Dan Martinic

A recent feel-good thread about finding a car reminded me how I tried finding an original owner years ago when I bought my car but couldn't. The effort wasn't full-fledged; I was more interested in the car. But the longer I have it, the more nostalgic I get.

The original person had it for 19 years. Perhaps they are wondering where it is? It was traded into a Toyota dealer. A worn PCA sticker prompted me to call the Region but they couldn't give the person's name due to privacy (understandably of course).

The official records I got only went as far back as the dealer. Anyone ever wonder the same? In the USA, is there a means to search history that gives names?

DSMblue

I am in the same boat. For maintenance history purposes, it would be nice to know what prior owners did. All I know is the immediate prior owner and the original selling dealer. There have been three (that I am aware of) owners in between.

alordofchaos

I'm surprised the PCA region didn't offer to forward a letter from you to the original owner. You give the PCA a stamped envelope with blank address (but your return address in upper left) and they fill in the address and mail for you. Then it's up to the owner to contact you or not.

You could include pics of the car to show you are not a scammer.

Dan Martinic

They didn't offer this; and at the time, I was a member (of another Region). Interesting idea. Probably not viable today being so much time has passed..

chudson

If you will notice as you walk around your local dealerships, you will see the statement "Secured Document Area" on several doors. This is liability protection (and possibly Federal privacy laws) regarding passing on 3rd party information - somewhat similar to HIPPA regulations. Now, whether or not there is actually Federal regulation that pertains solely to automotive dealerships as to what can or can't happen to them if they do pass on such info is unclear to me and if we have any attorneys they may wish to comment. But in SC, in the "how to be a car dealer class" that all we car dealers had to take, you are told in no uncertain terms NOT to allow ANY opportunity to even remotely allow that info to get into 3rd party hands. Remember, anybody can be sued for any reason, and most car dealers have lots of insurance and liability protection that we don't want anyone having any reason to be able to reach. I would assume that the same is the case for Porsche, PCA, ect. We take this to the extreme to include a through search of the vehicle to remove all repair orders, previous registrations and insurance cards, anything with the POs name, address or phone numbers.

However, these situations did not exist "back in the day" and every older Porsche owners manual that I've seen has the original owners name printed in it. But I'll bet such doesn't happen now. The forwarding of the letter thing really does leave it up to the PO to respond, but again if something goes haywire and someone feels that they somehow suffered, Porsche, by facilitating the contact, could probably be drug into the mess.

Cliff

Dan Martinic

My original owners' manual has the dealer and salesperson's names but unfortunately not the buyer's.

I would say we've become a far too litigious bunch of people to the point where many people worry more about covering their own a&& than accomplishing something of benefit to others.

I bet some RLs don't use their name specifically to avoid getting sued lol

Wisconsin Joe

Yes & no.

Some folks that own high end cars are very protective of their privacy. They have good reasons for that.

If you've ever had a serious stalker, you'd understand the real danger of a dealer, or mechanic, or organization (like PCA) giving out information.

Also, I know of someone who openly posted his info on a forum (not this one), got into a pissing match with someone, and ended up losing his job because of it.

For finding an original owner, I'd try the CarFax route that was used with the other one.

See if you can find a shop that worked on it when it was previously owned, contact that shop and see if they will forward your info to the P/O.