banhbao

Hi All,
I just called my local Porsche dealer in Rocklin and they didn't want to tell me the service history stating that it against the law to disclose such info w/o owner approval . Does ithis sound right? Anyone able to pull service history from the dealer lately? The car I'm considering is being sold by a non-Porsche dealer.

Thanks

redridge

let the owner authorize the release...

C4CRNA

It sounds right. You are not the owner and the dealer is protecting the owners info as he should.
The non Porsche dealer doesn't wnat you to find out anything bad either.
If the owner doesn't release it you should run away from buying this car.

jhbrennan

If the seller's car wasn't serviced at your local dealer, the local dealer won't have that info anyway.

Marc Gelefsky

If yuo can prove you are current owner they will, otherwise you need the owner to do it.
As JHBrennan said you need the dealer where it was serviced.

Turbodan

I have heard w/ privacy issues that this happens, even if you own the car. any dealer can access the service history done by other dealers, at least the warranty work.
just like many things in life...you need to know somebody.

Another Don

For me, No Service History=No Sale. While there is some possibility that the car was serviced (oil changes, etc.) at an Indie, the Porsche History would show warranty issues that were attended to.

If the selling dealer won't get as much information as possible about the car, I'd keep on lookin'. It's a buyers' market and there are simply too many cars out there that are for sale.

Just my $0.02

johnnyq

B,

When I purchased my 996 from a mercedes dealer, I did a PPI at the porsche dealer nearby and they went through the history of the car with me. I had most of the history from a carfax report I ran also. The carfax hsitory was about the same as the porsche info. Although carfax said it had a new transmission put on, but the porsche records showed a RMS job instead. Guess carfax just knew the tranny was dropped and assumed the rest.

steveespo

There seems to be conflicting info, can any Porsche dealer pull up service history by VIN for work done in dealer network? If anyone knows please post. I'm going to call my dealer Monday and try.
Steve

OCNYPORSCHE

One dealer told me that only if the service was done at that dealership, they can pull it up. I did buy my 996 from dealership that did all of the work, so they did give me the whole service record. The service record was great to have.

For my 2005 Cayenne Turbo, from another dealership, they said that since they were not the dealership that did the services, they did not have the records. I still am not sure. You would think that the systems are linked, but I am not sure.

jerome951

That's what I was told by my local service manager when I inquired about an out of state car I was considering. He indicated they could only report on recalls, but not even warranty work.

Unfortunately, there's too much risk for a dealer to release the records to a non-owner. From a legal standpoint, the maintenance/services would be considered a work for hire paid by the customer, and typically all records resulting from the work are considered confidential.

So not only do you have a potential breach of confidentiality issue, but if you're considering the car and learn from the records that it contains something you don't like and decide not to purchase the car, the seller could have a legal case against the dealership.

speedyjp

My experience is just what Steve posts....

When researching my ride (before the purchase), I contacted 4 different Porsche dealers. They requested I email them the VIN. All were able to give me warranty info, warranty repairs performed/needed, major service/maintenance performed/needed. They 'all' provided me the same exact info which helped me decide to by the car. Hell... the non-Porsche selling dealer didn't even know it was under the CPO warranty.

cdodkin

There are two levels of service data stored.

Warranty service data - accessible from any dealership

Non warranty service data - available from the dealership that did the work

You will need the current owner to authorize the release of the warranty data, by calling the dealership you are using to try and obtain that data.

Unless you have a friendly service manager....

This data is available on a Porsche service system, and can be printed off in screens like this:



For the non-warranty data, you need to find out from the seller which dealership they used - get them to contact the service manager to authorize the data release - then contact the service manager there in the same manner.

The seller may of course have paper service records to assist here.

Best of luck on the search - and I'd agree - no service records = RISK!

PS: When I purchased my 996, I simply called the service manager at the owners dealership, explained that I was about to buy the car - and asked him to review the service data and read me any highlights over the phone.

He was happy to do that - even without authorization from the seller, as there was no paper trail

steveespo

Thanks Guys
Great info, I already own the car I want to check and have just done the complete 60k service myself but would like to check history. Car has a decal from an emissions recall done in 03 so at least that was done. hopefully I'll find a decent history.
Thanks again
Steve

JReid

About the warranty/recall work, I called PCNA regarding a car I do not own (though I am in negotiations to purchase) and they told me what dealership performed any such work. Then I called the dealership, told them what I was doing and, with the last six digits of the VIN, was able to obtain the information.

Here I did the same as above. If I knew what dealership did the service serviced I called them, told them my story and, again with the last six of the VIN, they gave me the service details. If I did not know what dealership serviced the car I called the big ones in the area I knew the car to be, went through my story and gave them the VIN, and they either told me whether or not they serviced it or who I might call next. Naturally this took a lot of time, but it was absolutely worth it as I was able to find out loads of information about the car.

In both cases (warranty/non-warranty) I did not have the current or previous owners contact any of the dealerships to release the information. Only one dealership would not release the service information. However, one dealership went so far as to give me the full name of one of the previous owners and yet another dealership told me what kind of (different) car the owner had on file with them. It was both an educational and scary experience all at the same time.