The various VIN and history searches

[umfan866]

Hi,

Does anyone have any other methods / places to check VINs for? Before going to see a car, I go through this checklist (I am in California).

Paid (I now usually get just autocheck, because they have 30 days unlimited still):
CARFAX - Vehicle History Reports and VIN number check
AutoCheck Vehicle History Reports Homepage - A Part of Experian.
If the VIN is slightly off (e.g. a zero should be a "O", the "free" carfax report corrects this automatically,
and then I copy/paste that same vin into the others.

Fraud/Salvage check.
https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/vincheck/vincheck

I check smog history here. I do it twice, once by license plate, and once by VIN, to make sure
the plates I see on the car match with the VIN.
Vehicle Test History

For 911's, I manually crosscheck, seeing if the VIN fits in the range it should:
http://www.adelgigs.com/911vin_numbers.shtml

Also I do a plain old google search for the VIN, as well as in ebaymotors.com and see what
comes up (mostly nothing) - but sometimes you find the same guy has listed it on ebay, or
someone a few months ago sold the same car on ebay

There is a Car dealer called Cars Dwydiak - they run some kind of "Olias" report on a vin, but
it is apparently just associates the VIN with the owner's name, and it isn't available to the public.

[JJ 911SC]

Porsche VIN Decoder, VIN Lookup, Decode VIN to get the original fit info (engine/option)

and asking for running Carfax or trading is against the rule.

[umfan866]

JJ 911SC -- thanks for the link. Ok didn't realize that trading searches was against the rules- and I've edited it out of my post above. Thanks

[umfan866]

FYI -- I found a car on craigslist that was salvaged due flood:

97 BOXSTER PORSCHE cheap

Sure enough, when I run an autocheck, it says salvage but not the reason.
When I run it through this site, it gives the reason: flood and says to ask
if the airbag is OK. Very good info to know if I am ever buying a salvage car!

https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/vincheck/vincheck
WP0CA2987VS625103

Would anybody here buy a flood-damaged Boxster?

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by umfan866

FYI -- I found a car on craigslist that was salvaged due flood:

97 BOXSTER PORSCHE cheap

Sure enough, when I run an autocheck, it says salvage but not the reason.
When I run it through this site, it gives the reason: flood and says to ask if the airbag is OK. Very good info to know if I am ever buying a salvage car!

https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/vincheck/vincheck
WP0CA2987VS625103

Would anybody here buy a flood-damaged Boxster?

Not sure I would trust the answer...

Lots of good deal out there, take your time.

Use this board knowledge to the max and its free

[Navigueur]

VIN Check identified unknown codes; where could I find definitions for those codes:

I139 I158 I286 I340


Car is
1989 WP0EB091XKS171082
Model ID: 911
Engine Code KW HP Liter Cylinders Model
930.25 160 218 3,20 6 911 CARRERA KATALYSATOR

Transmission Code: G50.01
Options found on your vehicle.
Option Code Description
M288 Headlamp washer
M439 Electrical hood operation


The following codes were found, but the description may not be accurate.
Option Code Possible Description
I383 Vertical seat adjustment, right
I387 Carrera GT bucket seat xt, right

[equality72521]

These don't work on older Porsches with 9 digit VINs :-(

[Christien]

Google Porsche VIN decoder and you'll find lots of sites that explain what each digit in a 9-digit VIN means. For examples, mine is 9112500557. 911 means, well, 911. 250 means ROW carbureted coupe. I believe 2 means coupe, 5 is carbureted and 0 is ROW (could be wrong). 0557 is the serial #, so mine was the 557th 911 built for MY 1972.