What good is a PPI?

Just curious......Did you purchase the vehicle from Lamborghini Houston, or another dealer/private party, and then have the car inspected by Lambo Houston?

 

 

Just curious......Did you purchase the vehicle from Lamborghini Houston, or another dealer/private party, and then have the car inspected by Lambo Houston?

 

I bought the car from Roy. He provided me with the PPI from Lamborghini Houston. I'm not sure if Lamborghini Houston had a part in the transaction or simply did the PPI on the car. I only dealt with Roy and he offered to buy the car back from me when the issues were discovered. The reason I was willing to buy the car sight unseen is because I've bought two cars from Roy previously. This post wasn't meant as a rant, more as a cautionary tale and the lessons learned from it.

Bitching on a forum isn't the way to handle this. I agree with Ali, buyer or his agent should have seen and driven the car in person. The only way I'd do a deal like this sight unseen is if I'm getting a tremendous discount. If I'm paying retail then I'd get my fat ass out there and see the car in person and get a ppi.

 

As far as the broker goes, he brokered the car, as long as he kept up his end of the deal, there's no recourse.

 

Now, on another note, was this car sold new through Lambo Miami?

 

It looks like it arrived at Manhattan motorcars and was then sold new at Lamborghini Houston. It is a one owner car.

I am sorry to hear about your experience at Lamborghini of Houston, I have bought 5 cars from them in the past with no issues whatsoever, Maybe trying giving a GM a call and telling them about your experience. As far as Roy goes, he seems to be a stand up guy .

 

Couple things:

1. That car is absolutely stunning

2. Roy offering a full money back guarantee including shipping costs is as much as you could ask for from a dealer that was brokering a sale, as he was also going by the PPI to purchase the vehicle to resell. The fact that Roy was willing to "inventory" the vehicle with the newfound issues for the same price he was selling it , says a lot.

Bitching on a forum isn't the way to handle this. I agree with Ali, buyer or his agent should have seen and driven the car in person. The only way I'd do a deal like this sight unseen is if I'm getting a tremendous discount. If I'm paying retail then I'd get my fat ass out there and see the car in person and get a ppi.

 

As far as the broker goes, he brokered the car, as long as he kept up his end of the deal, there's no recourse.

 

Now, on another note, was this car sold new through Lambo Miami?

 

I definitely see your point and agree with most of that. I was strictly saying about the PPI portion 9f this and not the broker or any of that. I mean knowing Sprites story, I agree with him that who would get a PPI there after seeing this result. And that's what I think is important to share on the forums.

sprite I'd suggest a call to the GM to follow up on your email. You want to give them every opportunity to make this right, that will be the easiest path... although possibly unlikeliest.

 

 

Lesson learned I guess. I agreed that if time allows (often, it's not the $$ but the time), the car should be inspected in person.

My transactions with Roy were fine and in this case, Roy seems like he did all the right things. But at the end of the day, the cliche of "what's one man's trash is another man's treasure" applies here and it works both ways. Seems like the PPI was sloppily done for sure but what's "like new" to one's perspective could well be "meh" to another. And anyone who has experience with photography knows a picture may tell 1000 words, but that's rather insufficient when it involves a 6-figure purchase. And I am not talking about PShop or manipulating the images. Something just had to be seen and touched to realize what it really is.

 

That being said, I'm sure it's be all sorted out very soon. It is a stunting-looking car regardless. Hope you will enjoy it to the fullest come next Spring.

 

Unless you are pretty savvy, I don't see the benefit of going to see a fairly new car. What do you hope to find? Certainly nothing compared to a proper PPI.

 

Sprite, fwiw, I think you did appropriate due diligence. Unfortunately LofH really let you down by missing the most obvious of items. I would certainly talk to their GM as stated above.

 

Also, it sounds like Roy really stepped up but I understand you not wanting to go that route, the car is amazing.

I think a PPI is worthless. Best bet is to get a CPO car. Then you've got Lamborghini backing the car up should there be any problems. Sorry for your troubles. Hopefully you can enjoy the car come Spring.

+1 for CPO and the worthlessness of PPI. In the grand scheme of things paying a few more $$$$ for at least one year of CPO is totally worth it. Sometimes the dealer would even throw in a discount for the CPO.

It's not worth the paper it's written on if not accurate. Lamborghini Houston performed a PPI on my car before I bought it. I trusted their inspection since they are an authorized Lamborghini dealer. The car needed around $20k of repairs that they did not disclose in the PPI. In all fairness Roy from Cats Exotics who brokered the deal offered to buy the car back and cover my shipping costs, but it was not something I was interested in as I've been wanting a SV for a while and could not let it go after having it in my possession. I also had already sold my McLaren 12C Spider it was replacing. It was not his fault as he had not seen the car either. If anyone is to blame it is Lamborghini Houston for providing me with a very inaccurate PPI. In the future I will definitely take the time to fly out and look at and test drive a vehicle in person though.

 

Lamborghini Houston did a PPI on my car which failed to disclose the following issues:

- E-gear hydraulic storage tank not holding pressure (engine out service) [$11,125]

- Hood latch broken [$643]

- 1 Failed Wing Motor [$1240]

- 1 Mirror doesn't power fold [Didn't even fix this yet since it's $5k for a mirror and power fold is not critical]

- Doors don't lock [Didn't fix yet, not sure on cost]

 

In any case, my car will finally be done this week with all repairs, as well as exhaust, tint, upgraded sound, radar detector and laser jammers. Unfortunately I'm about to head to Europe for the winter so I won't really get to enjoy it until spring time, but at least it will be right when I get back and I can put some miles on it next year.

 

sure does look awesome, open that thing up in the spring

 

Unless you are pretty savvy, I don't see the benefit of going to see a fairly new car. What do you hope to find?

 

Unless one is a total rookie, anyone who is buying a Lambo should have fundamental knowledge on what to look for and expect.

Regardless of miles, I would not call a car that's made in 2010 "fairly new". Everyone knows it's actually worse if a car just sat (and hence the low miles). What does one hope to find? The proper answer would be "nothing" as everything should be a-ok.

 

With the exception of buying from overseas, a regular return flight within all of North America averages to less than $2200 economy and less than $6k for business and that's regular fare on a major carrier; much less if flying chartered or with special discounted fare. Based on the average price of a used Lamborghini, that translates to a low single-digit percentage of the cost of the car; even less so if we are talking about a 670SV. Not a baller by any means but I would call that wise-spending and would not hesitate to pay up and get there. As afore-said, it not the money but the time that's often the challenge. And it's not only the car itself, meeting with the seller/dealer says a lot about the place and the service it renders too. What other cars are there being sold and/or service? What's the neighbourhood like? And things one spotted can be promptly corrected too. Yeah, perhaps I am reading too much into this as to some, it's just a car. But if one can afford the time, why not? I don't see any negativity involved at all.

There should be a distinction in this thread between dismissing PPIs for Murcielago/Gallardo era cars versus Diablo and older cars.

 

 

It's not worth the paper it's written on if not accurate.

 

I agree. Every time some asks for info on a possible purchase, everyone suggests get a PPI.

 

I made a huge mistake not personally looking at a Gallardo that I purchased out of Miami Florida because I had a PPI performed by Prestige imports in Miami.

 

When I received the car form the transport company, the battery was dead, the alternator was shot and the engine smoked. They did provide accurate e-gear snap and they provided a list of cosmetic blemishes (missing tab on tail lights, head liner falling, loose switches on dash panel, non-factory wheels and tires, itemized list of blemishes in paint, etc.....).

 

I'm not sure why they would leave these major items of concern off of the report unless the seller paid them more to not disclose certain issues than what I paid for the PPI. If I remember correctly, the PPI cost me over $1200 which included a compression test.....

 

PPI's are worthless IMO.

I agree. Every time some asks for info on a possible purchase, everyone suggests get a PPI.

 

I made a huge mistake not personally looking at a Gallardo that I purchased out of Miami Florida because I had a PPI performed by Prestige imports in Miami.

 

When I received the car form the transport company, the battery was dead, the alternator was shot and the engine smoked. They did provide accurate e-gear snap and they provided a list of cosmetic blemishes (missing tab on tail lights, head liner falling, loose switches on dash panel, non-factory wheels and tires, itemized list of blemishes in paint, etc.....).

 

I'm not sure why they would leave these major items of concern off of the report unless the seller paid them more to not disclose certain issues than what I paid for the PPI. If I remember correctly, the PPI cost me over $1200 which included a compression test.....

 

PPI's are worthless IMO.

 

It's a trend. So far three of us have had bad PPI's at prestige but I had two very good ones at other places I mentioned. One kept me from buying a car luckily.

No offense, I am amazed on how hard people work for their money and dont spend $500 on a flight to go check out a $200k+ car before they buy it.

 

even if you were to fly there if you have no idea what you are looking at how will it help? at the end of the day you paid professionals to look at it on your behalf, they must be held responsible for their actions it's not like they missed something minor, they missed some major stuff.

 

I'm my case, a first hand look would have allowed me to see that the car smoked and I certainly would have passed on it but as Fortis stated that's why we pay the professionals to inspect it.

 

I do agree, after my personal bad PPI experience, a vehicle should never be purchased sight unseen.

How much actual driving do they usually do for PPI? Around the block to make sure it starts and wheels turn? 5-15 miles to get to know it better?

 

Surely there could be many issues that would show face with regular use, but go unnoticed with a nervous mechanic tiptoeing his way around the dealership.

As a buyer who has overlooked flaws while inspecting my own cars, I feel it is easy to over state one's ability to be objective and thorough when looking over a potential purchase. That being said, a lot of the ppi that are referenced in this thread seem lack lustre.

 

I have no affiliation with ammo but take a look at Larry's ppi on a lfa. I think this level of scrutiny should be standard on these high value cars.

 

http://www.ammonyc.com/detailing/lexus-lfa...-we-buy-or-not/

Unless one is a total rookie, anyone who is buying a Lambo should have fundamental knowledge on what to look for and expect.

Regardless of miles, I would not call a car that's made in 2010 "fairly new". Everyone knows it's actually worse if a car just sat (and hence the low miles). What does one hope to find? The proper answer would be "nothing" as everything should be a-ok.

 

With the exception of buying from overseas, a regular return flight within all of North America averages to less than $2200 economy and less than $6k for business and that's regular fare on a major carrier; much less if flying chartered or with special discounted fare. Based on the average price of a used Lamborghini, that translates to a low single-digit percentage of the cost of the car; even less so if we are talking about a 670SV. Not a baller by any means but I would call that wise-spending and would not hesitate to pay up and get there. As afore-said, it not the money but the time that's often the challenge. And it's not only the car itself, meeting with the seller/dealer says a lot about the place and the service it renders too. What other cars are there being sold and/or service? What's the neighbourhood like? And things one spotted can be promptly corrected too. Yeah, perhaps I am reading too much into this as to some, it's just a car. But if one can afford the time, why not? I don't see any negativity involved at all.

 

I have to disagree. A good dealer should find everything an enthusiast could find plus mechanical issues he couldn't. I've bought a lot of cars and never once got on a plane to check one out. Every once in a while you do get let down unfortunately but too seldom to go check them all out. You should see what a thorough P dealer will check and report on a Carrera GT. It comes down to the dealer being willing and able to check out the car properly.

I bought the car from Roy. He provided me with the PPI from Lamborghini Houston. I'm not sure if Lamborghini Houston had a part in the transaction or simply did the PPI on the car. I only dealt with Roy and he offered to buy the car back from me when the issues were discovered. The reason I was willing to buy the car sight unseen is because I've bought two cars from Roy previously. This post wasn't meant as a rant, more as a cautionary tale and the lessons learned from it.

 

Call Zack, he is the GM. See if he is willing to do something. He has always been straight with me.

 

I've witnessed a few PPI's at a few shops. I can tell you most were a joke. Nothing beats having mechanical knowledge and inspecting the car yourself.

 

Sprite, as for your accumulator failing. Lack of use could have severely reduced the life of it and may not have been evident at the time of PPI. There's no excuse for the rest though.

 

I have to disagree. A good dealer should find everything an enthusiast could find plus mechanical issues he couldn't. I've bought a lot of cars and never once got on a plane to check one out. Every once in a while you do get let down unfortunately but too seldom to go check them all out. You should see what a thorough P dealer will check and report on a Carrera GT. It comes down to the dealer being willing and able to check out the car properly.

 

That's fine. We can agree to disagree. The issue here is "a good dealer" and obviously there are good ones and then there are bad ones (as attested by others on this thread). Unfortunately, sprite ended up with a bad one. I have plenty of experience with good ones, one actually is a Porsche dealership and the other Rolls Royce & Bentleys. They give me a PPI in a booklet (I'm not joking). All I am saying is if you can afford the time, go check out the car physically. You'd rather "waste" the time doing that for the peace of mind than to actually wasting time on repairing the missed shortfalls later. You do concede that you did get let down; I am just trying to eliminate that. So long as you don't mind the let down and most of your others are positives, then kudos to you. My preference is different, I don't mind travelling and I choose to minimize/eliminate the let down.

PPI and eyes on car are equally important. I wouldn't go off of only a PPI nor would I go off only putting my eyes on the car. If I understand this situation correctly LoH performed a PPI (poorly), and Roy sold the car without ever having seen it (not that there is anything wrong with that).

 

Roy's offer to buy the car back and pay for shipping to make Sprite whole seems to go above and beyond.

Sprite, as for your accumulator failing. Lack of use could have severely reduced the life of it and may not have been evident at the time of PPI. There's no excuse for the rest though.

 

 

I've witnessed a few PPI's at a few shops. I can tell you most were a joke. Nothing beats having mechanical knowledge and inspecting the car yourself.

 

Sprite, as for your accumulator failing. Lack of use could have severely reduced the life of it and may not have been evident at the time of PPI. There's no excuse for the rest though.

 

It would have been evident unless they only drove around in 1st gear.

Previously, anytime I bought a car for one of my clients, I used to fly out and inspect the car. I would drive it, get under it, take pictures of it, etc... That said, they paid a premium for that. The flight plus the brokerage fee. That said, it was relatively rare when we had a problem. The proof is, I recently bought a 599 HGTE for one of my old clients, took the dealers word on the condition and items all being there, and was let down. Missing the car cover, missing the navigation card, missing the original window sticker they said they had, rear tires were the incorrect size....... Had I flown out, I would have caught them with the list I used to use. Lesson learned I guess. Sorry to hear about the woes with the car Sprite, I am going to go over and see Brandon now and look at your car though! Hope you enjoy it when spring comes back around.