in Reno my phone rings and the dealer says he’s waiting at the curb in a blue 996TT cab. I jump in and we roar down the street. We drive up to a huge gated facility that must be the size of half a city block. He punches in the code and the electric gate swings open. We idle in and finally stop at the back side of the last of what appears to be 3 huge steel construction warehouses that must be approx 30,000 sq feet each. He unlocks the door, goes in and rolls up a huge garage door. Inside this side of the building is beautiful garage with a HUGE Porsche crest on the wall. There are 3 lifts and the place is clean. Most importantly, there’s my car. He fires it up, backs it out and gives me the key, the code to get back in the compound and directions on how to get to the freeway. First I inspect the car. It looks perfect. The paint is excellent and the interior flawless. It’s 100% stock.

I get in and fire that mother up. The full-leather strikes me first as a wonderful improvement over the base 997S I drove back home at the dealer. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it. And through town I go to pick up the freeway. I find it and the real fun begins. I’ve never driven a car that accelerates like this. I drive about 5 miles and turn around. On the way back I get it up to about 100mph and although the car feels like it’s just starting to breath, I’m just too scared to unleash this baby. Off the freeway I stop at a gas station and inspect the car again. It looks good. Back to the compound I go.

When I get back I ask the guy about the car collection he spoke of. To the side of the garage is the remainder of the warehouse, which is 4 times the size of the garage. He turns on the viewing lights in this, carpeted, climate controlled portion of the warehouse. WHOA, there must be at least 40 cars in here… and they’re all Porsches! There’s a brand new CGT. There’s six 356’s in a row all original. One of them is one-of -a-kind. One of them is one of three. There’s formula 1 car that is one-of-three that the guy says the factory is trying buy back from him. Porsche owns the other two. There must be twenty 911’s from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. All the cars have a plaque in front of them detailing their manufacturing and racing history. At the end of one row of 911’s is a… tractor? A PORSCHE tractor. A private viewing of a collection like this is overwhelming and I just keep on walking around while the guy goes back into the garage. I mean, have you ever been in a climate controlled room by yourself w/ forty rare and classic Porsches. Son of a gun. I finally wander back to the garage and he says some of the cars are in different parts of the country for shows. He also mentions that the cars are due to be dusted, which he has done at least once per month. Imagine that.

I review the PPI that he had done at Bill Pearce Porsche. It looks fine but I want to buy an aftermarket warranty through the dealership based on their PPI. So the guy calls them up and they say yea, just come on over and they’ll sell me a 4yr 50K mile $100 deductible warranty. So we jump back in the blue 996TT cab and to the dealership we go.

To be continued…


Segment 3 of The Porsche from HELL Part 1

We get to Bill Pearce and we wait around for while before someone can help us with the warranty purchase. It winds up taking an hour to get the paperwork done and another 30 minutes before they can get the right phone line plugged into their new credit card machine to get an approval on my credit card for about $3K. The warranty company is a big outfit called Universal Underwriters. With warranty in hand, we jump back in the turbo cab for the drive back to the compound so we can finish the deal. We get there and I write the guy a check for $73K and he gives me a bill of sale. He tapes a temp registration in the window and I’m off for the long drive home to Monterey County.

I make it home and garage that baby. I keep walking into the garage and saying “this thing is a work of art.” A week later, I get an email from ebay saying this is my last day to apply for the “free 30 day 1000 mile $500 deductible warranty” on my car. But why? I already have a 4 year, 50K mile $100 deductible warranty that I paid real money for. Well, OK, I’ll “apply” for it even though it occurs to me that the only result will be for my email address to be handed out randomly to a zillion spammers. I put in the info, print out my “official warranty,” and put it in my new Porsche file. A couple weeks later I realize my temp registration is running out and that I have to get it smogged in CA before I can re-register it. So I just call the local Porsche dealer, tell them I’m a big shot with a 996TT ;-) and can they smog my car? They say no problem--bring it buy this Thursday morning and we’ll have you out of here in no time. So, the proud 996TT owner shows up right on time to get the smog certificate and then head over to the DMV. I’m walking around the showroom waiting when the mechanic comes over and says it might take a bit longer because he wants to put my car up on the lift to inspect something.

15 minutes later the service manager and mechanic come get me and take me out to garage underneath my idling car. The service manager says “you hear that noise?” What noise?, I say. The loud knocking noise, he says. You mean that’s a problem? I thought all Porsches have lots of engine noise, I say. Well, they do, he says, but not like that noise, which is coming from the base of the engine case. Well, I say, what does it mean? We walk back in the showroom and he says it could be a cam-chain-tensioner or it could be serious enough to warrant a new engine. A NEW ENGINE? Are you serious? Thank God I bought that primo warranty!

So, Mr. Service Manager, when do you want me bring it back in for further inspection? Well, he says, if I have anything to say about it, that car is not moving until we remove the engine, crack the cases and look inside. Whoa! You must be joking! This car was just inspected 300 miles ago by an authorized Porsche dealer and here’s the warranty they sold me to prove it! He took my warranty info and the PPI paperwork and asked me if I needed a ride. A ride? Yea, I damn sure need a ride. I’m not walking home after paying $73K for a car that you won’t let me drive. He called the shuttle as I limped over to the parts counter and asked how much does a new 996 turbo engine cost? Installed or in the crate?, was the reply. Installed, I guess. Hmm, about $35K. Gee, thanks.

I proceed to call the service manager daily for the latest update and a week later, we had the final verdict. The cam chain sprocket was loose on it’s shaft and had filled the engine with metal shavings. It was just a matter of time before other internal parts destroyed themselves and the engine seized. I visited the dealer and saw my baby in zillion pieces on the garage floor. The mechanic gave me the scoop. That thing over there is your transmission and all these parts strewn all over the floor are what used to be your engine.

When your $73K car becomes a $108K car it’s sure nice to know you were smart enough to get a warranty to pay the difference. The service manager said he would have the warranty company inspector review the damage ASAP and approve the engine replacement before anything else could more forward.

To be continued…


Segment 4 of the Porsche from HELL Part 1

Later that week I call the service manager (SM) and ask if the warranty inspection guy has looked at the car and approved the new engine. The inspector from Universal Underwriters (UU) had reviewed the damage and agreed that the engine was irreparable. But the final approval for the new engine purchase by the dealer from Porsche factory had to come from the honcho’s at UU because it was so expensive. The SM said he expected a call from them tomorrow. Tomorrow came and the SM called me. He said UU said my warranty was invalid. They said Bill Pearce (BP) did not have the authority to issue that warranty because they didn’t complete the special UU inspection report that UU requires. Further, they had not even received payment for the warranty that BP sold me. Of course, I hit the roof. What the Hell am I going to do?

I call UU and they tell me the same thing—that Bill Pearce shouldn’t have sold me a warranty. As it turns out BP didn’t even forward my money to UU until 3 weeks after I bought the warranty. Good grief. The finance guy at BP won’t even talk to me except to say “it’s out of my hands and you have to talk to UU.” Well, if the warranty is invalid, then where the hell is the money I paid for it?—3K? At that point, they agree to refund my $3K. How’s that for an honest car dealer? I also spoke to a couple people in the service department who said too much and then were told by their boss at BP not to speak to me anymore. I conclude I’ll have to sue these bastards to recover the cost of a new engine.

THIS IS THE PORSCHE FROM HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then I remember that silly 30 day, 1K mile ebay warranty I applied for, printed out and put in the Porsche file. I gave that one page document to the SM and he called the phone number on it and requested a warranty inspector come to the dealership to see the damage. So, the new inspector reviews the damage and agrees the engine is irreparable. AON risk services (the insurance company that underwrites car warranties for ebay) AUTHORIZES THE PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF A BRAND NEW $30K ENGINE. So that makes me happy after a week and half w/ a brick in my stomach.

The engine that was installed was not a remanufactured engine. It was a brand new 2005 turbo engine straight from the factory with brand new turbo chargers, air conditioning pump, alternator and exhaust. The whole thing came wrapped in plastic wrap, bolted to a big metal palate and encased in a big cardboard box. It was awesome.

But BP is still not off the hook in my opinion. I paid them for the PPI, paid them again for a warranty and then they screwed me. So I had to sue them. My best friend is an attorney and a Porsche enthusiast, so we sit down and figure out my costs, i.e., cost of not having the car to drive for 2 months

1) Insurance bills for the car while inoperable
2) Cost of another vehicle to drive during that time
3) Refund of the PPI costs that they screwed up.
4) Ten hours of my time at $250/hr trying to manage this nightmare.
5) $500 deductible on the ebay warranty.
6) Cover the cost of a NEW 4 yr, 50K mile $100 deductible warranty.

They responded by offering to pay the $500 ebay warranty deductible only. I couldn’t believe it. These sons of bitches at Bill Pearce! My attorney said I could sue them in small claims court in Reno and that the state of Nevada allows plaintiffs to represented in court by counsel. He said we’ll just go up there and rip the shorts off these idiots. So we get the small claims court paperwork sent off. Then, when BP realizes I’m not taking any prisoners, they call my attorney and say they’ll send me a check for all damages if I sign a document that says I won’t sue them further. Ha! I won! They’re damn lucky they didn’t have to fork over the cost of the engine.

I finally got the check in the mail from BP for damages. And I finally got my turbo back, with a new engine and a new warranty ;-). Porsche also warrants the new engine for 2 years, unlimited mileage.

So that’s my story of the Porsche from hell. I drive it a lot and it’s just awesome. It’s my first Porsche and sure hope no one has to go through what I did, but at least it worked out for me.

[Dug]

I thought this was going to be a ebay horror story. Turns out its a darn good thing that ebay is offering warranties.

[Efrain]

Hey, I'm glad it turned out ok for you afterall, I was bracing myself for an unhappy ending.

[usetosellhummer]

great story! Glad it all worked out