How to track down previous service records/owners on a 996?

does anybody know how I can track down previous work history or owners on a 996? I have the carfax. but it doesn't tell me much specifics thanks!

You have to remember that "previous" owners may not want to be contacted about a car they owned and sold. Liability mostly. And not interested in your questions about what they did/did not do. Porsche dealers do maintain a record of service. You would have to know which one and where. And experience is that most will not give you any information aside from maybe a brief service history. If work was done by an Indy, forget about it unless they can be sweet talked into telling you a little bit about work they may have done. Again you have to know which one and where. As far as previous owners, an attorney or law firm may have the resources to find previous owners by DMV registrations. But you would need a darn good reason for wanting to know, and have to pay legal fees for getting that information. Contacting previous owners is generally considered a no-no for a used car, and carries a degree of liability so that most people will not respond. Reason why used cars are sold "as is"...it is what it is when you are looking at it. Best thing to do is get a comprehensive PPI and go from there.

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+996

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No hard evidence (at time of sale) that it was done = it was not done as far as you are concerned. If the bearing needs to be done for your piece of mind then take it to a shop you trust and have it done. Then you know it's done and what state the motor appears to be in. You also get to choose which option you go with.

Check your manual service section. Mine had the mechanics stamp on it. I called them, gave them the VIN, they emailed me redacted service records for the car. Not every garage will do it but worth a shot.

I see where you are headed with the additional information in your edit. Unless it has an LN Engineering sticker on either the door frame or engine lid, I would just assume that it has not been done and plan/budget accordingly. Even if you determine an IMSB replacement was done, that is no guarantee that the job was done right or with the right parts. Not trying to discourage you, but what someone says was done doesn't mean it was. Documented, well that's another thing. I do believe LN Engineering keeps track of VIN's where their bearing was installed, AND the old bearing was returned for warranty purposes. But a lot of times that is not what happens, so you are still left with a quandry. Best option - get a comprehensive PPI, and depending on year/make/model of the car you are looking at, and how many years/miles it has been IF the IMSB was replaced (replaced bearings have a life span as well), if you want to eliminate your problem just plan on having it done (again) and get the Solution.

As far a service done at a dealer, you can ask them if they had done work on the car and if so, what was done. They will probably fill out a service book as well. Most likely they will not show or give you copies of invoices for work done. You will have to call dealers in the area where the car was to find out

Seems weird Porsche dealers wouldn't be connected and service hx available under the vin?

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Well, it is and it isn't. This subject came up a while back and I have more info and this is as good a place as any I guess to put it. What I hear from various sources is with a VIN a *tech* can call up all warranty work the car has had at any Porsche dealer. I'm not sure how far back, how many years back, the records go. This service records access was available to service management and in some way accessible to sales people too. But this access got abused. One story I heard was a SM was helping a customer with the customer's Porsche. The customer was at the SM's desk and the SM had just finished the paperwork for the customer's car. The customer's cell phone rang and it was someone from another Porsche dealer some distance away. The caller started telling the customer what a good car the customer had, how well it had been taken care of, how good the resale/trade-in value was, etc., and would the customer be interested in trading it in? The customer was furious from the contact and from knowing the caller had access to what the customer considered personal/private info. About 6 months later access to this info was restricted to just the techs and I'm not sure all techs have this access, maybe just the most senior tech.

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What I have done is used the CarFax report to know where the car spent some time and with the car's VIN handy to call dealers in that area asking for what services the car had (the car I was interested in buying). I made it clear I was not after any info about the owner just serviceing the car had received. A few dealers I called had no record of the car but a few more dealers did and the person I spoke to after I suppled the VIN gave me a brief descrioption of what was done and when (month/year) and sometimes the mileage. Afterwards I had a pretty good feel for the car's history. The problem now -- and I covered this in another post -- is this service info is no longer accessible by sales staff or service management personel but only accessible by a tech. A complication is with just a phone call you are not likely to get a tech on the phone and one that will want to take the time from his busy schedule to run the car's VIN and somehow get you that info.

Just called all the service centers that the car in question was serviced at based on the carfax. I got nothing. so. there ya go.

Like others have mentioned, I used a combination of the info from the owners manuals/maintenance book and Carfax. I guess I was lucky as the dealership sent me blacked out versions of all the work that they did on the car. I did, however, find out that Carfax doesn't always report factual information - which was kind of a bummer. R

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That's a great point! When I sell mine I'll have to put some scratches on the LN sticker to make it seem like a hack job and to give the new buyer a reason to do it again! I wouldn't trust someone selling me anything, and would want to check it out myself. But really, I think assuming or thinking a IMSB was put in wrong is going off the deep end. That and how many miles are on the car anyway, some of these are putting on the miles and there is a ton of stuff to worry about with age and more than likely rebuilds anyway. Dunno, maybe it's the drinks, but why put a soultion on a high mile car? New cylinders could easily be down the road, why not kick the can 50k miles or so and either decide then or let the new owner make up their mind? Solution would be great on a really low mile car, but that's about it IMO, unless it can be swapped during a rebuild, but even then I'd want to replace bearings anyway.

So based on the High mile thing, Should I just not worry about if its been done on the car I just bought with 91 k on the clock?