Service History v Mileage

[Adrian Major]

Hi when you are looking to buy your first 987 2.7 G1 how do you rank service history v mileage v overall condition?

Seems most here put service history ahead of mileage. But what if you compare say a car with 60k miles with ok service history against one on 90k with FSH from main dealer? At what stage does it swing away from service to mileage?

[RFD]

8 hours ago, Adrian Major said:

Hi when you are looking to buy your first 987 2.7 G1 how do you rank service history v mileage v overall condition?

Seems most here put service history ahead of mileage. But what if you compare say a car with 60k miles with ok service history against one on 90k with FSH from main dealer? At what stage does it swing away from service to mileage?

It’s really subjective as there is no right or wrong answer. Equally, for me at least, there isn’t a single point at which one factor overtakes the other - there are just too many variables at play. I can only decide when I’m stood in front of the car (in person or virtually). 
 

Answering your question directly, I would order those as:

1. Condition

2. Service History 

3. Mileage 

in order of importance. However I would have some set parameters I would be working to for each. I would also add the person I am buying off into the mix - there are types of dealers/people I won’t buy from. When I bought my current car I was buying based on the person selling and his account of care and attention given to the car as much as the other factors.

As your question asks about mileage specifically, I would suggest having in mind that the youngest 987.1 is now 12ish years old, so the numbers you quote are a maximum of 6000 to 8500 miles a year. Which to me is a negligible difference. There are accounts of people doing 200k miles and more in these cars, so both examples you give are less than 50% of their life expectancy. For that reason alone, I’d favour a car with higher miles but better provenance. But that could change when all other factors are taken into account! 

Make sure you enjoy the buying experience... it really can be great fun!

[Nobbie]

FSH from a main dealer isn’t doesn’t mean much more than that the essentials have been done. What matters is how much of the advisory work has been undertaken. A fully OPC stamped up book appeals to the OCD side in us, but you can achieve this while ignoring every recommendation for additional work. For me buying a car of that type with an eye to resale, it would have to have FSH from main dealer or Indy and have evidence of plenty of other recent work. These cars need maintenance, and if the previous owner hasn’t done it, you will be picking up the bill.

 

[Adrian Major]

Thanks for your advice!

[Geopat]

My car has a large gap in service history from 2007 to 2019 when the car only did a total of 2k miles.

However there were lots of clues that gave me comfort the car was looked after in that time.  Notably the MOT history which can be more informative than service history.

I ignored the lack of service history in favour of condition, MOT history and mileage.

[Mattman42]

As said above, it’s subjective so it’s a balance. Seen cars in the past with full main dealer history, but owner didn’t really care about the car so the cosmetic condition was very poor even if mechanically it was good. 
really depends what you plan to do/use it for - if you only plan to keep a couple of years abs move on, fsh and low owners is something to look for as rightly or wrongly they are sought after. If you are planning on long term ownership, miles and owners not so important if mechanically good. We’ve seen a couple of 987.2 with 120k miles and 1 or 2 owners for as little as £13k over the last year - that’s blooming cheap as no one can see the mileage when you are driving it 

[Ninesomething]

First I would want history. Then I'd look at general condition. Then mileage. I went to see a car that had 200k on the clock and looked spotless. Even the interior looked really nice. Next I saw a car with 80k that just looked neglected. 

These cars carry their miles well if they're cared for. When someone buys a regular runabout car they tend to treat it nicely for a while then the neglect starts. With a car like a Porsche people tend to keep looking after them and you can usually tell if they haven't.