In January I bought a 1995 C4 from a dealer. The price was right, the PPI checked out, car fax was clean, and the car was obviously well taken care of despite 98,000 miles on the clock. There was no service history, so I had all the fluids and plugs and plug wires changed. It runs and looks great, so no complaints.

But I'd like to track down the former owner and get a service history. The dealer says he lost the name when he turned in the title to the California DMV. Any suggestions how I might be able to track down the former owner?

 

A Porsche dealer should have some of the history in their computer. That will tell you where the car spent some of its life. It's a start....

 

Most Porsche dealers can look up a detailed service history in their computer from the VIN. Don't know if its nationwide, but I would assume so; even if it makes an "*** out of me but NOT you".

 

If you the service history the prior owners name should on something.

 

When I chased down service history and requested copies, I initially got "we can't do that...prior owner info, etc". BUT I found a friendly Porsche Service Adviser, chatted him up and convinced him nicely to help a Porschephile out. He read through the service history with me over the phone and gave me the highlights of all the service that had been done. I should have pursed copies with prior owner info blanked out, but at least I know what/when info on most services.

 

I'd suggest a very through detailing, you never know what you will find.

I'm the third owner of my car. The second had it for over ten years. I had all the service records from the second owner but nothing at all from the first, not even a name. I did know that the second owner had purchased it from the same dealer who sold it originally.

Well, when doing a through detailing by removing the seats, I found a restaurant receipt with a name and charge card number on it ( That was back in the day before the number were XX'd out). I then googled the name and state and found a good probable match. I did a little detective work and found a phone number, and gave him a call. He was very happy to hear from me, and was glad it was now owned someone who was interested enough to call him. He then told me how he had an SC and when he went to get it serviced (at the same dealer) he saw my 993 sitting in the showroom. He told me it just ate away at him and he went back in a few weeks and bought it.

He kept it for three years (12K) and traded it for a 996, big mistake he told me. He did not have any records anymore, said he turned them in.

Best of Luck,

Regards,

 

The CA DMV has a process for getting prior owner records. If I recall, it's something like $20, they send notice to the prior owner advising of your request and give them a chance to decline. If no objection from prior owner I believe they will release the name.

 

All Porsche dealers have the ability to pull up a MVCD from any vin number.That is the "Master Vehicle and Customer Database" file. The file contains five major subfiles.They are:
1)Vehicle Details2)Warranty History3)Service History4)Campain History5)Driver History

The Vehicle History screen shows the:VIN,Dealer name,model year,model,model type,model sub type,order number,order type,unique model desc,body color,warranty start
date,retail price,engine serial number,transmission number.It also pulls up all of the option codes and option descriptions.There is also a "vehicle distribution event history" window that shows the dates of the following 1)arrived at port2)finished PDI(pre dealer inspection)3)invoice dealer4)ship to dealer5)retail delivery reported. The warranty history and repair order details lists only list the first 24 months RO(repair order) numbers and the part numbers that were replaced under warranty.The campaign history lists the campaign number,RO number,Part ID and the campaign status.Lastly ,the drivers history lists the first owners NAME(first and last),STATE of Residence,ZIP code' and the date the car was delivered/Warranty start date.(the date that is hand written on the first page of the Maintenance booklet)
I had to bribe the guy at Champion to print me out a copy.Porsche N.A. views this document as an internal proprietary property and does not allow it to be given out to anybody except dealer employees.
PM me with your email if you would like me to send you a copy.I only have been able to get one such document for my turbo.

 

I’m in the same boat. Purchased from a private party last year but he only had service history for 3 yrs. Car is totally stock and passed ppi so I went for it. I’ve been thinking about posting here since it’s a 98 C4 cab (black/grey) which was low production, so I was thinking there’s a chance someone here may even know the car. In any case it would be nice to gather any history that may be out there, so if someone can pull data by vin# I’d be interested.

 

"If" and its a fairly big if you're chummy with a factory (read dealer) Porsche tech ,they can pull up all the history for work done on your VIN at the dealer where ever it was serviced..
It gets into a fine line if they are able to disclose or share alot of that info particularly prior ownership
records since they maintain a nondisclosure on any private personal info (read ownership history)...
Bert