Service history versus seller you trust?

[sjmoore]

I've been thinking of swapping my 993 for a 355. Have looked at a few and came across a nice GTS at a well-known specialist here in Switzerland (he won the European 355 Challenge series 3 years in a row in the nineties so I assume he knows a good 355 from a bad one). Car has had new belts, part of the exhaust and I think a clutch plus some other touch up work to make it look good. Certainly drove well.

Problem is, the car was imported from Belgium and there is no documentation nor much service history (only stamps for the three big services and nothing else).

What do you think? Should I carry on looking and get a car with a fuller history (but which might not be in such good mechanical condition)?

[jonnyleroux]

sjmoore said:

I've been thinking of swapping my 993 for a 355. Have looked at a few and came across a nice GTS at a well-known specialist here in Switzerland (he won the European 355 Challenge series 3 years in a row in the nineties so I assume he knows a good 355 from a bad one). Car has had new belts, part of the exhaust and I think a clutch plus some other touch up work to make it look good. Certainly drove well.

Problem is, the car was imported from Belgium and there is no documentation nor much service history (only stamps for the three big services and nothing else).

What do you think? Should I carry on looking and get a car with a fuller history (but which might not be in such good mechanical condition)?

buy on condition and pay the right price (ie should be cheap if no history - assume 100k miles). there is, after all, only 1 reason why a car wouldn't have any history!