Hey gents, Looking at a CPO certified Scud I'm potentially interested in and wanted to get some advice regarding the PPI process. The car is a CPO car and is for sale by a Ferrari dealer. Given the "thorough" inspection and reconditioning process (if required) that the car goes through to get the CPO, is a PPI really necessary, or am I insuring my insurance so to speak? Side question: Does the ECU's diagnostics report overrevs / # of times bounced off the rev limiter? I'm assuming this would be easy for the dealer to pull this and send it if I requested. Marc
Not redundant at all. Do it unless it's still under full factory warranty. I bought mine without a PPI but it had over a year of warranty left.
Thanks. It's under warranty until early 2013, but not sure if it's the full factory warranty or the extended CPO warranty because I haven't spoken to them yet. Car is MY 09.
Note that the CPO warranties are not as comprehensive as the factory warranty. If dealer claim so ask for it in writing or read the text of the applicable CPO warranty carefully. Jes
Get an independant PPI if possible, the inspections are performed by humans, which could miss something. Two sets of eyes in never a bad thing, and I would expect each to come to their own conclusions. Ferrari Power Cube IS as comprehensive as Factory warranty. Power Normal is less, as are the lesser versions. Confirm the actual contract the car has, better yet, if you'd like, PM me the last 6 of the VIN and I will look it up for you Friday when I get back to the Dealership. S
As a buyer of a high-end car, YOU have the duty to protect your investment whenever possible. So, even if it is a CPO car, you should still have an independent Third Party PPI if the dealer will allow it. If not, you're taking your chances... So if it comes back short and sweet, you can rest a little easier. As others have said, an extra set of eyes isn't a bad thing. And the PPI will set you back about $350-$700 bucks, depending on who does it and what they do. So, take your family out to dinner 2 less times in a month, and you're about even! It's a really cheap investment in a priceless piece of information, if it is done by someone who knows what they're doing.
I personally think a PPI is a waste of money as long as the car appears to be in good shape, is under warranty, and is sold by someone reputable.
Haha! Maybe I was exaggerating, but I would fall into the latter. ;D Point being, don't sweat the investment as it is actually a very small fraction (of a fraction) of the overall purchase price. "A drop in the ocean" sort of logic...
Just remember, the selling dealer did the CPO and doesn't really have any interest in finding things wrong. I fell victim to this when I bought my 360. I found several things wrong (all minor) with my 360 that I purchased from the dealer, after it was CPO'd (the stuff I found was VERY obvious, and the dealer had to see the stuff, I'm 100% sure they chose to ignore the issues and try to "get over" on me). A PPI probably would have been a waste of money in my case because I found the same stuff that they would have pointed out. Just because something is pointed out to the dealer, it doesn't mean that they will fix the issues. I did make sure that the dealer did a compression test and leakdown in front of me. That is important so it can cover the very serious deal breaker stuff up front. I also did a very thorough check myself, using a check list that I had put together. Even though I found things wrong, and they agreed to fix everything I found, my car was delivered with none of the stuff that I found fixed! Thankfully it all worked out ok at the end, and after some serious pressure on the dealer, they sent me a check for the amount to cover the cost of the issues that they promised me and failed to complete prior to delivery. Moral of the story: No matter how careful you are, you can still be subject to issues when you buy a car out of warranty. Make sure you do a thorough check of the vehicle, if you don't know anything about cars, it's probably not a bad idea to have an independent look at it. At least have a friend, who knows Ferraris very well, look at it. Also, do not hand that check over until that car is 100% to your expectations on what you agreed upon. You will have enough to worry about with new issues that arise, you shouldn't have to worry about stuff that should have already been done. It also helps to live local to the dealer. I would be willing to bet that they would be less apt to try and "get over" on you if you live close. They know you can just walk through the door if they didn't follow through with any promises that they made to you. It would be harder for them to run away from their responsibilities that way. It's easy for them to blow you off if they know you are 1,000+ miles away. Take my advice for what it's worth, I have been bitten so I may come across as less trusting than the average guy (or less trusting than I used to be even though I had successfully purchased dozens of other cars prior to this one).
CPO does not guarantee it's a good car. I know of lots of cars that have been wrecked/repaired and for sale by a dealer as a CPO. Always, always, always do your homework before you buy.
I would absolutely get a PPI. I made a mistake of not doing it with a CPO BMW that I bought, thinking that it was a dealer and the car looked great. Turned out the the whole front end had been replaced and/or repainted, and the paint started falling apart quickly. PPI with a paint meter would have caught that instantly.
Thanks for the feedback guys. It's not so much of the $ issue, but more along the lines of is it really necessary / worth dealing with the 'hassle'. For example, I've also been looking at P-car 3.8 and 4.0 RSs and most of the advice has been that the certification process is so stringent to get it 6 year warrantied through Porsche that a PPI is really pointless. Maybe, maybe not. Obviously Ferraris are different animals. I'll definitely have the PPI done and thanks for the referrals.
This experience has been repeated by many BMW CPO buyers, as discussed in Roundel etc. Cars can be CPO despite accident history. If the selling dealer won't allow an outside CPO, they should at least allow your body shop person come to their site and inspect the car. This saved me from buying a crashed, but well-repaired, 550 a while back. My body shop guy pulled on the trunk gasket and a shower of white dust came out (body filler residue)! He said it was a very good repair, but a repair nonetheless.
Are you 100% certain? Can you post the paperwork for both Power Cube and OEM warranty? I realize you work at a dealer, so this is a just a "please double check" question... I ask because I read the Power Cube paperwork and IIRC found that it was *not* literally the same coverage as the factory included 3-year original warranty. It was over a year ago, but I seem to recall the spider top was one item of distincition, some other differences too...
My experience has been different. An official dealer, on more than one occassion, has had for sale a previously damaged and now repaired Ferrari without disclosing same (clean carfax of course, since we all know those are worthless). And, wrt the warranty, the Power warranties don't cover everything...they also don't protect you against the market value hit a repaired car carries... Bottomline - always get a PPI. Reminds me of the quote I got from the dealer salesman who had a CS for sale for ever and that had been passed around from dealer to dealer...it looked nice afterall! My PPI mechanic had the car for 1 hour when he called and said, its pretty nice, but what did they tell you about the accident that was repaired? I call the dealer and tell them and they say "really, wow, didn't know that". Has happened more than once in my limited history of buying these cars... In those instances, "car looked in good shape, reputable official dealer, powertrain warranty, no PPI" would = unknowling buying a storied CS. :-(
I bought my 08 with 2 months left on the factory warranty and a year Power Normal after...I did not get a PPI....took my chances and all was fine....everyone will have their opinion but in the end you need to do what you are comfortable with....for me it was the trust in the dealer, remaining warranty, and the aggravation....
Your other option is to work in a year's extension of the warranty as part of the deal. That is what I did when I bought a MY 2005 430 in 2009.
One thing that won't cover is alignment. It's around $300 at the dealer, is not picked up in the CPO PPI, and is not covered under warranty. There are probably other things like that as well, so it's always good to get a PPI so there aren't any surprises.
