If a car has no supporting history would you buy it?

mike65

With the dubious carry-on 'exposed' in Prime Time I have been wondering about people who will spend possibly many thousands on a car without it having a convincing service history.

If you were thinking of buying that Merc 200 for 13,000 grand would'nt you want to see every last sheet of its service history plus the registration document, original sales docket and have the contract details of the previous owner/s?

When buying at the bargin end of the market one proberly has to be willing to be lucky and bring a 'friend' who knows something, I would'nt much expect FSH on a 12 year old 1,000 euro car.

If as many cars as we suspect are being clocked big time then whats happened to all the stamp dated paperwork?

Mike.

Silvera

mike65 wrote:

If as many cars as we suspect are being clocked big time then whats happened to all the stamp dated paperwork?

Mike.

Into the nearset bin I would suggest ?!

Personally, I always prefer that any car I'm buying has papaerwork with it.
My current car, a 2003 Astra, had a FSH with it when I bought it .4 months ago (i.e. dealer stamps and invoices).

When I sold my previous car, 1997 Civic I owned since new, it had dealer stamps for the first two years, and service/parts reciepts therafter (I serviced it myself from year tow onwards).

It's so easy to keep reciepts, and yet so few people do so!

As for clocking in the motor trade .......it's high time more was done to stamp ot out !! :mad:

Seth Brundle

no history = no sale!

junkyard

Seriously guys service history doesn't always add up, its well known in the motor trade service histories can be made up at the drop of a hat. Lets face it if you were faced with a file full of service histories you'd be happy but how many of you would ring up the dealer to verify that it was true. The majority of clocking is done very early on in a cars life and often by a main dealer using a car as a demo model etc., A lot of expensive large cars do crazy mileage in the first two years of its life and is traded with 25k when in reality it may have 80k on the car. I think people should look at the bigger picture. People who can afford to pay 100k and more on a car didn't get where they are today by being honest, i'm not saying everone's in the same boat but there's a lot of scamming going on and its not in the motor trade either. There are a lot of guys selling cars as a side line and would even put the dodgy dealers to shame. Quite a few imports, English and Jap. are also clocked and the fact that they are better looked after than the Irish cars there is more room for the clocker's. I think at the end of the day the consumer isn't alway's getting a fair deal. I've seen new cars damaged in transit, repaired and sold as new or at the very least ending up as a hire car or a demo model.

mmenarry

Depends on the car. Service history can be faked as easily as an odometer can be clocked.

After about 5 years, service history isn't goning to count for much, if anything. A car could be serviced by the book, but ragged to within an inch of it's life.

The most important thing would be to have someone along with you who knows how to check the important (& expensive stuff).
-Condition of the engine itself
-Clutch
-Suspension & brakes
-Exhaust/emissions systems (i.e the CAT)

If you aren't confident enough to do that, then buy from a dealer. You'll pay more, have just as must chance of being ripped off - but you'll have an address and a registered company. Much better for getting restitution than a bloke with a mobile number in the "buy and sell".

Michael

lomb

junkyard wrote:

A lot of expensive large cars do crazy mileage in the first two years of its life and is traded with 25k when in reality it may have 80k on the car. I think people should look at the bigger picture. People who can afford to pay 100k and more on a car didn't get where they are today by being honest

sadly thats pretty true, i know a few well off people who clock their premium cars b4 trade in. ferraris, porsches, mercs and bmws are all targets of clocking.
rich people tend to make their money by being out there, hence the large mileages they put on...

TempestSabre

After a few years the condition of the car is more important. If its done 100k and is still sound, what difference does the mileage make? Personally I never found main dealers to be all that good. In fact I found them to be pretty bad. So a full service history doesn't mean that much to me. If you've been going to a specialists and can give me the name of the mechanic and can give me the dates and times where significant bits of work have been done then thats more important to me. Timing belts are probably the only time critical things on a car.

TempestSabre

Interested what people are paying for servicing these days. I do it myself sometimes, but I often don't have the time, and often need someone to check out the tuning for me so thats why I'd get someone else to do it.

So what are you paying. My independent mechanic in the Dublin suburbs costs about 100-150. Tried getting some independent in city center and they want 250-350. Main dealers seem to be much the same, but tend to add extras like disks, pads etc when you don't need them.

Thoughts? Of course it depends what car you have. We've just a micra and fiesta.

Tomohawk

Quote:
Originally Posted by junkyard
A lot of expensive large cars do crazy mileage in the first two years of its life and is traded with 25k when in reality it may have 80k on the car. I think people should look at the bigger picture. People who can afford to pay 100k and more on a car didn't get where they are today by being honest

Originally Posted by lomb
sadly thats pretty true, i know a few well off people who clock their premium cars b4 trade in. ferraris, porsches, mercs and bmws are all targets of clocking.
rich people tend to make their money by being out there, hence the large mileages they put on...

I couldn't let these 2 sweeping statements go; I suppose rich people are all better looking and taller, screw blondes and ALL live in big houses??!! And all go to parties together where they smalltalk about the cost of running ferraris, porsches, mercs and bmws...:rolleyes: Oh yeah they must, 'cos if they're rich they must be corrupt. lol

lomb

Tomohawk wrote:

I I suppose rich people are all better looking and taller, screw blondes and ALL live in big houses??!! And all go to parties together where they smalltalk about the cost of running ferraris, porsches, mercs and bmws...:rolleyes: Oh yeah they must, 'cos if they're rich they must be corrupt. lol

yes most rich people live in very large expensive houses, drive very expensive cars ,and tend to screw around, and have got to this point because they dont take **** from anyone etc.
what is your point exactly, do u really think u can live in a 4 million euro house and drive a porsche or mercedes sl by being a nice person that let people walk over them?

mike65

lomb is a socialist!

Mike.

lomb

mike65 wrote:

lomb is a socialist!

Mike.

nah afraid not , im a realist (unfortunately):p