Would you buy this car ?

Found a 2000-W 996 which is what I'm looking for, but just found out from the dealer that its "full service history" actually has a 26 month gap. Goes something like ... 26/2/01; 8348 miles; AFT Porsche, minor service 13/3/02; 19,176;AFT Porsche, major 26/2/03; 24,927; AFT Porsche, yearly check 23/2/04; 32,713; AFT Porsche, yearly check 2/5/06; 43,508; Porsche works (never heard of them); yearly check and major service. Unfortunately there are only stamps and no service receipts. Dealer is prepared to put car through 111point check and OPC warantee though. Thoughts ?

If the dealer will put the car through the 111pt check, correct anything that they find wrong and pay for the OPC waranty, then I wouldn't say it matters too much. Obviously use it as a bargaining chip. [ ]

Agreed, If the car is right and you get an OPC 111 check and some form of warranty I wouldnt be put off too much. Its a bit of a gap but only 10,000 miles (unless its been clocked but I dont know how common or easy it is to do on a 996). There is also a chance it has been serviced but just not in the book. Maybe you could check with Porsche Reading or the dealer that serviced it previously. If it has you could get it stamped retrospectively (but dont tell the dealer [ ])! If its Porscheworx in North London, its a small operation run by a chap called Mario if my memory serves me right. Nice chap and the work he did was ok but let me down a couple of times by not coming tp collect my car [ ]

Provided there are old MOTs to verify that the mileage in the 26 motnh period is genuine then its worth pursuing - BUT it easy to alter the mileage on the odometer so be suspicious of DIY servicing and mileage 'correction'.

If I was considering this car, in my mind it has had a gap of 50 months between services not 26.....and says a lot about the owner. The Porsche yearly check is a complete waste of time IMO...it is just a series of visual inspections. No fluids are changed. Furthermore, OPCs will very rarely offer the inspection unless the owner insists on it (I know from experience) and some will downright tell u they dont carry out the annual inspection at all. I know the service manual will tell u that for cars that cover less than 9,000miles a year it is ok, but twice in a row, and no fluids changed for 4 years! So to me instead of having a minor service at '03 and a major one at '04 (that's what the OPC would have recommended) he has insisted on 2 visual inspections. Then he jumped straight to an independent that is not very well known (read cheap). All this points to an owner (if it was just one owner) that has tried to minimise expenditure as much as he could possibly get away with. Not a great sign. However, if that doesn't bother u (and u don't think future buyers that know about the annual inspection will be that bothered) then as pwafer has said, the warranty and all remedial work would be good.

AIUI, it's possible to read the number of hours the engine has been running from the ECU & this isn't possible to fiddle, unlike the odometer. Might be worth asking if the OPC can do this when they do the 111 point check.

Yikes, no oil change on a yearly check - so its probably gone 4 years without oil change. Think we'll give this one a miss.

Surely an OPC wouldn't do two consecutive annual services with those mileages and not change the oil? After all, it's gone 12000 miles between the major, and the second annual.

Interesting. Just phoned up the OPC who'd done the services and they tell me it was a major and a minor and not a yearly check - so not looking so bad after all.

If you are going ahead, I suggest that you get that in writing from the OPC.