digits

Hah, okay, well there's at least one person I'd return the call... I mean there's a good chance anyone who bought a Lava Orange 911 GTS is someone I'd probably like. But ya never know.

Greg D.

Much easier with oldies... I've been in contact with owners of my older cars and it's almost always a great chat, sometimes they become friends... modern cars it's way tricker. Could have been an appliance, somebody you creep out... Unlikely to be the case with a 1960s 356 say ;-) Worth a shot.

737gdog

I’d be ok with it if the buyer was a 21 year old female hottie from Kiev....🤣🤣🤣

biggreek

Then we have a whole list of other questions to ask! haha


Anyways, I sent a snail mail letter today. I called the original selling dealer the other day and got shot down INSTANTLY. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

I was thinking of sending their info/paperwork with my letter, then I thought, what if the individual doesn't live there anymore? So we will see in the coming days/weeks/months/millennia. Hopefully I'll get an answer back. Ill keep everyone posted.

Bxstr

Some other people in the car community know the individual. I got a similar story from them. On top of that, I've spoken with him over a longer period of time than just a single day. It was over a month. I could get into more details, but I'll probably hold off for the moment.

Like I said, I'm the 7th owner of my car. 5 of the 6 were fantastic. 1 difficult one is not bad when you look at that ratio.

Bxstr

Best of luck. Not to get real creepy, but depending on the city itself, you can probably find out who lives at that address currently.

What did you ask the dealer about specifically? They won't provide any personal details, which I'm sure you know, many times they won't even provide actual printouts of service documents with the name and address removed. The only thing many dealers will provide is a summary sheet of all service done. Which is not very descriptive and helpful, but it's better than nothing.

biggreek

I asked them to contact the previous owner on my behalf to see if they could pass my contact info onto them.

Bxstr

A smaller Porsche dealer, if you have a very good relationship with them and the other client, may do that. A small independent dealer that is an enthusiast based dealer may do that too, but other than that, unfortunately it doesn't surprise me that they didn't want to. Too many privacy concerns. Even though it'd be very cool if more dealerships were willing to, but like I said, I understand not everyone wants to be contacted, especially if they're not an enthusiast and are just buying 911's every couple of years and moving onto the next one and isn't into the brand or car scene.

Automobilist

As usual, my answer is a bit different then the norm here...
I'll rarely buy a used car especially a performance car from a dealer. I usually buy a couple cars a year, and typically buy from private parties. To me, the seller is almost as important as the car itself.

How can you have a remote clue as to how the car was treated if you buy from a dealer? I vastly prefer buying from an enthusiast, club member, etc. I'[ll take a a clean car, sold by a solid, legit seller with full service records over a "certified" car, any day.

And I'm quite judgemental of the sellers too. Do they live in a cheap or mid-level apartment, but are selling a high end car? How does their property/house look? How do their other cars look? What do they do for a living, do they make enough to keep up on servicing properly? Really, does this seller seem like he's affluent AND savvy enough to do proper care & feeding of this Porsche?

In the old nutshell: If you would rather buy from a dealer and not really know your car's history, fine. Your money. But at least make a strong effort to track down the prior owners(s) and try to get the full story... Yes, the ONLY way to know the reality is to get hold of prior owners.

biggreek

So, I have an update. I sent the letter last week and I miraculously received an email from the guy! It was super exciting.

Gave me a bit of history of the car and why it has its higher mileage. It was leased and he went for a GT3 after giving this one up.

As the old saying goes......"Well, that went better than expected."

thesaintusa

@biggreek


thanks for closing the loop and filling us in.

Great to hear that it worked out.

97supratt

That's awesome!! Just goes to prove that the car community is so much better than the political community. LOL

AdamSanta85

I sold my Defender 90 that I put blood sweat and tears into via a dealer. Gave dealer my info to pass to new owner. Never heard a peep. Not only am I disappointed, I am nearly offended lol. I still keep in touch with the guy in Italy that sold it to me...

Reminds me to update my avatar...

Carrera991

Previous owner of my car is deceased - died in a car accident. Car was sold by his wife and kids.
When I got the paperwork of the car I also got his death certificate so I could register the car at the DMV. The previous owner was a former CEO and chairman of a company that owns multiple brands including one that manufactures kid toy cars (hint hint). I did some google research on the guy, looked like a really nice gentlemen, I actually feel bad for him and his family. Kept the car in good shape though.

Bxstr

Glad to hear you were able to contact him. Very cool.