info from an opc

[kagey]

i have found a c4s at last with the right spec i'm after. one question. the car was serviced by an opc in feb - rather than pay the £200 inspection fee - do you think if i phoned the opc they would divulge any problems that are possibly being hidden from me by the seller. the reason i ask is that the car is quite a distance from where i live; i'm prepared to travel but don't want to be wasting my time. cheers. kagey

[poorcardealer]

No they will say its "data protection act".

[targa]

Any thing can go wrong at any time, so if car was fine in February, it might not be now. It could have been repaired some where else both body or engine. So, you ought to get it inpected. I think.

[London Irish]

An inspection (OPC or Porsche Specialist) is a must for any private purchase of a Porsche. The cheapest peace of mind you will ever buy.......it also saved me £1K on my purchase by throwing up minor issues I could negotiate around.

[leosayer]

You could always ask the previous owner to authorise the OPC to release the information to you. That might do the trick.

[Witchfinder]

London Irish said:

An inspection (OPC or Porsche Specialist) is a must for any private purchase of a Porsche. The cheapest peace of mind you will ever buy.......it also saved me £1K on my purchase by throwing up minor issues I could negotiate around.

How much does an OPC inspection usually cost? Does it generally pay for itself? Does an OPC inspection qualify you to buy an extended warranty?

[GreigM]

Witchfinder said:

How much does an OPC inspection usually cost? Does it generally pay for itself? Does an OPC inspection qualify you to buy an extended warranty?

Costs £200 exactly (inc VAT). It does generally pay for itself in that they will find points to negotiate around, and if all is ok you do qualify for extended warranty (at £725).

BUT!!!

Don't rely on it completely - I had my car inspected twice by OPCs (once prior to purchase and once 3 months later) and they both missed a majour problem and gave me 2 reports with very few similarities between the reports.

[Witchfinder]

GreigM said:

Costs £200 exactly (inc VAT). It does generally pay for itself in that they will find points to negotiate around, and if all is ok you do qualify for extended warranty (at £725).

Presumably that's £725 annually. Including or excluding VAT?

Thanks for the information.

[barry993tt]

I had the OPC inspection done on my car before I bought it and I bought the warrantee.

I don't rate the inspection. Its just a 40'ish point check list where they check really minor things like the cigarette lighter, tyre tread depth, bits of plastic trim, etc. They are unlikely to find any serious problems that may not be immediately obvious.

However, the OPC warrantee is excellent and covers a lot of things that the inspection will not find. You also get UK and Europe breakdown cover included.

My advise: If you're going to get the warrantee, then go for the inspection. If you’re not going to get the warrantee then get it inspected by someone who will concentrate less on plastic trim and more on the things that cost £££ if they go wrong.