Jumpydude

Hmm, was looking over a 928 and wanted to do a check on it... it's pre 1981 and according to Carfax, they only do cars 1981 to the present... I tried the VIN anyways but no go... anyone know how I can obtain a history on the vehicle? The VIN is 92A0811187. Any help would be great, thanks

pewter82

contact your local dmv or Police Dept. If your lucky they will help.

jason

rixter

Carfax will only accept 17 digit VINs which were begun in 1981, prior to that manufacturers used whatever combination they wanted to, you can try doing a title search which will give you previous owners, dates, and possibly mileage, you may then be able to contact previous owners for more info

best of luck
Rixter

928 Fool

Dude, don't put too much value on Carfax. I just purchased an '83 that Carfax said had nothing. Clean history, buy back guarranty, all of the good stuff. After much closer scrutiny I discovered that it had been side swiped.
Drivers door was replaced but left quarter was not. They just filled it with a ton of bondo. So beware and take your magnet.

Jumpydude

Hmm, some history is better than no history everything seems to look okay... but I noticed some problems when I checked out the car and just wondering what everyone's opinions of these are...
The locking system was apparently buggered during a break in some time ago and back then it would've cost $1500 or so to fix the locks apparently. Owner has a keyless entry thing installed instead. (wonder how much it'll cost to fix this central locking/key entry nowadays)
The umm under dash shelves aren't there... no shelves under the driver side or passenger glove box... was this normal for a 1980 or just removed? Because the other thing I notice is the backing umm wall thing under both sides are missing. Looks abnormally spacey under there
No center cassette box... no holes there either so maybe these didn't come included til the later models?
Other than that, things seem to check out okay... well, until the good ol inspection at the shop etc...

rixter

we'll take em in order
locking system.. call 928 Intl they can probably provide you a new set of locks
under dash shelves... common to be missing in older cars as they get broken or taken out when a mechanic breaks the side console piece during removal
center cassette box... not in all cars, mine didn't come with one either

if you have the option codes you can double check how it originally was built

tuk_928

It is not full proof but I tend to run BOTH a CarFax and an AutoCheck (Experian) on cars with the 17-character VIN. My experience in the past few years has shown that there some overlap but one or the other usually is more sensitive to accident damage.

Word to the wise...perhaps I'm wrong here but it seems that one cannot always trust the "free VIN reports" provided by the seller. On at least 1 (maybe 2) occassions when searching for my most recent addition (99 5-seriens BMW), a FREE report I pulled from a retailer did not include "minor accident damage" that I subsequently obtained when running a privately ordered report. Has anyone else experienced this?

Would be interested in methods for researching cars with the older VIN format.

Mark

Ummmm....that magnet ain't gonna do much on the doors....or any of the rest of the front of the body....
Works fine for checking the rear quarters, tho!

Mark

Also - the CarFax "$5000 guarantee"....read the fine print - it is good for TEN PERCENT of the car price - up to $5000!~