Pre Purchase Inspections and any help you can provide in my DB9 search

5756 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by wjgesq, Aug 10, 2014

skyrex

Discussion Starter · Aug 8, 2012

Greetings fellow car enthusiasts,

I know how annoying threads like this can be as I am a regular poster on another car Forum (I have a twin turbo Ford GT as well as a couple other fun cars) , but I could use some help/advice. I have been searching for the past three months for a used DB9, coupe in the '05-07 range. I have looked at 3 and had a pre purchase inspection done out of state on one. (the car failed the PPI) On the out of state car I had a great experience with the garage that did the PPI.

Now I will finally get to my questions.

I have realistic expectations, or so I thought, of buying a DB9. I am looking for a clean car, no body work, mechanically sound, clean interior and normal wear for a car of this age range. I have found 3 poor examples. Just bad luck or is this common. Problems thus far have been off the books damage/repairs and leaking fluids. I am open to private sellers or dealers, but I am getting the feeling that this may be more of a process than I really want. What if any advice can you give to a potential new owner?? My other car Forum has trusted people that they recommend for PPI's in different areas. Do you guys have something like that here?? Have always loved the look of the DB9, have driven a couple and my friends who have had them enjoy them. Just want to find a good example to leave at my vacation home and not find a nightmare. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

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dan87951

· #2 · Sep 11, 2012

I'm having trouble as well finding a car. I come from the Porsche/BMW world and have noticed that not many shops work on Aston Martins or know much about them. I'm not completely dependent on a service center as I work on my own cars and have for a long time. The problem though is finding a place that can at least look at it for me and give me a thumbs up before I commit to a long distance trip to complete the sale. Unfortunately with such an exclusive car these are things that we have to deal with it.

I'm curious what 3 cars failed your inspection because I had a few that also failed. Wonder if they are the same cars. Feel free to PM me or email. Good Luck in your search!

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skyrex

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 17, 2012

All '05's. One was in Chicago with 16K miles, repair/paintwork that did not show up on carfax. Same with 2 in LA, one with 20K miles and one with 44K miles.

I found out three things during my 3+ month search. The good thing about these cars is they do seem to get driven and they are very reliable. The bad thing is that there are enough of them out there that some have a lot of owners (4-5 even with low miles) even though they were not that old. Any car that had multiple owners in multiple states I just stopped looking at immediately. In this range you should see no more than 2-3 owners on the carfax. Lots of owners is a red flag for an abused car.

Next it is getting hard to find someone to do a good PPI. You can't just hire anyone as you are right, most people don't know how to look at these cars. I was lucky that I have someone in LA who I know from our Ford GT owners Forum who could look at the cars there. He referred me to a guy in Chicago. Just calling a PPI service will get you a headache and you will not be happy. Finally if a car is at an "off" brand luxury dealer it is a good idea to keep moving. I am not saying there are not some that are good somewhere, but if a car ends up there is usually a problem. At the very least look at their other inventory. If it does not "match" what you would expect an Aston Martin to be, that is bad sign that the car is compromised in some way no matter what the carfax says. Authorized Aston dealers will keep a clean car even if it is higher miles rather than send it out. Some high end resell dealers are okay, but you will be able to tell by the type of inventory they have. Private sellers are usually fine, but should be able to provide a service history and be willing to let you have the car inspected.

Not to pimp another Forum as all I care about is information here is a link to a thread I posted on another AM Forum where people actually responded and tried to help a new owner.

http://www.amoc.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,801/ If you go to their section on DB9's you will see a thread I posted there that has some useful responses that owners gave me about the car.

I finally found one last week. It took me awhile as I wanted a particular color combo and I wanted a coupe. More miles than I wanted, but a clean car at an Aston dealer. Picking up the car on Wednesday and if you want to know how that goes PM me your e-mail and I will let you know the rest.

Best regards and good luck with your search.

By the way I had a cherry 850CSI back in the day. One of the few cars I actually missed after I sold it.

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merosenb

· #4 · Sep 21, 2012

Keep at it...

Skyrex - I just took delivery this week of a pristine '09 DB9 coupe with sports package and 7K miles. Overall, I'd say that I looked seriously for about 6 months and worked in detail on 3 cars before selected the one I have, which I purchased out of state from a Bentley dealership in Boston. It was a time consuming effort that requried patience and dedication, but I can tell you that within the first 20 seconds of my maiden drive, I realized all the hard work was worth it. A few tips:

1. You are probably using the web, but I relied on several search engines to find the car I wanted. The ones I think are the best are www.trovit.com as well as www.cargurus.com. I set up saved searches and kept looking each day. Trovit will allow you to set up a daily blast of any new cars and price changes, etc. It was extremely helpful.

2. Expand your search across the country. I was initially very hesitant to buy out of town, but it was actually quite easy, and to some degree, a good hedge against making a snap decision as it will take time to arrange - this slower pace helps ensure that you feel confident in your choice. A cheap plane ticket will get you to the test drive, and shipping is very easy. By looking wide, you can find a great car at a great price

3. Have Aston Martin perform the PPI, but remember that they will be EXTREMELY picky, as they should be for a purchase like this. They will take a variety of pictures, give you an impression of the mechanical and cosmetic condition of the car in details, and will also perform a test drive. In my case, the car passed the PPI but AM wanted me to replace the shocks (a $7,000 job), which ultimately I did not need. My car had only been driven 1,500 miles in two years, but hadn't had regular service in either year. I was able to get the dealer to pick up the cost of the PPI as well as the two years of back service, which was performed by Aston Martin. There were some other cosmetic items that needed repair and the Bentley dealership performed all of these, included reconditioning and repainting the front bumper, which had a little road-rash. The end result was stunning - I have a brand new car.

4. From research, I discovered that the best deals on quality cars are generally those which are 3-4 years old as they offer the highest combination of current features and value with maximum depreciation. I bought my '09 car for $106K, roughly half it's original price but with proper care and maintenance, should see it hold it's value well as Astons historically take the biggest hit in the first three years. '09's also have the best available engine performance (470HP vs 450HP) as well as the updated center console from the DBS, Sirius/XM, and built-in iPod/USB integration.

Best of luck and don't give up. Your car is out there! Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.

Mike

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wjgesq

· #5 · Aug 10, 2014

merosenb said:
Skyrex - I just took delivery this week of a pristine '09 DB9 coupe with sports package and 7K miles. Overall, I'd say that I looked seriously for about 6 months and worked in detail on 3 cars before selected the one I have, which I purchased out of state from a Bentley dealership in Boston. It was a time consuming effort that requried patience and dedication, but I can tell you that within the first 20 seconds of my maiden drive, I realized all the hard work was worth it. A few tips:

1. You are probably using the web, but I relied on several search engines to find the car I wanted. The ones I think are the best are www.trovit.com as well as www.cargurus.com. I set up saved searches and kept looking each day. Trovit will allow you to set up a daily blast of any new cars and price changes, etc. It was extremely helpful.

2. Expand your search across the country. I was initially very hesitant to buy out of town, but it was actually quite easy, and to some degree, a good hedge against making a snap decision as it will take time to arrange - this slower pace helps ensure that you feel confident in your choice. A cheap plane ticket will get you to the test drive, and shipping is very easy. By looking wide, you can find a great car at a great price

3. Have Aston Martin perform the PPI, but remember that they will be EXTREMELY picky, as they should be for a purchase like this. They will take a variety of pictures, give you an impression of the mechanical and cosmetic condition of the car in details, and will also perform a test drive. In my case, the car passed the PPI but AM wanted me to replace the shocks (a $7,000 job), which ultimately I did not need. My car had only been driven 1,500 miles in two years, but hadn't had regular service in either year. I was able to get the dealer to pick up the cost of the PPI as well as the two years of back service, which was performed by Aston Martin. There were some other cosmetic items that needed repair and the Bentley dealership performed all of these, included reconditioning and repainting the front bumper, which had a little road-rash. The end result was stunning - I have a brand new car.

4. From research, I discovered that the best deals on quality cars are generally those which are 3-4 years old as they offer the highest combination of current features and value with maximum depreciation. I bought my '09 car for $106K, roughly half it's original price but with proper care and maintenance, should see it hold it's value well as Astons historically take the biggest hit in the first three years. '09's also have the best available engine performance (470HP vs 450HP) as well as the updated center console from the DBS, Sirius/XM, and built-in iPod/USB integration.

Best of luck and don't give up. Your car is out there! Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.

Mike

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Pre Purchase Inspections and any help you can provide in my DB9 search

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