Page 44 - KCRPCA July

Photos by Jim Cummings
(He wanted much more than it was worth, if you’ll remember.) Actually, the second one was too. Yet you treated them di erently. Why?
A: The owner of the rst car that I looked at was quite personable and had a passion for his car. The fact that he over- priced it meant to me that he was going to have to come down in order to sell it. I kept in touch because I wanted to be the rst one he thought of if he lowered the price. The owner of the second car was trying to BS me and continued to do so when confronted. He was not the kind of person I cared to associate with, so I didn’t.
Q: Using KBB condition categories was a little unwieldy. Why did you do that instead of just stating dollar values?
A: While I agree that the approach was a little bit clumsy, I really want to emphasize the process. I didn’t want readers to xate on speci c dollar amounts.
Q: Did you consider getting a pre- purchase inspection? (PPI).
A: Not really. Basically, it would have added several hundred dollars to the price of the car and would not have really found anything. The only additional expense I had with the car is $400 to x a coolant leak at the transmission, which was actually minor and I could have deferred. And, honestly, as this was an economy purchase, I didn’t think it was worth adding 5% to the cost of the car. Face it, with any 986 the big question is the IMS status, which is something a PPI can’t really determine.
Q: So, you ended up with a sub- $10,000 Porsche. Did you get any accessories or do you plan to upder x the car?
A: The rst thing I did was purchase a car cover. There is no garage or covered parking at the DC condo; at least not for a reasonable cost. I also bought a portable tire in ator; one that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I thought that was needed because nding a gas station around here is dif cult enough, much less nding one with an air hose. Finally, I hot wired the fog lights to act as daytime running lamps. A simple hack that cost me 75 cents and saves me a dollar every
44
Jul / Aug 2017