Just how bad is a broken Service History?
 

Hi Guys,

As some of you know, i`m in a mission for a 3.2 cabriolet.

My search has unearthed a vehicle which i decided against looking at as it`s service history ended at 69,000 miles.

http://www.grq41.dial.pipex.com/porscheinsurrey.bmp

That was the last time the book was stamped however the owner has service receipts from a non-porsche garage showing full services between 69k miles and its current odometer reading of 93k miles.

Is this really that bad?

Personally it puts me off but the condition description the owner gives me and the rather unique paint colour (Dunno what the official paint colour is but its a rather nice light blue metallic colour) kinda makes me want to have another look. He assures me the 400 mile trip is worth it etc.

Problem is thats another 800 mile round trip and my arsecheeks are just recovering from the last 800 mile trip !!

Would this break in service history put you guys off?

McRod

McRod,

I would ask for the name of the garage who did the service and call them. Ask about the car and see what the managers feeling is about the car. If the owner has taken the car to one or two garages in the last 30k miles and has descent records then I would be happy.

We all know that the Pcar dealerships do not want and for the most part are not trained to work on any car over 5-7 years old (if that) and you have to find someone independent at this point. Not having the book stamped is not a big deal if you also have the receipts to back up its having been serviced and its mileage. My 85 has 93k on it now so the mileage is normal for a car that is not a daily driver.

Joe

Wouldn't bother me a bit, if it were a good shop. Hell, I don't even take our 2000 Audi A4 to the 40-miles-away dealer, even though the service would be free if I did. I prefer to do my own work, and I "sign" the book.

Stephan

While it is all well and good to get a ton of reciepts, IMHO, a good PPI will reveal most of the major problems. My 911 had almost no documented service history, but the PPI revealed no rust issues and only the need to fix some oil leaks and get the heads redone (compression/leakdown test). Was it a risk on my part? Yes, but I wanted an early 911 and rust was my major concern.

YMMV

I'm no expert, but it sounds to me like about as well a documented 90K mi car as your likely to find. Just the fact that he had it serviced and kept his recieipts makes it sound to me as though the car's been shown some respect, if he's contientious enough to of kept the reciepts.

non porsche as in not official main dealer? or not porsche specialist.

There are many respected independents in the UK, probably better than main dealer at this age of car. Name the garage some one will know them

As you will know its not the services alone thats important any garage could do that. those receipts should have a list of problems found during the service and its easy to follow the paper trail to see whats been done and when, thats why I feel a specialist garage is important.
Also its easy to phone the garage and check what works been carried out.
As has been said above a good full PPI is important and can clear the fog of incomplete history.
Heres a link to help your continued search ;) Easy

That is not what I would call a "broken sevice history". It sounds more like complete records from day one to present, the first 69k miles seviced at dealer, and at an independant shop since then. Is that what you meant to post?

Most everyone stops using the dealer for service at some point, usually a lot sooner than 70k miles. I would not hesitate for a moment if seller agrees to an independant PPI, and shares the records w/ you since 69k miles. There are so many different factors which influence whether I would pursue a used car or not, complete records are nice, but the lack of them is never a deal-killer by itself to me. Would you rather buy a great car w/ no records, or a mediocre one w/ every record since delivery? Some here would take the latter, it seems.

A competent PPI by someone who knows the cars, a talk w/ owner and his mechanic, plus your own, (hopefully), good judgement about the car should suffice. Good luck! :cool:

The only Porsche I have purchased with a "full service history" was a 944 turbo. About 1 inch thick of reciepts going back to 1986. The original owner spent big bucks at the dealer maintaining this car and it was always in the shop. When I bought the car I thought having all that work done was a good thing. Then I realized I had to take over the maintainance...one thing after another! So while a service history is nice to have, it may be an indication that the car in question is a lemon :)

alot of cars are advertised with "full service history" when in reality all they have is a stamped book - this is NOT what "full service history" means. without service receipts the stamped book means almost nothing. dealers mostly are guilty of this. very few cars out there have proper "full history records".

this was the case with the one i bought. i was told it had a full service history. it has a book stamped right up to my ownership. and none since! but i now have a file full of receipts, which is far more important, imho.

so, in answer to your question - no, its not bad.

tell us more about the car?? is it a std colour?

glad to see you're not rushing into anything now!! and fyi it normally takes a few months to sell a 911 (even good ones) so chances are they'll still be for sale if you want to go back to one.....

BTW, that cab looks absolutely gorgeous in that little photo. Do you have any more pictures? What is the color? I would definitely investigate this car. :cool:

Thanks Guys,

I really dunno what i`d have done without you guys on this forum. i`d probably have bought that white one in Glasgow !!

Yes the colour is standard but i missed what the owner actually called it. He said he has only seen 1 more Porsche with that same colour and that was on a 1987 "D" reg.

This car is in Tadworth, Surrey which is even further away than Reading but if it`s history seems correct, and the owner gave me the impression it was his baby, it`s certainly gonna have to be looked at. He also mentioned it had 4 brand new tyres.

Maybe i could charter Dickster to go and have a butchers for me
;). Please old friend old buddy old pal :D

One thing that looks out of place tho are those coloured fuchs. The star in the centre appears to be the same colour as the car. Is this standard?. The owner says everything about the car is 100% standard except for the CD player. The colour of the wheels had me wondering.

I have asked for more photgraphs and although the seller doesn`t have a digital camera, he is going to try and borrow one and get a few more photos to me.

Cheers

McRod

lol - well, since you put it like that!!

get him to send some pics if you can. fax/scan the service docs. if you're still interested let me have his details. i should be able to get over this week. in fact, i'm going to the airport on friday!!

you can email me privately richard.michelle@btinternet.com

Hiya Kevin,

Seems to be neither a OPC or a Porsche Specialist but someone who came highly recommended by the previous owner to the current owner. (If you follow me).

I`ll ask for some more clarifaction on this.

p.s. Anyone able to comment on the colour of the Fuch`s wheels as shown on the first photgraph?. Are they original?. Looks to me as if someone has fancied having his Fuchs wheels the same colour as the bodywork :)

Cheers

McRod

McRod, you may even be money ahead by not having all the work done at a dealership. It sounds like the owner took good care of the car, from your picture it looks great.
Get a PPI, if it passes go for it.

McRod
I think the colour coded Fuchs was an option. Not too big a deal to put them back to black if you want.

I was about to say I wouldnt touch it, as things can be missed that the known garages would pick up, and no good reason to stray (except brothers/cousins garage) too many garages with good reputations on these cars.
But we're only talking 20k miles 1-2 services. 1-2 years?
Good PPI by porsche specialist will tell you how the car is now, which is what is important.
Wheels no problem. my 944 came like that.

You must be reading Leffingwell's new book. If we all followed Randy's recommendations, even the top concours cars would not meet our expectations, and no one would ever buy a car! Randy's new illustrated buyers guide is a neat book, but he goes way overboard in the inspection phase. "If the tach bounces around, then don't buy the car?" So you will ditch the perfect car because a tach is possibly broken?

Anyways, you're way over-reacting here. There's no break in the service records - he just changed shops...

-Wayne

Agreed, no problem. He'l got the receipts.

Hmm masraum you may want to look into this
;)

Here in the states dealer stamps and service are often a black mark on the service history. Ask me how I know - let's see - well there was the time my 993TT was called in for a wiring harness replacement and the dealer replaced the fan belt with the wrong size belt causing it to come off on the highway (and chew up the underside of a rather expensive Cargraphic Intercooler). Then there was the time we had the dealer "fix" the high beam switch in our old 87 Coupe and it took them 4 tries to get it right (with us picking the car up as fixed each time). I could go on and on with personal stories and those of my P-car buddies. In fact, here in the San Francisco area there is not a single dealer shop that I would trust over even an average independent Porsche mechanic.

So - as everyone has said - if the services have been performed and the PPI checks out you should be fine.