Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

"No service record" = "Run away!" ?

Joined
3 Oct 2013
Messages
8
Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first 911 in a country (Sweden) where there aren't as many candidates as other European places perhaps.

Here's a 3.2 that on the surface looks ok:
http://www.blocket.se/stockholm/Porsche_911_carrera_53782792.htm?ca=11&w=1

However, the big thing that jumped out at me in the listing was "missing service record". It may sound like a dumb question, but is this cause for suspicion? It seems to me anyone sloppy enough not to keep a service record for a car like a Porsche is trying to hide something.

Listing translates as:
porsche 911 carrera -84 3.0
newly painted gloss black
black interior
electric elevators
electric sunroof
100% rust free
lot of new parts
black ceiling (I guess they mean the interior ceiling cloth)
shock absorber
polished moldings etc.
usa import
Not crashed or water damaged
lacks service history
tax-exempt
inspection for 2015-07-01

I also expect that since this is a usa import, it's going to be the ho-hum 207hp instead of the more exciting 231. If I re-chip to an '89 it would I be able to get the full EU hp or would I have to do something more?

Thanks for the advice guys.

Cheers,
David
 
With all these earlier cars you need to base your judgement on the condition of the body as it is so expensive to make a rotten car sound.
With it being an import I think it would be fairly common for it not to have any documentation.
The point I am making is that it's current condition is more important than any other factor.
 
Hi,for what its worth I lived in Sweden for 6 years and speak fluent swedish.While I was there I messed about with cars and I can say that anyone I dealt with was 100% above board.The advert says that the service book is missing and that was probably the case when the car was imported.If there was any shennanigans with that car then they happened in the States I would say. Hope that helps.
 
kas750 said:
With all these earlier cars you need to base your judgement on the condition of the body as it is so expensive to make a rotten car sound.
With it being an import I think it would be fairly common for it not to have any documentation.
The point I am making is that it's current condition is more important than any other factor.

+1

I could have 'newly painted' my 3.2 to hide the tell tale signs of the £16k worth of bodywork it needed.

And that was a FSH car with an engine rebuild, given the time again I'd have taken a good running car with no history but a good body all day long....
:thumb:
 
Ok, so it seems not having documentation here is acceptable, the key is the shape the body is in. If it has been newly repainted, it could be to hide collision or rust damage. I guess for the former look that all the seams line up on the body panels, with uniform gaps on both sides, and for the latter how can I tell without getting the car up on a lift or a paint depth meter?
 
You need to have access to a lift and then it needs to be inspected by somebody who knows the structure of these cars.
The most innocent looking bubble of rust can be the sign of severe corrosion on what is a very complex bodyshell with many hidden rust traps.
You really cant overstate the importance of this.
Good luck . :thumb:
 
Ok, I guess I'll go check it out myself first, and if it rides and seems ok, ask to take it to a mechanic for a PPI. If the owner is serious about selling it, they should be cool with this, right?
 
As the car came from the US I would suggest spending the $25 or whatever is required to get a report from carfax.com to see what the car's history is in the US.

A missing service record isn't the end of the world but means you have to dig deeper into the car and it's critical it's inspected by someone who knows the fault areas of an impact bumpered car. And perhaps think about including a budget for things like oil and filter change, fuel filter, spark plug, cap and rotor, plug wire etc replacement as part of a "reset" of the car's service history.

Not sure what car import taxes and fees there are but compare the price of this car to comparable cars in Germany on mobile.de to help calibrate it's value. Germany is obviously a bit of a trip for you but you may get a better, lower risk purchase.

Good luck with the search; keep us posted on how things go.
 
HeroOfSpielburg said:
Ok, so it seems not having documentation here is acceptable, the key is the shape the body is in. If it has been newly repainted, it could be to hide collision or rust damage. I guess for the former look that all the seams line up on the body panels, with uniform gaps on both sides, and for the latter how can I tell without getting the car up on a lift or a paint depth meter?

Kind of, but really the reverse, from the inside out, under the battery, behind the drivers b pillar, behind the headlights, infront of the rear wheels into the kidney bowls, bumper strut mounts, underneath the outer sills, scuttles and edges at the rear lights - are all common, were on mine, and are unseen until they (as Kas said) show as a tiny bubble, and by then then I had a £16k bodywork bill to PROPERLY get rid of it at a PROPER vintage 911 bodyshop.

There would have been very little on the outside for me to get patched and painted, in fact IF I was dishonest, I could have spent £5k on paint, hidden the outer signs, not told anyone of the inner stuff and EASILY sold it for twice, maybe three times the price I let it go for, really, all day long...

I'd put 'newly painted' in the ad and people would add the cost of the £5k paint job to it's value, unaware it hid a bodywork cost three times that.

But I sold as-is, and showed the buyer everything. Three years later mind, he's still driving it round as-is.
:)
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,354
Messages
1,439,461
Members
48,713
Latest member
3sp1f8
Back
Top